Cabinet Office

With regard to the PeopleScout Ltd contract referenced in question 105252, Cabinet Office awarded the contract and the Government Recruitment Service within Cabinet Office is the responsible Customer. Consequently, the Customer referenced within the KPI is Government Recruitment Service, and the Supplier will only accept commissions directly from this entity.

Departments are responsible for publishing the detail of any paid or otherwise remunerated outside employment, held by members of their SCS, annually.

On 30 October, the Government launched a public consultation on proposed changes to the infected blood compensation scheme. In that consultation document, the Government explained that it welcomed responses from all those with an interest in the changes, and especially those in the infected blood community. This consultation has been an important step toward ensuring those impacted are involved in the decision-making process, and I am grateful to all those who took the time to respond. The core purpose of the consultation is to gather views on how the Government intends to implement the Inquiry’s recommendations. Every response to this consultation is being considered carefully and with the seriousness the issue deserves.

The consultation closed on 22 January. The Minister for the Cabinet Office hopes Parliament soon on the changes the Government intends to make to the compensation scheme, as a result of the public consultation.

On 30 October, the Government launched a public consultation on proposed changes to the infected blood compensation scheme. The Government particularly welcomes responses from those in the infected blood community, including estate representatives, and family members who sadly have lost a loved one due to the use of infected blood, or infected blood products.

Some of the proposals set out in the consultation will have an impact on claims made by estate representatives, on behalf of a deceased infected person. The consultation focused on the areas recommended by the Infected Blood Inquiry in its Additional Report. It also asked whether a respondent would like to raise other issues around the compensation scheme that may not have been addressed in the Additional Report.

The Government is carefully considering responses to the consultation, which closed on 22 January. The Minister for the Cabinet Office hopes to update Parliament soon on the changes the Government intends to make to the compensation scheme, as a result of the public consultation.

We are unable to provide a response as this information is not captured centrally at the application stage.

The Financial Loss award is designed to compensate for past and future financial losses suffered as a result of infection. For people infected with HIV or chronic Hepatitis infections, this is calculated based on the average anticipated loss of earnings they would have suffered as a result of their infection and subsequent treatment.

In some exceptional cases, infected people will have suffered greater financial losses as a result of their infection than they will be compensated for as part of their core route award. This might be, for example, where they had particularly high earnings prior to their infection. Infected people in this situation can apply for an Exceptional Loss award through the Scheme’s supplementary route, and if eligible, receive additional financial loss compensation to reflect their circumstances.

The Inquiry’s Additional Report included a recommendation to consult on whether these evidence requirements mean that some people who ought to be eligible for the award are prevented from accessing it, and whether there are ways to address this.

The consultation asked respondents to consider forms of evidence for loss of earnings, fairness for applicants to the Scheme, and the types of evidence the Infected Blood Compensation Authority could take into account when someone no longer has documentary evidence to prove they earned beyond what is provided for under the core route. The consultation closed on 22 January. The Minister for the Cabinet Office hopes to update Parliament soon on the changes the Government intends to make to the compensation scheme, as a result of the public consultation.

I refer the noble Lady to the answer given in HL15172:

Question: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent on 3 February (HL13976), and with reference to paragraph 223 of the Cabinet Office Guide to Parliamentary Work and paragraph 1.6(d) of the Ministerial Code, what is the reason why current policy development prevents the publication of the previous guidance to the Civil Service about speaking to the media. HL15172

Answer: This guidance is currently under development in a live policy area. Premature release of this information would inhibit the free and frank provision of advice for policy development.

Our leadership development materials use internal case studies and sensitive organisational data to address specific system-wide challenges.

To protect the privacy of this information and integrity, we do not publish these materials externally. We do, however, make the programme’s key themes and learning objectives available on the webpage of Accelerated Development Schemes on GOV.UK.

I refer to Minister Turley’s answer 88716, a copy of the Permanent Secretary model contract has been placed in the House Library. This applies to the Cabinet Secretary.

In January, Mr Chandra was appointed as the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy to the United States on Trade and Investment.

Mr Chandra remains employed as a special adviser to the Prime Minister.

A review of the harmonised standard for ethnicity data collection is underway by the Government Statistical Service Harmonisation team.

