Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 2 December 2025 to Question 93002 on Devolution, and with reference to his Department's joint press release entitled UK Minister vows to work with devolved nations to deliver growth in first visit to Northern Ireland, published on 3 October 2024, for what reason the press release referred to the devolved nations.

Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

Reminders on terminology have been issued to relevant teams and departments.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish the correspondence from the Permanent Secretary to his Department to the Hon Member for Thirsk & Malton of 24 November 2025.

Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)

There are no plans to publish this correspondence.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the regional representation of new peers appointed for each year since 2015 to the current December 2025 list.

Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

The House of Lords works best when there is a diversity of perspectives represented, including from all the nations and regions of the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister published a statement in June 2025, setting out the roles and responsibilities of those involved in the appointments system, in which he emphasised that party leaders should consider national and regional representation when making nominations, to ensure the second chamber better reflects the country it serves.

As a first step in reform of the House of Lords, the Government introduced the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill which removes the right of hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords. The Government’s priority is to get this Bill on the statute book as soon as possible.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, Pursuant to the answer of 2 December 2025, to Question 92612, whether Tim Allan is required to recuse himself from government policy or communications on matters relating to the clients of Strand Partners.

Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)

Before joining the government, Mr Allan sought and received advice on his interests. He has followed every element of the advice received.

As a result of that advice, he resigned his directorship with Strand and ceased any involvement in its governance or operations. Mr Allan has recused himself from engagement with Strand Partners in relation to the firm’s business, and from involvement in any procurement relating to Strand Partners during his period of employment.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many months each of the Ministerial flats in Admiralty House have been empty for.

Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)

Official residences are allocated to Ministers at the Prime Minister's discretion, to support them in their official duties. This has been the case under decades of successive governments, and it is not usual practice to publish specific dates of their occupation.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to deposited paper DEP2025-0768, committed on 21 November 2025, further to paragraph 18 of the desk note, how many direct ministerial appointments have been made since July 2024 where the name of the appointment has not been placed in the public domain.

Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

Since July 2024, the Cabinet Office has given advice on the announcement of one Direct Ministerial Appointment being exempt from publication, who was providing short-term advice on security and defence policy.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what is his planned timetable for the publication of the triennial report into the operation of the Honours and Memorialisation secretariats.

Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

The next report into the operation of the UK Honours System is expected in due course.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many full time equivalent staff in his Department have been employed for the purpose of making social media content in each of the past three years.

Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

Due to the difficulty of disaggregating the number of staff who are employed to produce social media content from staff who are employed to work on broader digital communications, it is not possible to report exact figures in response to this question.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has a book of precedents.

Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

The Cabinet Office Precedent Book was last updated in 1992 and has been largely superseded by other documents, including the Cabinet Manual.

The Cabinet Office does not maintain a book of precedents.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what progress the Government has made on delivering a UK Single Trade Window.

Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

The Government is committed to minimising administrative burdens and frictions experienced by businesses trading internationally. While delivery of the single trade window (STW) was paused at the end of 2024, it remains the Government’s intention to deliver an STW, and we will use the pause to further engage with key border stakeholders to better understand their needs.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what proportion of (a) named day questions and (b) ordinary written questions were responded to by her Department within the required timescale in (i) May 2025, (ii) June 2025, (iii) July 2025, (iv) August 2025, (v) September 2025, (vi) October 2025 and (vii) November 2025.

Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

The Government recognises the importance of the effective and timely handling of written parliamentary questions (PQs).

The House of Commons Procedure Committee monitors departmental PQ performance and publishes a report of the government’s consolidated PQ data following the end of each session.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, to ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office further to the Answer of 4 November 2025, to Question 85708, on Honours: Forfeiture, if he will publish the criteria for removal from the Roll of the Peerage.

Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

There are no set criteria for removal from the Roll of the Peerage.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 25 November 2025 to Question 91376 on Government Hospitality: Wines, how much his Department spent with Berry Bros for invoices under £25,000 since 4 July 2024.

Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

I refer the Hon Member to the answer of 25 November 2025, Official Report, PQ 91376.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department operates a code system to determine when and what replies are given to written parliamentary questions.

Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

It is for the answering Minister to determine how to reply to a written parliamentary question.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Public Appointments Data Report 2024-25, published on 2 December 2025, and with reference to previous reports, for what reason the Public Appointments Data Report 2024-25 does not include information on political activity.

Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

The Public Appointments Data Report 2024-25 did not include information on the political activity of public appointees due to the transition to the public appointments digital service in 2023. This data is now being collected and will be considered for inclusion in future reports.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of delaying by one year the transfer of the responsibility to make support scheme payments from the Infected Blood Support Schemes (IBSS) to the Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA) on infected people who have not yet received any support payments due to ineligibility for the England IBSS, but who are eligible under new IBCA regulations.

Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

The eligibility criteria for infected people for the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme, established by the Government, are different from the eligibility criteria for the Infected Blood Support Schemes (IBSS). Only those who are receiving support scheme payments from the IBSS will be eligible to continue receiving these payments as part of their wider compensation paid by the Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA), if they choose to do so.

The delay of the transfer will therefore not impact the compensation available to infected people who were never registered with IBSS. IBCA opened its service to the first claims from infected people who were not registered with IBSS in November.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department holds any digital records in relation to the meeting held on 28 August 2019 between the then Prime Minister and Mr Peter Thiel.

Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

The Cabinet Office does not hold any digital records relating to the meeting held on 28 August 2019 between Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Mr Peter Thiel.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when he plans to consult on his Department's proposals to replace the House of Lords with an alternative second chamber.

Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

As a first step in reform of the House of Lords, the Government has introduced legislation to remove the right of hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords.

The Government is committed to delivering further reform. The House of Lords has now agreed to establish a dedicated select committee to look at how best to implement the manifesto commitments on a retirement age and participation requirement.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to The Public Appointments Data Report 2024-25, published on 2 December 2025, whether Ministers requested that the socio-economic background of the applicants for public appointments to be monitored.

Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

The government is committed to ensuring that public appointments are more representative of our nations and regions, including socio-economic background.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 3 September 2025 to Question 69366 on 9 Downing Street: Repairs and Maintenance, what is the reason for the delay in submitting the invoice for the works in 2024.

Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

The invoice submission was delayed by the contractor. Payment could not be made until the invoice was received.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many and what proportion of civil servants are (a) on temporary contract and (b) consultants in his Department.

Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)

Information on the number of civil servants employed on temporary contracts is published quarterly by the Office for National Statistics as part of the quarterly Public Sector Employment statistics. Information can be accessed for September 2025 at the following web address:

Public sector employment, UK: September 2025

Departmental expenditure on consultancy is published within the Annual Report and Accounts. The latest report for FY 2024/25 can be found at the following web address:

Cabinet Office annual report and accounts 2024 to 2025 - GOV.UK

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, further to his Department's publication entitled Public-sector trade union facility time data, updated on 27 November 2025, how many and what proportion of public bodies required to submit facility time data did not submit data, including data by (a) civil service, (b) education, (c) local authorities, (d) NHS, (e) police and (f) other bodies in (i) 2023-24 and (ii) 2024-25.

Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)

A list of the Public Bodies which are required to submit facility time data can be found in Schedule 1 of The Trade Union (Facility Time Publication Requirements) Regulations 2017.

The public-sector trade union facility time data for the year 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 has been published on .gov.uk.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 25 November 2025 to Question 91381 on Tom Kibasi, what the length of his secondment to Downing Street was.

Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

Tom Kibasi was hired on secondment for a period of 2 months.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 9 December 2025 to Question 95640 on Senior Civil Servants: Redundancy Pay, what was the legal basis for the previous Cabinet Secretary being given an exit payment.

Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)

The Employment Rights Act 1996 defines contracts and employee rights for pay, leave, dismissal and other employment rights.

The model Permanent Secretary contract mentioned in the answer of 9 December 2025, states the terms and conditions and is used for Permanent Secretary level appointments including the Cabinet Secretary.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 26 November 2025 to Question 92016 on Civil Service: Management, for what reason the Terms of Reference are not subject to external publication.

Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

The Corporate governance in central government departments: code of good practice (2017) does not require publication of board and committee Terms of Reference.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by the Prime Minister on 12 November (HC Deb col 148), whether (1) the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, or (2) his special advisers, had any involvement in media briefings.

Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

No.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 25 November 2025 to Question 91618 on Cabinet Office: Social Media, on what topics, campaigns and programmes the expenditure on each platform was for.

Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

Please see below for the requested breakdown:

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether any publications have failed SAFE assessments due to gender-critical content.

Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

There have been no such instances of failure.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps Civil Service Pensions is taking to improve the process for the provision of the death in service benefit pay-out to bereaved families.

Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)

The Scheme Manager and the Scheme Administrator work in close partnership to ensure that all death in service cases are treated as a matter of the highest priority.

To improve the provision of benefits to bereaved families, the new Civil Service Pensions Scheme Contract has been strategically designed with enhanced performance metrics and more rigorous key performance measures. These improved indicators allow the Scheme Manager to exert greater leverage over the Administrator, ensuring that service delivery meets strict standards and that any delays are met with robust financial penalties.

Furthermore, the Cabinet Office has implemented a standardised contract management policy to provide consistent, high-level oversight. This ensures that the administration of death in service benefits is not only closely monitored but held to a level of accountability that directly supports a more efficient and responsive process for claimants.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what information his Department holds on what leadership and promotion schemes run by the Civil Service are restricted to people (a) from ethnic minorities and (b) with other protected characteristics.

Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)

Promotion in the Civil Service is through fair and open competition and is overseen by the Civil Service Commission.

The Cabinet Office is responsible for centrally managed leadership development programmes for staff at G7 to DD (the Accelerated Development Schemes). Recruitment to these programmes is guided by the same principles. Participation in the Accelerated Development Schemes is not restricted to ethnicity or other protected characteristics.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish the Civil Service Recruitment Framework.

Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)

The Civil Service Recruitment Framework exists to ensure vacancies are consistently accessible to the widest possible pool of talent. There are no plans to publish this internal-facing framework to the public domain, as it constitutes HR-to-HR guidance designed for departments to integrate into their respective policies and processes.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what is the timetable for Departments to implement the Civil Service diversity network guidance in their own departmental diversity networks; and whether the diversity policies adopted by individual departments are centrally monitored or held by the Cabinet Office.

Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)

Responsibility for, and management of, departmental diversity networks, is delegated to individual departments as the employer. This includes the decision to adopt or align with the Staff Network Policy. The Cabinet Office has not set a timetable for departments. Departmental policies are not monitored or held centrally by the Cabinet Office.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what changes have been made to the collection of political activity data in relation to regulated public appointments since the public data appointments reporting year 2024–25.

Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

This was not a decision taken by ministers. The Public Appointments Data Report 2024-25 did not include information on the political activity of public appointees due to the transition to the public appointments digital service in 2023.

The Commissioner for Public Appointments Annual Report 2024-25 was published on 17 December. For appointments made during the reporting period, the report provides the percentage of appointees who declared political activity. It does not provide a breakdown of political activity by party for the reason stated above.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many regulated public appointments made since 4 July 2024 have made a declaration of political activity relating to the Labour Party.

Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

This was not a decision taken by ministers. The Public Appointments Data Report 2024-25 did not include information on the political activity of public appointees due to the transition to the public appointments digital service in 2023.

The Commissioner for Public Appointments Annual Report 2024-25 was published on 17 December. For appointments made during the reporting period, the report provides the percentage of appointees who declared political activity. It does not provide a breakdown of political activity by party for the reason stated above.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Cabinet Office report Public Appointments Data Report 2024–25, published on 2 December, whether the forthcoming annual report of the Public Appointments Commissioner will include political activity statistics for 2024–25.

Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

This was not a decision taken by ministers. The Public Appointments Data Report 2024-25 did not include information on the political activity of public appointees due to the transition to the public appointments digital service in 2023.

The Commissioner for Public Appointments Annual Report 2024-25 was published on 17 December. For appointments made during the reporting period, the report provides the percentage of appointees who declared political activity. It does not provide a breakdown of political activity by party for the reason stated above.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government why the Cabinet Office report Public Appointments Data Report 2024–25, published on 2 December, does not include political activity statistics; and who took the decision not to include those statistics.

Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

This was not a decision taken by ministers. The Public Appointments Data Report 2024-25 did not include information on the political activity of public appointees due to the transition to the public appointments digital service in 2023.

The Commissioner for Public Appointments Annual Report 2024-25 was published on 17 December. For appointments made during the reporting period, the report provides the percentage of appointees who declared political activity. It does not provide a breakdown of political activity by party for the reason stated above.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether civil servants who act as coaches within the Internal Coaching Service are permitted to provide coaching sessions during their contracted working hours.

Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)

Civil servants who act as coaches within the Internal Coaching Service are permitted to provide coaching sessions during their contracted working hours. Participation in the coaching service often forms an additional work objective, and coaches are responsible for discussing their participation with their line managers.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 1 December 2025, to Question 93384 on Permanent Secretaries: Redundancy Pay, if he will publish that list.

Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)

I refer to my answer for 93384. Payments are published in departmental Annual Reports and Accounts for the financial years in which they were made. These are available on GOV.UK

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 1 December 2025 to Question 93375 on Government Departments: Facilities Agreements, whether his department holds information on which departments have given agreement to allow paid time to be used for trade union activities.

Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)

The Cabinet Office does not hold any central records on which departments have given agreement to allow paid time to be used for trade union activities.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the number of cases in which retired civil servants have been ordered to repay pension benefits due to administrative errors made by civil service pension providers; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact of those cases on those retired civil servants.

Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)

The administration of the Civil Service Pension Scheme is the responsibility of the Cabinet Office. However, the government has a duty to recover overpaid public money to ensure the scheme remains fair and sustainable for all taxpayers.

The Civil Service Pension Scheme pays out 732,000 pensions per month, and processes in excess of 1,000,000 member transactions each month. There have been, on average, 40 cases a year where human or administrative error led to a member being overpaid since 2014. While many overpayments in the scheme occur due to the late notification of a member's death, these specific cases do not relate to processing mistakes. Under current contracts, if the scheme cannot recover these funds from the member, it seeks recovery from the pension administrator.

We recognise that being asked to repay funds can be stressful. To manage the impact on retired civil servants, the scheme administrator works individually with those affected to create manageable recovery plans. These plans focus on the member's specific ability to pay, often spreading repayments over a long period to ensure that no undue financial hardship is caused.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 15 May 2025 to Question 50576, on Cabinet Office: Recruitment, what is a level move.

Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)

In the Civil Service a level move is when a civil servant moves from one role to another at the same grade as their current one. This can be from one government department to another or within the same department.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 15 May 2025, to Question 50576 on Cabinet Office: Recruitment, whether members of the Senior Civil Service can be permanently promoted up a grade without open and fair competition.

Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)

Promotion on a permanent basis can only take place after fair and open competition. Senior Civil Service vacancies are advertised externally by default and exceptions must be approved by a Minister or Permanent Secretary equivalent in non-Ministerial departments. Civil Service Commissioners chair all competitions for SCS3 and SCS4 posts to ensure appointments are made on merit.

Make it illegal for all government bodies and representatives to use fear, coercion, or covert psychological tactics like nudging, emotional priming, or perception manipulation in any public advice or communication.

Found: Department of Culture Media and Sport chaired cross-government meetings including No10, the Cabinet Office

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the (a) effectiveness of the role of BBC Radio 4 in national emergency communications and (b) the resilience of its transmission network to power loss.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The BBC has specific requirements under its Framework Agreement in relation to broadcast security and resilience, and works closely with DCMS in ensuring its networks are able to support emergency communications. DCMS has full oversight of these plans and works with Cabinet Office and other lead Government Departments to ensure BBC’s capabilities are integrated into wider resilience planning.

Detailed planning and preparations for a range of risks including power outages is an operational matter for the BBC. The BBC has informed the Government that its plan for maintaining emergency communications to the public in an extended national power outage includes a detailed assessment of back up power generation capacity and capabilities at key BBC sites and transmitter sites operated by third-party providers. The plan for this risk is designed to maintain broadcasts of key BBC radio channels nationally to both urban and rural communities. The BBC regularly tests its plan and procedures including live tests of its broadcast systems.

The loss of broadcast coverage to a specific geographic area is an operational matter for the BBC. The BBC collects and holds detailed information about the disruption of its radio services from individual transmitters.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to ensure that at least one UK-wide emergency radio service remains accessible to the public during extended power outages.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The BBC has specific requirements under its Framework Agreement in relation to broadcast security and resilience, and works closely with DCMS in ensuring its networks are able to support emergency communications. DCMS has full oversight of these plans and works with Cabinet Office and other lead Government Departments to ensure BBC’s capabilities are integrated into wider resilience planning.

