Cabinet Office

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon Lady’s Parliamentary Question of 30/09/24 is attached.

The Cabinet Office holds frequent discussions with Civil Service trade unions on a number of topics. The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster held introductory meetings with the General Secretaries of the FDA, Prospect and PCS unions recently where they discussed a range of issues.

The department plans to lay the 2023/24 Annual Report in the House at the end of October 2024. This is dependent on the satisfactory completion of the audit of the accounts of the Cabinet Office group.

The publication of this data was suspended in line with pre-election guidance for the duration of the Pre-Election Period. Future collection and publication plans are being considered.

The UK government partnered with the newspaper industry to launch the “All in, all Together” Covid-19 advertising campaign. The purpose of the partnership was to amplify public information on critical coronavirus messaging to ensure it reached all communities while also delivering demonstrable value for money. The partnership comprised over 600 titles, to ensure messaging is reaching communities throughout England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and includes over 25 multicultural titles. We only hold information about the press partnership as a whole; it is not broken down by publisher, campaign or newspaper.

Cabinet Office publishes expenditure, including on public information campaigns, on a rolling monthly basis on gov.uk.

The UK government partnered with the newspaper industry to launch the “All in, all Together” Covid-19 advertising campaign. The purpose of the partnership was to amplify public information on critical coronavirus messaging to ensure it reached all communities while also delivering demonstrable value for money. The partnership comprised over 600 titles, to ensure messaging is reaching communities throughout England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and includes over 25 multicultural titles. We only hold information about the press partnership as a whole; it is not broken down by publisher, campaign or newspaper.

Cabinet Office publishes expenditure, including on public information campaigns, on a rolling monthly basis on gov.uk.

The government is committed to ensuring that the Civil Service workforce operates across the country, including in the South West, to improve policy making and outcomes for UK citizens.

Both the UK and the EU allow for visa-free short-term travel in line with their arrangements for Third Country Nationals. The UK allows EU citizens short-term visa-free travel for up to six months. Meanwhile, the Schengen Borders Code allows for Third Country Nationals to travel within the Schengen Area for up to 90 days in any 180-day period; this is standard for third countries travelling to the EU.  The UK Government will continue to listen to and advocate for UK nationals.

The National Exercise Programme (NEP) provides direction and establishes cross-cutting activity to stress test capabilities, plans, protocols and procedures to strengthen our resilience in order to better prevent, mitigate, respond to and recover from significant risks facing the UK.

The NEP sets out a timetable of exercises (2024-2028), including at least one annual Tier 1 exercise with Ministerial involvement to be delivered each year.

The Department of Health and Social Care will conduct a major Tier 1 exercise as the Lead Government Department, testing our response to a major pandemic. Planning for the exercise is underway and timelines are to be confirmed.

Resilience is a top priority for this government. In a statement to the House on Friday 19 July, the Chancellor for the Duchy of Lancaster committed to leading a review of our national resilience against the full range of risks that the UK faces.

The UK Resilience Academy will be established in 2025 and be accessible to all those working in the resilience profession. This will include Ministers, government departments and arm’s length bodies (ALBs), local resilience forums and partnerships, emergency responders, the voluntary and community sector, Critical National Infrastructure owners and operators and businesses. There will also be tools for households and individuals. The training provided will be benchmarked against the National Occupational Standards for civil contingencies, which will be refreshed to include all resilience disciplines, including crisis management.

As a first step in reform of the House of Lords, the Government has introduced the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill, which will remove the right of hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords.

The Government is committed to other reforms to the House of Lords, including the introduction of a mandatory retirement age, a new participation requirement, and changes to the appointments process, as well as strengthening the circumstances in which disgraced members can be removed. There is also a long-term commitment to replace the House of Lords with an alternative second chamber that is more representative of the regions and nations. Given the nature and potential scale of these reforms, the Government will conduct engagement and consult on proposals for an alternative second chamber, seeking the input of the British public on how politics can best serve them.

There were 21 FTE staff in post as of 31 July 2024, with a standing headcount of 25.

The budget for the 2024/25 year is £2.347m. This budget covers headcount, with funding for incidental expenditures coming from a flexible central pot.

As is usual practice following accession, an Official Portrait has been taken of His Majesty The King to mark the start of the new Reign, for use in public buildings and for other official purposes. His Majesty’s Government is using this portrait for the Official Portrait Scheme, announced by the Deputy Prime Minister at the time in April last year.