A public consultation between October 2025 and February 2026 sought views from a wide range of users, including Government Departments and public bodies, to understand user needs for ethnic group data. This was supplemented by a programme of engagement activity, including with representatives of all government departments.

ONS have committed to providing an initial response to the public consultation in April, and a full report on the consultation in late summer 2026 will include more detailed information on the departments that responded to the consultation.

An initial response to the public consultation is due to be published in April, followed by a full report on the consultation in late summer 2026. This report will include all formal responses to the consultation, and the names of the organisations that responded.

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

A response to the Hon lady’s Parliamentary Question of 6th March is attached.

Baroness Shafik has been on a leave of absence from the House of Lords since 10th September 2025.

In each of the last 3 years Cabinet Office has placed less than 5 people on internship schemes open only to those with certain protected characteristics. The exact number has been redacted to avoid identification of individuals.

39 civil servants are employed through Skilled Worker visas in the Cabinet Office. Before they can be considered for visa sponsorship, all candidates for Cabinet Office posts must meet the Civil Service nationality rules which operate alongside UK immigration rules.

In 2025, there were 45,566 job adverts published on Civil Service Jobs. Of these, 24,865 (54.6%) were available to the public. The remaining 20,701 (45.4%) were advised internally and/or cross-government, meaning they were available only to existing civil servants.

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

A response to the Rt Hon. Gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 10th March is attached.

An infected person’s compensation (while living or as an estate) is calculated in line with five Categories of Award to recognise and compensate for the impacts of the infected blood scandal in different areas of a person’s life - these are an Injury Award, Social Impact Award, Autonomy Award, Care Award and Financial Loss Award. For the first three (Injury, Social Impact and Autonomy) the award amounts are the same whether someone applies to the scheme for compensation whilst they are still alive, or whether a personal representative of their estate makes an application.

Where an infected person has passed away before they have applied to the Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA), the estate will be able to make a claim on the infected person’s behalf. In that claim, financial loss from the point of infection to the point of the infected person’s death will be paid to the estate. This recognises the loss of earnings that a person likely suffered because of their illness. Financial loss is not paid to the estate for any years after the year of that person’s death. This is because the person cannot have had reduced earnings after they passed away. Instead, those who were financially dependent on them at the point of their death will have suffered from the reduced earnings caused by their death.

The Cabinet Office has carried out analysis under the Public Sector Equality Duty for all regulations made to establish the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme. The most recent analysis was published in October.

The Infected Blood Compensation Scheme currently provides compensation for psychological harm through both the core and supplementary route, depending on the type and severity of harm. Under the supplementary route, the Severe Health Condition award offers additional compensation where someone has been diagnosed with a severe psychiatric disorder that has caused suffering beyond what is recognised and compensated for as part of their core award. The estates of deceased infected people are eligible for the core route, and to apply for the supplementary route.

The Government has recently consulted on the expansion of eligibility for a Severe Health Condition award for infected people who meet the criteria for the Special Category Mechanism (SCM) or equivalent payments. It also proposes that severe mental health issues not covered in the core route or by the existing Severe Health Condition award are compensated for by this new route. The Government has not proposed that estates of deceased infected people, unless they were receiving SCM or equivalent payments at the time of death, are eligible for this award. The Minister for the Cabinet Office hopes to update Parliament soon on the changes the Government intends to make to the compensation scheme, as a result of the public consultation.

SCS roles can be filled on a temporary basis through temporary promotions without fair and open competition. Cabinet Office issues guidance to departments and agencies, who have the authority to determine promotion and lateral transfer arrangements for their own staff.

As has been the case under successive administrations, the interests deemed relevant for publication for special advisers in No10 and the Cabinet Office are published on an annual basis by the Cabinet Office.

The terms of the Civil Service Compensation Scheme (CSCS) are the same for all employees regardless of grade. Compensation payments made under the CSCS are non pensionable.

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

A response to the Hon lady’s Parliamentary Question of 25th February is attached.

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

A response to the Hon lady’s Parliamentary Question of 25th February is attached.

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

A response to the Hon lady’s Parliamentary Question of 25th February is attached.