Detailed planning and preparations for a range of risks including power outages is an operational matter for the BBC. The BBC has informed the Government that its plan for maintaining emergency communications to the public in an extended national power outage includes a detailed assessment of back up power generation capacity and capabilities at key BBC sites and transmitter sites operated by third-party providers. The plan for this risk is designed to maintain broadcasts of key BBC radio channels nationally to both urban and rural communities. The BBC regularly tests its plan and procedures including live tests of its broadcast systems.

The loss of broadcast coverage to a specific geographic area is an operational matter for the BBC. The BBC collects and holds detailed information about the disruption of its radio services from individual transmitters.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what contingency arrangements exist if local radio transmission infrastructure becomes unavailable during a national emergency.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The BBC has specific requirements under its Framework Agreement in relation to broadcast security and resilience, and works closely with DCMS in ensuring its networks are able to support emergency communications. DCMS has full oversight of these plans and works with Cabinet Office and other lead Government Departments to ensure BBC’s capabilities are integrated into wider resilience planning.

Detailed planning and preparations for a range of risks including power outages is an operational matter for the BBC. The BBC has informed the Government that its plan for maintaining emergency communications to the public in an extended national power outage includes a detailed assessment of back up power generation capacity and capabilities at key BBC sites and transmitter sites operated by third-party providers. The plan for this risk is designed to maintain broadcasts of key BBC radio channels nationally to both urban and rural communities. The BBC regularly tests its plan and procedures including live tests of its broadcast systems.

The loss of broadcast coverage to a specific geographic area is an operational matter for the BBC. The BBC collects and holds detailed information about the disruption of its radio services from individual transmitters.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the availability and duration of backup power supplies for radio broadcast transmission sites during prolonged power outages.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The BBC has specific requirements under its Framework Agreement in relation to broadcast security and resilience, and works closely with DCMS in ensuring its networks are able to support emergency communications. DCMS has full oversight of these plans and works with Cabinet Office and other lead Government Departments to ensure BBC’s capabilities are integrated into wider resilience planning.

Detailed planning and preparations for a range of risks including power outages is an operational matter for the BBC. The BBC has informed the Government that its plan for maintaining emergency communications to the public in an extended national power outage includes a detailed assessment of back up power generation capacity and capabilities at key BBC sites and transmitter sites operated by third-party providers. The plan for this risk is designed to maintain broadcasts of key BBC radio channels nationally to both urban and rural communities. The BBC regularly tests its plan and procedures including live tests of its broadcast systems.

The loss of broadcast coverage to a specific geographic area is an operational matter for the BBC. The BBC collects and holds detailed information about the disruption of its radio services from individual transmitters.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what proportion of radio broadcast transmission masts are equipped with on-site backup power capable of operating for more than (a) 12 hours, (b) 24 hours and (c) 72 hours without mains electricity.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The BBC has specific requirements under its Framework Agreement in relation to broadcast security and resilience, and works closely with DCMS in ensuring its networks are able to support emergency communications. DCMS has full oversight of these plans and works with Cabinet Office and other lead Government Departments to ensure BBC’s capabilities are integrated into wider resilience planning.

Detailed planning and preparations for a range of risks including power outages is an operational matter for the BBC. The BBC has informed the Government that its plan for maintaining emergency communications to the public in an extended national power outage includes a detailed assessment of back up power generation capacity and capabilities at key BBC sites and transmitter sites operated by third-party providers. The plan for this risk is designed to maintain broadcasts of key BBC radio channels nationally to both urban and rural communities. The BBC regularly tests its plan and procedures including live tests of its broadcast systems.

The loss of broadcast coverage to a specific geographic area is an operational matter for the BBC. The BBC collects and holds detailed information about the disruption of its radio services from individual transmitters.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the level of difference in emergency radio broadcast resilience between urban areas and rural or remote communities.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The BBC has specific requirements under its Framework Agreement in relation to broadcast security and resilience, and works closely with DCMS in ensuring its networks are able to support emergency communications. DCMS has full oversight of these plans and works with Cabinet Office and other lead Government Departments to ensure BBC’s capabilities are integrated into wider resilience planning.