His Majesty The King’s Portrait Scheme is an ongoing government scheme. We intend to disclose the information requested into the public domain when the scheme is complete and we have the full picture on the volumes requested and delivered and the associated costs, rather than providing provisional data at this stage.

The scheme was open to new applications until 15th August and validation, portrait production and portrait delivery will complete in mid October.

The government recognises the potential value of citizens' assemblies and other participatory methods as part of a broader toolkit for policy development and public engagement. However, while citizens' assemblies can be a useful complement to our representative democracy, they are not intended to replace it. The Cabinet Office's Open Policy Making Toolkit, published under the previous Administration, includes guidance on participatory methods, and we continue to assess their effectiveness and impact in various contexts.

Details of ministers’ meetings with external individuals and organisations are published quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK. The most recent publication of transparency data took place on 29th August 2024.

As the Chancellor announced on 29 July, the government will review the cost of the political system, which includes eligibility for ministerial severance payments. The Cabinet Office will conduct this review which will take place ahead of the Spending Review.

70 Whitehall is a UK government building. The Cabinet Office will therefore follow the flag-flying guidance for all UK government buildings. This guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/designated-days-for-union-flag-flying.

These are not government-owned buildings, so therefore the Cabinet Office does not centrally hold information or data on the freeholds and leaseholds of these buildings.

I met the Health Ministers for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland ahead of the announcement on 16 August, and officials meet on a regular basis to discuss the progress of the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme. The Scheme will operate across the UK and the Infected Blood Compensation Authority has been set up to deliver compensation payments to people infected and affected, and will work across the whole country as a single point administering compensation. We are committed to working closely with devolved governments and their support scheme administrators as we move forward with this work.

It is very important that we recognise what happened to people as a result of the Infected Blood Scandal and that we continue to remember these events for future generations. The Government is carefully considering Sir Brian Langstaff’s recommendations and we will provide an update to Parliament on the progress we are making to respond to the Inquiry’s recommendations, including this recommendation on memorialisation, by the end of the year.

The findings of the Inquiry’s report are deeply concerning. We are working closely with DHSC and other interested departments to give each recommendation full consideration. This Government will bring forward legislation to place a duty of candour on public servants and authorities. This will be an important step towards addressing a culture of defensiveness. I will update Parliament on the progress on all recommendations by the end of the year.

Yes. This Government has adopted the UK Biological Security Strategy and as lead Minister, The Rt Hon. Pat McFadden MP, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster will be updating Parliament in the Autumn on its implementation.

The Government set out clear plans for House of Lords reform in the manifesto, including introducing a retirement age of 80. We will engage with peers to consider how best to implement this and our other manifesto commitments on Lords reform.

HMG is committed to continue driving up levels of cyber resilience within the UK and we have seen the significant impact that cyber attacks can have.

We will continue to work closely with Lead Government Departments and the National Cyber Security Centre to ensure resilience and preparedness to cyber threat, and to work towards resilience targets for Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) sectors. This will be achieved through working with CNI (in both the private and public sector) to better: i) understand; ii) manage cyber risk; and, iii) minimise the impact of cyber incidents when they occur.

The King's Speech set out that the Government would bring forward a Cyber Security and Resilience Bill in this parliamentary session which will strengthen the UK’s cyber defences, ensure that critical infrastructure and the digital services that companies rely on are secure. This complements the Cabinet Office’s work to evaluate the impact and effectiveness of all regulation that applies to CNI.

The UK Government is also using GovAssure, the cyber security assurance regime for the whole of government, including Government sector CNI, to define clear cyber resilience outcomes and develop an objective view of cyber resilience across the government technology estate. The common approach to Secure by Design across Government is being rolled out to all Departments responsible for CNI.

The Cyber Security Standard sets out the GovAssure cyber assurance regime as mandatory for some government organisations. The Cabinet Office and partner organisations are using the results from GovAssure to continue to assess the effectiveness of existing cyber security requirements, including consideration of further mandation of requirements.

There has been no change of policy from when the Rt Hon Member was Minister for the Cabinet Office, of which the Downing Street estate forms part.

There has been no change in the established process in place for the declaration and management of private interests held by ministers, which ensures that steps are taken to avoid or mitigate any potential or perceived conflicts of interest. This process is well underway. The next List of Ministers’ Interests will be published in due course.

There has been no change in the established process in place for the declaration and management of private interests held by ministers, which ensures that steps are taken to avoid or mitigate any potential or perceived conflicts of interest. This process is well underway. The next List of Ministers’ Interests will be published in due course.

