Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the length of time before an email in his Department's inbox is subject to automatic deletion; whether such deleted emails remain searchable on the Server; and whether (a) manually deleted and (b) auto-deleted emails remain held for the purposes of (i) public inquiries, (ii) subject access requests and (iii) Freedom of Information Act requests.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Emails sent to or received by a minister’s mailbox are retained permanently as an official record, and remain available for public inquiries, subject access or freedom of information requests. Individual emails may be reviewed at a future date for their historical relevance before transfer to The National Archives, but they are not subject to automatic deletion.
The mailboxes of permanent secretaries are similarly preserved, and those of senior staff (grade SCS PB2 and above) are retained for a period of seven years after they leave their post. After seven years the contents are reviewed and records of historic value selected for permanent preservation.
Unless there is a reason to retain them for a public or other inquiry, or to respond to litigation, all other staff mailboxes are destroyed twelve months after they leave Cabinet Office’s employment.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists in regulating lobbying by foreign-based firms.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Under the provisions of the Transparency of Lobbying, Non-party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act 2014, the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists is required to maintain the UK Register of Consultant Lobbyists. Under the legislation, which was introduced by the then Government in 2013, all registrants must be UK VAT registered. As such, the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists does not regulate foreign based consultant lobbyist firms.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has used AI software to help respond to (a) Freedom of Information Act requests and (b) written parliamentary questions.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
All FOI requests and written parliamentary questions are considered on a case by case basis. In the Cabinet Office, AI software is not currently used to respond to FOI requests or written parliamentary questions. AI software may be used in the future, as appropriate, to support certain elements of these processes.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department assessed the reinstatement of the School Support Staff Negotiating Body against the requirement set out in the Approvals Process for the Creation of New Arm’s-Length Bodies that the creation of a new arms length body should only be considered as a last resort.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Department for Education is currently working through the approval process to establish the School Support Staff Negotiating Body as an Arm’s Length Body, in parallel to the passage of the Employment Rights Bill. The completion of business cases as part of this process considers other viable delivery mechanisms and ensures there is a clear rationale for its creation.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether there is a data sharing arrangement in place between the Cabinet Office and (a) HM Revenue and Customs and (b) the National Crime Agency on Ministerial vetting.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
As was the case under previous administrations, no such agreements are in place with HMRC and the National Crime Agency.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 10 February 2025 to Question 27919 on Government Departments: Communications and Marketing, what the aggregate figure for spending on communications and marketing is on which the estimated £85 million reduction is based.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The information used to form the aggregate figure for which the spending reduction on communications and marketing is based on can be found through the Government efficiency, transparency and accountability page on Gov.uk.
A comprehensive communications Spending Review identified 39 campaigns that were cancelled, 46 campaigns continuing with reduced budgets and 46 campaigns aiming to reduce their expenditure by 25%. The combined savings from these measures total £85 million in 2024-25 and up to £96 million in 2025-26.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he plans to lay an Official Statistics Order to include the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 27th March is attached.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what information his Department held on the eligibility of Lady Elish Angiolini for the position of Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland when her appointment was announced.
Answered by Douglas Alexander - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Following the announcement in December of last year that Lady Elish Angiolini was to be appointed as Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, it became clear that there is a legal restriction against a Catholic person being appointed to the role.
The Church of Scotland (Lord High Commissioner) Act 2025 has been passed by both Houses of Parliament with cross-party support and has received Royal Assent. This legislation removes the historical legal restriction and will ensure that Lady Elish can take up the role.
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 8 January 2025 to Question 22202 on Foreign Investment in the UK: National Security, how many transactions have related to China since 5 July 2024.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Government publishes an annual report on the National Security and Investment (NSI) Act 2021, with information about the transactions that it has been notified about and those it subsequently called in for a full national security assessment.
The reports include, amongst other things, the percentage of accepted notifications, call-in notices issued, final notifications issued and the number of withdrawals from a called in acquisition and final orders issued by origin of investment.
The NSI Annual Report 2023-24 was published on 10 September 2024. In this period 3% of accepted notifications involved acquirers associated with China. The period from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 will be covered in the next annual report, which will be published later this year.
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 26 July 2024 to Question 1260 on External by Default Recruitment, what criteria were applied to determine whether a role was urgent or critical during the pre-election period.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The guidance regarding recruitment of Senior Civil Servants during the pre-election period was published on the gov.uk website here.