Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 3 July 2026 to question 10063 on Intelligence Services: Recruitment, for what reason are white candidates not eligible to apply for the MI5, MI6 and GCHQ Summer Intelligence Internship.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security) (Jointly with the Cabinet Office)
The UK Intelligence Community (UKIC) runs a number of internships and placement schemes. They are designed to provide insight about what it is like to work in UKIC to individuals who have particular skills and experience, want to work in a particular area, and/or are from demographics and backgrounds under-represented within UKIC. This is a lawful measure (as set out in the Equality Act 2010) used to encourage people from under-represented demographics to consider national security careers.
The eligibility criteria for specific internship schemes in UKIC are made publicly available on agency websites at the time when they are advertised. Any internship participant wishing to subsequently apply for employment with UKIC or the Civil Service is required to take part in fair and open competition, with selection based on merit.
Asked by: Gordon McKee (Labour - Glasgow South)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps the Government is taking to involve voluntary, community and faith organisations in local and national emergency preparedness exercises.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security) (Jointly with the Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office recognises the valuable role that the voluntary, community and faith sector (VCFS) can play in all aspects of resilience. The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 requires local Category 1 responders ‘to have regard’ to the activities of voluntary organisations while carrying out their duties. This is reinforced in guidance and standards, which provide further detail on the benefits of including the VCFS within local exercising.
The Cabinet Office is committed to conducting one major ‘Tier 1’ ministerial-led exercise annually under the National Exercising Programme. On 15th July and as part of the national resilience annual statement, the government announced that the next Tier 1 exercise (Exercise ALBISTON SHADOW) will focus on homeland defence.
Under a Tier 1 exercise, Government departments, agencies, non-governmental organisations and local responders are all involved to deliver the objectives and requirements of each year's exercise. In support of this, work is also underway to ensure that guidance, best practice, frameworks and other tools are made available to all parts of the system so that high-quality exercising can happen at all levels, not just during Tier 1 exercises.
Asked by: Baroness Uddin (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what criteria they apply when deciding whether to convene a COBR meeting following violent attacks against communities; and what consideration they have given to convening a COBR meeting to discuss recent attacks on British Muslims.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Captain of the King's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Cabinet Office maintains the framework for how the UK central government collectively responds to crises that require co-ordination across government, it is called the Amber Book. The UK’s emergency management system is founded on the principle of subsidiarity, where decisions are taken at the lowest possible level and co‑ordination at the highest necessary. Most emergencies in the UK are handled at a local level by local responders without the need to activate the government central crisis management arrangements, Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms (COBR). There is no set criteria for when COBR will be activated. The Government considers a range of guiding thresholds that are detailed in the Amber Book, with a key consideration being whether urgent collective decision‑making from ministers is required.Asked by: Lord Green of Deddington (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent on 7 July (HL1157), how many households in (1) Greater London, and (2) the United Kingdom, had a household reference person born (a) in the United Kingdom, and (b) outside the United Kingdom, in the 2001 census.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Captain of the King's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
Please see the letter attached from the Permanent Secretary for the Office for National Statistics.
Lord Green of Deddington
House of Lords
London
SW1A 0PW
15 July 2026
Dear Lord Green,
As Permanent Secretary of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I am responding to your
Parliamentary Question asking, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anderson of
Stoke-on-Trent on 7 July (HL1157) [1], how many households in (1) Greater London, and (2)
the United Kingdom, had a household reference person born (a) in the United Kingdom,
and (b) outside the United Kingdom, in the 2001 Census (HL1903).
The census is conducted separately by the statistical agencies for England and Wales,
Scotland, and Northern Ireland, and outputs are published independently. There is no
single UK-wide 2001 Census dataset. Therefore, the data presented here relates to Greater
London and England and Wales rather than the UK.
Table 1 below shows the number of households with a Household Reference Person (HRP)
born in and outside of the UK for Greater London and for England and Wales. The figures
for Greater London include all 32 boroughs and the City of London.
Please note that these figures are not available as part of the 2001 Census standard
outputs and were produced through our commissioned tables service. Table C1341 shows
the data at the England and Wales level, and C1347 shows the data at the London
Borough level.
We will place copies of these commissioned tables in the House of Lords Library.
Yours sincerely,
Darren Tierney
[1] https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2026-06-22/hl1157
Table 1: The number of households with a Household Reference Person (HRP) born
in and outside of the UK in Greater London and in England and Wales
Households | 2001 |
HRP born in UK (Greater London) | 2,078,875 |
HRP born outside UK (Greater London) | 937,126 |
HRP born in UK (England and Wales) | 19,481,557 |
HRP born outside UK (England and Wales) | 2,178,918 |
Sources: ONS, 2001 Census Commissioned table C1341, Country of birth of the HRP (born
in the UK/born outside the UK); ONS, 2001 Census Commissioned table C1347, Tenure by
country of birth of Household Reference Persons (HRPs)
Asked by: Viscount Stansgate (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government when the Prime Minister decided to update the Cabinet Manual.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Captain of the King's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Prime Minister decided that the Government should update the Cabinet Manual prior to his Written Ministerial Statement (HLWS81) on 2 June 2026.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to implement the recommendations in the report by the Ethics and Integrity Commission, Lobbying, Business Appointment Rules and Disclosure, published on 9 July.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Captain of the King's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Government thanks the Ethics and Integrity Commission for its thorough and considered work on these important issues.
As set out in the review’s terms of reference, we will now carefully consider the report’s findings and present the Government’s response to Parliament in due course thereafter.
Asked by: Baroness Finn (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by the Economic Secretary to the Treasury on 28 May (2785), whether they will publish the (1) Prime Minister's, (2) Deputy Prime Minister’s, and (3) Chancellor of the Exchequer's, tax return for 2024–25 prior to changes in administration.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Captain of the King's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Publication of tax returns is a matter for individual ministers. Any such publication would be made in the usual way.
Asked by: Baroness Finn (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by the Minister for the Cabinet Office on 23 June (HC8596), whether the agreement of revisions to the Cabinet Manual requires collective Cabinet agreement or is a decision for the Prime Minister alone.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Captain of the King's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The revisions to the Cabinet Manual are a matter for the Prime Minister.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what is the policy of the Government Communication Service on (a) departments and (b) Ministers posting on the X platform.
Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
All government paid advertising on X has been suspended since April 2023, meaning that no taxpayers money has been spent with the platform.
Individual departments manage their own organic accounts, ensuring that activity is proportionate, appropriate, and relevant to their audiences.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 30 June 2026, to Question 12787, on Government Departments: Public Appointments, whether the approach on GDPR applies to declarations in relation to ministerial appointments.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds
Ministerial appointments are distinct to public appointments and subject to separate processes. Ministers are appointed by the Sovereign on the advice of the Prime Minister. The process for the declaration and management of ministers’ interests is set out in the Ministerial Code. Relevant interests are published in the List of Ministers’ Interests on a quarterly basis.