There has been no change in the established process in place for the declaration and management of private interests held by ministers, which ensures that steps are taken to avoid or mitigate any potential or perceived conflicts of interest. This process is well underway. The next List of Ministers’ Interests will be published in due course.

I refer the Rt Hon Member to paragraph 6 of the Model Contract for Special Advisers (Probation) and which can be found at: Model_Contract_for_Special_Advisers_December_2023.pdf (publishing.service.gov.uk)

My Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Transport set out to the House on 22 July 2024 our plans to support the development, production, and use of sustainable aviation fuel which the Government already uses where possible.

It has been the practice that official Prime Ministerial flights are carbon offset where that is possible.

As was the case under the previous Administration, the individual responsibilities of Cabinet Office staff are not published.

For management and staffing purposes the Prime Minister’s Office is a business unit of the Cabinet Office. Following the Chancellor's announcement, the Cabinet Office, like other Government Departments, will be going through a comprehensive spending review process which will factor in any administrative savings in the round.

The Prime Minister’s Office is a business unit of the Cabinet Office. Campaigns run by the Cabinet Office are subject to the review of communications and marketing expenditure announced on 29 July 2024. The review is currently in progress and no decisions have yet been made.

When meeting with the new Cabinet for the first time, the Prime Minister was clear about the standards he expects of them and their ministerial teams.

The Prime Minister will issue a Ministerial Code in due course.

Public procurement is a key lever for enabling delivery of the Government’s missions by using procurement policy to drive economic growth, raise employment standards, and achieve additional social value through the life of a contract. The Government’s ‘Plan to Make Work Pay’ sets out an ambitious programme to value organisations that create local jobs, skills and wealth and treat their workers well and equally. Ministers are considering how to take these plans forward.

The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACOBA) aims to provide its advice within 15 working days of receipt of an application from ministers, and 20 working days for all other crown servants at SCS3 or equivalent and above. ACOBA noted in their latest Annual Report that in 2023-24, 79% of applications received from former ministers were advised on within 15 working days of receiving information rising to 89% within 20 working days. Similarly, ACOBA noted that in 2023-24, 58% of applications received from former crown servants were advised on within 20 working days of receiving information rising to 71% within 25 working days.

The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of all civil servants. Civil servants are required to fulfil their work duties and obligations responsibly. Decisions on civil servants’ speaking attendance at any conferences are made on a case-by-case basis and in accordance with the Civil Service Code. Civil servants should not engage in activities likely to call into question their political impartiality.

The current National Cyber Strategy sets out a vision to 2030 and specific outcomes to achieve by 2025. The Government is currently reviewing a wide range of national security and resilience priorities. Any decisions on UK cyber strategy will be informed by this wider work and we will confirm plans in due course.

Our digital economy is increasingly being attacked by cyber criminals and state actors, and we need to take swift action to address vulnerabilities and protect our digital economy to deliver growth. This is why in the first session we are introducing the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill which will strengthen the UK’s cyber defences and ensure that critical infrastructure and the digital services that companies rely on are secure.

Accredited Official Statistics on the number of civil servants, both overall and by government department and agency, on an FTE and headcount basis are published each quarter by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) as part of their Public Sector Employment statistical release. The latest available statistics were published 11 June 2024 and showed the number of civil servants as at 31 March 2024.

The latest statistics and all previous and upcoming releases can be found on the ONS website at https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/publicsectorpersonnel/bulletins/publicsectoremployment/previousReleases.

Information about this Pension Scheme, including a calculation of the cash equivalent transfer value, was included in the Crown Prosecution Service's annual report and accounts for 2013-14. There has been no change to the policy under the last Administration not to publish information about civil servants' individual pensions apart from in the remuneration reports contained in departmental annual reports and accounts.

I refer the Rt Hon Member to the answer of 31 July, Official Report, PQ 1243.

I refer the Rt Hon Member to paragraph 2 of the Model Contract for Special Advisers (Job title and duties) and which can be found at: Model_Contract_for_Special_Advisers_December_2023.pdf (publishing.service.gov.uk)

The Government is currently focused on looking forwards and resetting the relationship with our European friends. As such the Prime Minister hosted 45 leaders from across Europe to the European Political Community on Thursday 18 July, to enhance cooperation on European security and other shared challenges the continent faces. Publicly available research on the interactions between the UK-EU relationship and the UK economy is widely accessible.