Cabinet Office

A response to the hon. Member’s Parliamentary Question of 18 July is attached.

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

A response to the hon. Member’s Parliamentary Question of 18 July is attached.

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

A response to the hon. Member’s Parliamentary Question of 18 July is attached.

This investigation had not been completed by Lord Geidt prior to his resignation. The investigation, therefore, remains outstanding.

The Prime Minister has taken the decision that the investigation should be a matter for a new Independent Adviser function, as soon as appointed by his successor.

There have been numerous meetings between officials and national representatives of PCS, Prospect, FDA and other Trade Unions on a wide range of Civil Service wide workforce matters, including pay and the proposed reductions, since that date.

Specific dates where meetings have taken place are:

7th April

11th April

12th April

17th April

20th April

25th April

28th April

12th May

17th May

31st May

16th June

27th June

30th June

14th July

The decision not to summons all Privy Counsellors to the next Accession Council, and to hold a ballot of Privy Counsellors not eligible to attend on an ex officio basis, was taken with the collective agreement of the Lord President of the Council and Number 10. The Royal Household was also consulted on the basis of this collective advice. This decision-making process is consistent with the decision-making process for previous Accession Councils.

The decision to reduce the size of the Accession Council and to hold a ballot for those ineligible to attend on an ex officio basis applies to all Privy Councillors, regardless of their nationality or their usual place of residence.

St. James’s Palace is the senior Royal Palace in the United Kingdom and the Court of St. James is the Royal Court to which all Realm High Commissioners are accredited. St. James’s Palace has therefore long been agreed to be the most appropriate setting for the Accession Council.

In any case, Westminster Hall will not be available to host the Accession Council because an intensive and time critical series of works will begin on the Parliamentary estate, including Westminster Hall, as soon as Demise is announced. The purpose of these works is to prepare the estate and surrounding areas for significant elements of ceremonial and procedural activity. Hosting the Accession Council in Westminster Hall would prevent the completion of these critical works, resulting in significant disruption to other national activity.

Attendance at an Accession Council is not a statutory matter and there is no constitutional requirement to consult Privy Counsellors on any amendments to attendance arrangements.

Decisions on attendance arrangements for future Accession Councils will be taken at the appropriate time.

The decision not to summons all Privy Counsellors to the next Accession Council, and to hold a ballot of Privy Counsellors not eligible to attend on an ex officio basis, was taken with the collective agreement of the Lord President of the Council and Number 10. The Royal Household was also consulted on the basis of this collective advice. This decision-making process is consistent with the decision-making process for previous Accession Councils.

The decision to reduce the size of the Accession Council and to hold a ballot for those ineligible to attend on an ex officio basis applies to all Privy Councillors, regardless of their nationality or their usual place of residence.

St. James’s Palace is the senior Royal Palace in the United Kingdom and the Court of St. James is the Royal Court to which all Realm High Commissioners are accredited. St. James’s Palace has therefore long been agreed to be the most appropriate setting for the Accession Council.

In any case, Westminster Hall will not be available to host the Accession Council because an intensive and time critical series of works will begin on the Parliamentary estate, including Westminster Hall, as soon as Demise is announced. The purpose of these works is to prepare the estate and surrounding areas for significant elements of ceremonial and procedural activity. Hosting the Accession Council in Westminster Hall would prevent the completion of these critical works, resulting in significant disruption to other national activity.

Attendance at an Accession Council is not a statutory matter and there is no constitutional requirement to consult Privy Counsellors on any amendments to attendance arrangements.

Decisions on attendance arrangements for future Accession Councils will be taken at the appropriate time.

The decision not to summons all Privy Counsellors to the next Accession Council, and to hold a ballot of Privy Counsellors not eligible to attend on an ex officio basis, was taken with the collective agreement of the Lord President of the Council and Number 10. The Royal Household was also consulted on the basis of this collective advice. This decision-making process is consistent with the decision-making process for previous Accession Councils.

The decision to reduce the size of the Accession Council and to hold a ballot for those ineligible to attend on an ex officio basis applies to all Privy Councillors, regardless of their nationality or their usual place of residence.

St. James’s Palace is the senior Royal Palace in the United Kingdom and the Court of St. James is the Royal Court to which all Realm High Commissioners are accredited. St. James’s Palace has therefore long been agreed to be the most appropriate setting for the Accession Council.

