Written questions by Holden.

Pursuant to the Answer of 3 June 2025 to Question 54280 on Civil Servants: Pay, whether civil servants in her Department that are relocated outside of London will have their pay reduced; and whether civil servants employed in new locations outside of London will lose their London weighting.

I refer the Rt Hon Member to the answer on 3 July (PQ 63008). The Cabinet Office does not have London Weighting. There are separate London and National pay ranges. If an employee relocates from a London to National location on a voluntary basis, their salary would reduce to the equivalent point on the opposite pay range.

Pursuant to the Answer of 2 July 2025 to Question 62346 on Postage Stamps, whether his Department hold copies of the (a) agenda (b) minutes and (c) papers of the Royal Mail’s stamp advisory committee.

The Stamp Advisory Committee advises Royal Mail on future stamp designs. The Postal Museum’s online catalogue lists copies of Stamp Advisory Committee minutes which are available to the public for research in line with Royal Mail’s retention policy.

Pursuant to the Answer of 9 June 2025 to Question 54760 on Civil Servants: London, whether he plans to require any civil servants based in London to compulsorily relocate as part of the Places for Growth scheme.

London-based civil servants will not be required to compulsorily relocate as part of Places for Growth. Role relocations will occur predominantly through churn and some London-based civil servants may choose to voluntarily relocate.

Pursuant to the Answer of 9 June 2025 to Question 54820 on Civil Service: Equality, if he will make it his policy to (a) publish the new network guidance on gov.uk and (b) place it in the House of Commons Library once finalised.

Guidance for Civil Service Staff Networks is in development. This will be internal guidance which is not usually published.

Pursuant to the Answer of 2 July 2025 to Question 62768 on Pay: Publicity, what the aggregate value was of the payments to the six digital influencers; and if he will name those influencers.

Influencer marketing is a credible paid communications channel, which is considered for government advertising campaigns and can be an effective way in reaching audiences that the Government and traditional marketing channels find hard to reach.We used this channel to raise awareness of the new National Minimum and Living Wage rates to ensure audiences such as young people, part-time female workers, ethnic minorities and disabled groups are paid correctly.

Whether appointments to the School Support Staff Negotiating Body will be included in the Public Bodies Order in Council; and whether the chair appointment will be classified as a Significant Appointment.

The Chair of the School Support Staff Negotiating Body will be appointed in line with normal practice and the Governance Code on Public Appointments with guidance from the department’s Public Appointments Team.

Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the cancellation of the communications campaign entitled, Better Health - Every Mind Matters: Loneliness, on mental health outcomes.

Whilst the Better Health - Every Mind Matters: Loneliness campaign is no longer running, information, advice and signposts to organisations which can support people experiencing loneliness remains available on the Better Health – Every Mind Matters website. The website receives an average of over 150,000 visits per month. In the last full year, this figure exceeded two million visits. Indicative evidence demonstrates that Better Health-Every Mind Matters is improving the nation’s mental health and wellbeing; 2 in 3 of those who complete the Mind Plan email programme report measurably better wellbeing than when they started.In addition, a campaign toolkit on loneliness for use by local authorities, NHS organisations and community groups is available on the Department of Health and Social Care’s Campaign Resource Centre. The toolkit includes key messages and social media assets that can be used in locally-run campaigns.

Pursuant to the Answer of 28 May 2025 to Question 53204 on Central Government: Empty Property, whether the InSite database is accessible to the public.

The InSite database is an internal government system and is not accessible to the public. While the data held in InSite informs public outputs such as official reports, the platform itself is not publicly available due to data protection, security, and operational sensitivity considerations. Members of the public can view information on vacant or surplus government-owned properties via the Government Property Finder: https://www.gov.uk/find-government-property

With reference to paragraph 1.24 of the Review Body on Senior Salaries publication Forty-seventh annual report on senior salaries published in May 2025, what steps the Government is taking to reduce excessive (a) bureaucracy and (b) process in the Civil Service.

This Government is committed to creating a productive and agile state. This includes reducing bureaucracy and simplifying processes through adoption of digital technology and AI tools, improving Ministerial oversight and accountability in arms-length bodies, streamlining approval processes, creating a cost-conscious culture that relentlessly roots out waste, drives efficiency, and protects taxpayers’ money, and establishing a more productive, higher-skilled civil service with stronger accountability for performance.

If he will publish the response to the Freedom of Information Act request reference FOI2025/05753 of 12 June 2025.

The request document will be deposited in the House Libraries.