As Head of the Executive, the Prime Minister may request that any investigation work in relation to the conduct of serving Ministers is undertaken by a range of relevant individuals, including the Independent Adviser of Ministerial Standards or legal counsel.

I refer you to the Government's response to the Urgent Question tabled on 12th February, the Written Ministerial Statement in the name of the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister and repeated in the House of Lords that same day, and the Oral Statement on the 23rd February, in the name of the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister, which set out an update on the Government's process and that Departments have been instructed to retain material that may be relevant to the motion.

The government does not currently have any plans to amend the Ministerial Pension Scheme.

The visit was part of the Prime Minister's trip to Washington. During this visit the Prime Minister listened to a short presentation about Palantir’s work, followed by a tour of the premises and an introduction to members of staff.

Any contracts for any firm go through the usual rigorous departmental processes and their decision makers.

The government does not publish internal documents.

I refer the Hon Member to the answer of 02 February, Official Report, PQ HC107285:

PQ 107285: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Prime Minister has agreed a date to meet with victims of press abuse, following his remarks at the Liaison Committee on 15 December 2025.

Answer: Officials from the Prime Minister’s Office are in contact with representatives of the group to arrange a meeting.

Many of the Civil Service’s training needs can be delivered in-house, by civil servants. However, it is important to note that the Civil Service will always want to bring in expert knowledge, insight and learning from outside the Civil Service to ensure that civil servants have the right technical knowledge and skills.

The National School of Government and Public Services will deliver more training in house - especially for leadership and management, and core skills. Over the course of the next three years, Government Skills will increase the focus on in-house delivery where it is sensible to do so and, by April 2029, we will have moved to a new delivery model where we work directly with more suppliers.

Over this three year period, the Cabinet Office will use the Learning Frameworks 2.0 contracts to deliver training services to the Civil Service whilst the infrastructure needed by the National School of Government and Public Services is established.

We are unable to provide a breakdown of the number of people affected in the Arbroath and Broughty Ferry constituency. Capita does not provide data on the administration of the Civil Service Pension Scheme at this specific geographic or constituency level.

The latest position of the Civil Service Pension Recovery Plan Update (2 March 2026) is available at this weblink: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-pension-recovery-plan-updates/civil-service-pension-recovery-plan-update-2-march-2026

The pension scheme continues to make monthly pension payments to approximately 730,000 existing pensioner members on time.

The required data is provided in the table below. The 2024-25 intake began delivery in 2025, and will complete in Summer 2026, so completion data is not yet available. Withdrawal and removal information for this year is accurate as at 23 February 2026. Data has been suppressed to prevent the identification of individuals.

I refer to the Honourable Member to Minister Turley’s answer provided to PQ 82675.

The Cabinet Office Second Headquarters is based in the Government Hub at 1 Atlantic Square, Glasgow.

The Cabinet Office's Second Headquarters serves as a key regional base, accommodating over 700 Cabinet Office staff.

It has been the practice of successive governments not to comment, on grounds of both national security and staff safety, on the physical capacity or staffing numbers for individual buildings of the government estate.

Details of any payments made to the previous Cabinet Secretary will be published in the Cabinet Office Annual report and Accounts for 2025-26.

I refer to the Gov.uk announcement of the Cabinet Secretary appointment, which said that a due diligence process has also been undertaken by the Permanent Secretary of the Cabinet Office and the interim Government Chief People Officer.

The First Civil Service Commissioner approved the comprehensive due diligence process and agreed the conclusions drawn, to form the basis for the Prime Minister to make an appointment decision.

All Permanent Secretaries must follow the ‘Declaration and management of outside interests in the Civil Service’ guidance.

I refer to the Gov.uk announcement of Sir Chris Wormald’s departure. No further comment will be provided.

I refer to my answer to 110422, the recruitment campaign for the permanent role will be launched in due course.

The Cabinet Office Information and Records Policy stipulates that HR reports are destroyed after seven years.

Interim arrangements do not usually require ministerial approval. A recruitment campaign will be launched in due course.

I refer to the Hon. Member to the Gov.uk announcement, “the Prime Minister and the First Civil Service Commissioner agreed on a process to appoint a new Cabinet Secretary.”