In any case, Westminster Hall will not be available to host the Accession Council because an intensive and time critical series of works will begin on the Parliamentary estate, including Westminster Hall, as soon as Demise is announced. The purpose of these works is to prepare the estate and surrounding areas for significant elements of ceremonial and procedural activity. Hosting the Accession Council in Westminster Hall would prevent the completion of these critical works, resulting in significant disruption to other national activity.

Attendance at an Accession Council is not a statutory matter and there is no constitutional requirement to consult Privy Counsellors on any amendments to attendance arrangements.

Decisions on attendance arrangements for future Accession Councils will be taken at the appropriate time.

The decision not to summons all Privy Counsellors to the next Accession Council, and to hold a ballot of Privy Counsellors not eligible to attend on an ex officio basis, was taken with the collective agreement of the Lord President of the Council and Number 10. The Royal Household was also consulted on the basis of this collective advice. This decision-making process is consistent with the decision-making process for previous Accession Councils.

The decision to reduce the size of the Accession Council and to hold a ballot for those ineligible to attend on an ex officio basis applies to all Privy Councillors, regardless of their nationality or their usual place of residence.

St. James’s Palace is the senior Royal Palace in the United Kingdom and the Court of St. James is the Royal Court to which all Realm High Commissioners are accredited. St. James’s Palace has therefore long been agreed to be the most appropriate setting for the Accession Council.

In any case, Westminster Hall will not be available to host the Accession Council because an intensive and time critical series of works will begin on the Parliamentary estate, including Westminster Hall, as soon as Demise is announced. The purpose of these works is to prepare the estate and surrounding areas for significant elements of ceremonial and procedural activity. Hosting the Accession Council in Westminster Hall would prevent the completion of these critical works, resulting in significant disruption to other national activity.

Attendance at an Accession Council is not a statutory matter and there is no constitutional requirement to consult Privy Counsellors on any amendments to attendance arrangements.

Decisions on attendance arrangements for future Accession Councils will be taken at the appropriate time.

I refer the Hon. member to the answer given to PQ 35990 on 18 July 2022.

I refer the Hon. member to the answer given to PQ 35990 on 18 July 2022.

I refer the hon. Member to my answer on 20 July 2022 to PQ 37503.

I refer the hon. Member to my answer on 20 July 2022 to PQ 37503.

The Cabinet Office acknowledges the pressures that the aviation sector is under and has been working with the industry to offer support and speed up the security processes for prospective airport staff. UK Security Vetting (UKSV) has prioritised applications from the aviation sector since April of this year.

UKSV can only provide overall statistics for the aviation industry and are unable to separate out statistics for baggage handlers. On average, Accreditation Checks are being completed in five days or less. Counter Terrorist Checks (CTC) in the Aviation sector are being processed in under ten days on average.

In line with the practice followed by successive administrations, the Government does not otherwise comment on security matters.

I refer the Hon. member to the answer given to PQ 35990 on 18 July 2022.

I refer the hon. Member to my answer on 16 June 2022 to PQ 16972.

Officials from the Welsh Government were first engaged by their counterparts in the Cabinet Office and the Met Office with respect to the possible severity of the current heatwave on 7 July 2022.

The First Minister for Wales was directly engaged by Cabinet Office Ministers on 14 July 2022.

Under the provisions of the Ministerial and other Pensions and Salaries Act 1991, a former minister only becomes entitled to a severance payment in the event that they are not appointed to another relevant office within three weeks of stepping down.

The provision of severance payments is set out in legislation, passed by Parliament, that has been applied by successive administrations over a significant period. Severance pay reflects the unpredictable nature of ministerial office.

The Civil Service should act as it did during previous periods in 2016 and 2019. Official resources must not be used to support leadership campaign activity.

As at all times, the Civil Service must serve the Government in a way which maintains political impartiality and retains the confidence of Ministers, while at the same time ensuring it will be able to establish the same relationship with those who may go on to lead the Government.

Special advisers are exempt from the Civil Service Code requirement of political impartiality. Therefore, as laid out in the Special Adviser Code of Conduct, their involvement in political activity does not need to be restricted in the same way as it is for other civil servants. All Special Advisers have been made aware of the expectations regarding their role and conduct during this period. If they wish to take part in leadership campaign activity, they must do so in their own time, out of office hours or via unpaid leave, and not involve the use of departmental resources.

The Civil Service should act as it did during previous periods in 2016 and 2019. Official resources must not be used to support leadership campaign activity.