Pursuant to the Answer of 9 June 2025 to Question 54800 on Government Departments: Press Offices, if he will publish the guidance on the use of party political commodities at Government press conferences.

I refer the Rt Hon Member to my answer of 21 March 2025, Official Report, PQ 47333.

Pursuant to the Answer of 9 June 2025 to Question 54781 on Arm’s Length Bodies: Equality, whether there is any monitoring of the EDI spending exemptions authorised by Arm’s Length Bodies; and whether there is any requirement on Arm’s Length Bodies to publish details of the exempted expenditure as Whitehall departments are required.

The Civil Service Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Expenditure Guidance published on 14 May 2024 applies to all Arm’s Length Bodies (ALBs) who employ civil servants. As such, those ALBs are required to publish details of the exempted expenditure as Whitehall departments are required.

Pursuant to the Answer of 10 June 2025 to Question 57737 on European Parliament Members: Workplace Pensions, which public body holds information on the pension scheme liabilities for UK MEPs from 2009 up to the date the UK left the EU.

The European Parliamentary (United Kingdom Representatives) Pension Scheme closed to new members in 2009. Active members were able to continue contributing to this scheme or to join a new European Union (EU) Members of the European Parliament (MEP) scheme. HMT holds information on the pension scheme liabilities for this scheme and the information is available in the Consolidated Fund Accounts 2023 to 2024 page 37 section 7:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/consolidated-fund-account-2023-to-2024In 2009, the EU implemented a uniform pension scheme for all MEPs, replacing the previous system where MEPs received pensions and salaries from their respective member states.MEPs elected from 2009 onwards are members of the EU pension scheme and the UK’s share of the pension liabilities are covered by the EU Exit agreement. Information about the EU scheme liabilities can be found at the following link on the UK Parliament website:https://committees.parliament.uk/work/3906/exiting-the-eu-the-financial-settlement-inquiry/#:~:text=As%20part%20of%20the%20ongoing,the%20estimated%20settlement%20and%20why.

Pursuant to the Answer of 12 May 2025 to Question 49382 on 9 Downing Street: Repairs and Maintenance, whether the relevant narrative entry in the transparency data will show which OCS invoice relates to the refurbishment of the Downing Street media room.

The Government Property Agency is awaiting OCS' submission of an application for payment for the costs for the 9DS Media Suite.

What estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse for Senior Civil Service pay in the (a) 2024-25 and (b) 2025-26 financial years.

The latest paybill information for the Senior Civil Service can be found in the 2025/26 annual report by the Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB).

Pursuant to the Answer of 9 June 2025 to Question 54812 on Government Departments: media, if he will list the 180 companies that expressed an interest in providing external public relations under the RM6364 Media and Creative Framework.

The procurement process under RM6364 Media and Creative Framework is currently live. As such, we are unable to disclose details of the interest expressed by individual companies at this stage, as doing so would be likely to prejudice the commercial interests of the Crown Commercial Service and the bidders engaged in the bidding process. Further information will be made available in accordance with procurement confidentiality and competition rules as the process progresses. The agreement is due to be awarded in December 2025.

Pursuant to the Answer of 17 June 2025 to Question 59366 on Cabinet Office: staff, whether his Department has a target for (a) voluntary and (b) compulsory exits; and what communications have been sent to civil servants on this matter.

As set out in the Answer of 17 June 2025 to Question 59366, in line with the 2025 Spending Review, we are restructuring the Cabinet Office into a more strategic, specialised, and smaller department to achieve £110 million in annual expenditure savings by the 2028/29 financial year. Our focus is on identifying budgetary savings rather than meeting a specific headcount target.

Pursuant to the Answer of 3 June 2025 to Question 53901 on Data, Statistics and Research on Sex and Gender Independent Review, how the UK Statistics Authority plans to inform (a) Parliament and (b) the public of whether the recommendations in the Review will be taken forward once the Authority Board has concluded its considerations of the Review.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 2nd July is attached.

Pursuant to the Answer of 3 June 2025 to Question 54274 on Government Departments: Publicity, if he will publish the spending control business case and approval for the 2025 National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage campaign.

I refer the Rt. Hon. Member to the answer I gave on 28th May 2025 to question 52688 (Written questions and answers - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament).

Pursuant to the Answer of 9 June 2025 to Question 54825 on Government Departments: Training, if he will publish the updated guidance on the use of external venues.

A copy of the Cabinet Office's guidance on the use of external venues will be placed in the libraries of both Houses.