Detailed planning and preparations for a range of risks including power outages is an operational matter for the BBC. The BBC has informed the Government that its plan for maintaining emergency communications to the public in an extended national power outage includes a detailed assessment of back up power generation capacity and capabilities at key BBC sites and transmitter sites operated by third-party providers. The plan for this risk is designed to maintain broadcasts of key BBC radio channels nationally to both urban and rural communities. The BBC regularly tests its plan and procedures including live tests of its broadcast systems.

The loss of broadcast coverage to a specific geographic area is an operational matter for the BBC. The BBC collects and holds detailed information about the disruption of its radio services from individual transmitters.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent testing has been undertaken of emergency power systems at radio broadcast transmission sites; and what the results of that testing were.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The BBC has specific requirements under its Framework Agreement in relation to broadcast security and resilience, and works closely with DCMS in ensuring its networks are able to support emergency communications. DCMS has full oversight of these plans and works with Cabinet Office and other lead Government Departments to ensure BBC’s capabilities are integrated into wider resilience planning.

Detailed planning and preparations for a range of risks including power outages is an operational matter for the BBC. The BBC has informed the Government that its plan for maintaining emergency communications to the public in an extended national power outage includes a detailed assessment of back up power generation capacity and capabilities at key BBC sites and transmitter sites operated by third-party providers. The plan for this risk is designed to maintain broadcasts of key BBC radio channels nationally to both urban and rural communities. The BBC regularly tests its plan and procedures including live tests of its broadcast systems.

The loss of broadcast coverage to a specific geographic area is an operational matter for the BBC. The BBC collects and holds detailed information about the disruption of its radio services from individual transmitters.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department holds data on the loss of radio broadcast coverage during recent power outages in the Highlands and Islands.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The BBC has specific requirements under its Framework Agreement in relation to broadcast security and resilience, and works closely with DCMS in ensuring its networks are able to support emergency communications. DCMS has full oversight of these plans and works with Cabinet Office and other lead Government Departments to ensure BBC’s capabilities are integrated into wider resilience planning.

Detailed planning and preparations for a range of risks including power outages is an operational matter for the BBC. The BBC has informed the Government that its plan for maintaining emergency communications to the public in an extended national power outage includes a detailed assessment of back up power generation capacity and capabilities at key BBC sites and transmitter sites operated by third-party providers. The plan for this risk is designed to maintain broadcasts of key BBC radio channels nationally to both urban and rural communities. The BBC regularly tests its plan and procedures including live tests of its broadcast systems.

The loss of broadcast coverage to a specific geographic area is an operational matter for the BBC. The BBC collects and holds detailed information about the disruption of its radio services from individual transmitters.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what training and guidance is provided to civil servants on how to fulfil the requirements of section 19 of the Environment Act 2021 when drafting proposals for secondary legislation.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra has been working closely with departments across Government to support them in the duty contained in section 19 of the Environment Act 2021 to have due regard to the Environmental Principles Policy Statement when making policy (which may include secondary legislation). Our ‘toolkit’ of resources was disseminated widely across government ahead of the duty coming into force. The toolkit includes advice notes and examples about the environmental principles to help understand the duty, and information about where to go for further help. We have also revised relevant cross-government guidance, including the Cabinet Office Guide to Making Legislation. The Environmental Principles Policy Statement training course on Civil Service Learning is available to all civil servants and provides an overview of the duty, the environmental principles and how to apply them. Some departments and arm’s length bodies have developed additional internal guidance and training. Defra recently published its “Environmental Principles Policy Statement (EPPS) Implementation - Early-Stage Review” (see attached) where the content of the toolkit and learning materials are discussed in more detail.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on steps to safeguard against data breaches following the implementation of the proposed Digital ID scheme.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Privacy and security will be core to the design of a new digital credential. We are working with the UK’s leading security experts – including the National Cyber Security Centre – to build a system with higher protections against identity fraud than ever before. Ensuring that security arrangements keep pace with the changing threat landscape will be central to the scheme.

Overall responsibility for the scheme sits with the Cabinet Office who will be launching a public consultation in the new year.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what plans her Department has made to use decentralised data storage systems in the implementation of the digital ID scheme.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

We will work closely with expert stakeholders, including the Information Commissioner’s Office and the National Cyber Security Centre, to make the programme as effective and secure as possible. Our approach will involve a federated data model, to ensure privacy and security.

Overall responsibility for the scheme sits with the Cabinet Office who will be launching a public consultation in the new year, which will seek views on the design, build and delivery of the system.

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