As at all times, the Civil Service must serve the Government in a way which maintains political impartiality and retains the confidence of Ministers, while at the same time ensuring it will be able to establish the same relationship with those who may go on to lead the Government.

Special advisers are exempt from the Civil Service Code requirement of political impartiality. Therefore, as laid out in the Special Adviser Code of Conduct, their involvement in political activity does not need to be restricted in the same way as it is for other civil servants. All Special Advisers have been made aware of the expectations regarding their role and conduct during this period. If they wish to take part in leadership campaign activity, they must do so in their own time, out of office hours or via unpaid leave, and not involve the use of departmental resources.

The decision not to summons all Privy Counsellors to the next Accession Council, and to hold a ballot of Privy Counsellors not eligible to attend on an ex officio basis, was taken with the collective agreement of the Lord President of the Council and Number 10. The Royal Household was also consulted on the basis of this collective advice. This decision-making process is consistent with the decision-making process for previous Accession Councils.

The decision to reduce the size of the Accession Council and to hold a ballot for those ineligible to attend on an ex officio basis applies to all Privy Councillors, regardless of their nationality or their usual place of residence.

St. James’s Palace is the senior Royal Palace in the United Kingdom and the Court of St. James is the Royal Court to which all Realm High Commissioners are accredited. St. James’s Palace has therefore long been agreed to be the most appropriate setting for the Accession Council.

In any case, Westminster Hall will not be available to host the Accession Council because an intensive and time critical series of works will begin on the Parliamentary estate, including Westminster Hall, as soon as Demise is announced. The purpose of these works is to prepare the estate and surrounding areas for significant elements of ceremonial and procedural activity. Hosting the Accession Council in Westminster Hall would prevent the completion of these critical works, resulting in significant disruption to other national activity.

Attendance at an Accession Council is not a statutory matter and there is no constitutional requirement to consult Privy Counsellors on any amendments to attendance arrangements.

Decisions on attendance arrangements for future Accession Councils will be taken at the appropriate time.

The Cabinet Office has been overseeing the cross-government response to the current heatwave, running daily COBR meetings and ensuring appropriate situation reporting to inform contingency plans and decision making.

Individual departments are responsible for the preparedness and contingency plans of their sectors, including ensuring that plans are in place to handle the impacts of extreme heat.

The UK Government has activated a number of pre-agreed contingency plans to cope with the current heatwave, using the Met Office’s National Severe Weather Warning service and the UK Health Security Agency’s Heat Health Alerts as triggers for contingency plan implementation. For example, in response to the forecast, the rail network has introduced widespread speed restrictions and the NHS has taken steps outlined in the National Heatwave Plan.

The Covid-19 Inquiry will play a key role in learning lessons from the pandemic. The final Terms of Reference for the Inquiry were published in June. The Prime Minister accepted all of Baroness Hallett’s recommendations.

The Government does not comment on legal advice it may have received. We will meet our obligations to the Inquiry in full.

The Government is committed to working with the Inquiry to ensure that Baroness Hallett is able to conduct a thorough investigation into the preparations for and the response to the pandemic.

Special advisers are employed by the department to which they were appointed to assist their minister, as such the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s special advisers are employed by HM Treasury; the administration of special advisers is however overseen by the Cabinet Office.

Under paragraph 14b of the Model Contract for Special Advisers, a special adviser’s employment is automatically terminated when their appointing minister ceases to hold the ministerial office to which they were appointed to assist them. Paragraph 14c of the Model Contract details the conditions that apply should a special adviser’s employment end, including eligibility for any severance payments. Paragraph 14c of the Model Contract also sets out that special advisers who are later re-appointed to government must repay their severance pay, less the amount of salary they would have been paid had they been employed during the period between their termination and their re-appointment.

These arrangements have been in place under successive administrations.

Pursuant to the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 and as part of the government’s policy on open data and transparency, the Cabinet Office routinely publishes an annual report on the numbers and costs of special advisers. The total cost of exit packages, including severance payments, for special advisers are published annually.

The Covid-19 Inquiry will play a key role in learning lessons from the pandemic. The final Terms of Reference for the Inquiry were published in June. The Prime Minister accepted all of Baroness Hallett’s recommendations.

The Government does not comment on legal advice it may have received. We will meet our obligations to the Inquiry in full.

The Government is committed to working with the Inquiry to ensure that Baroness Hallett is able to conduct a thorough investigation into the preparations for and the response to the pandemic.

The amount spent on air travel for Cabinet Office Ministers and officials via Departmental contracts in 2020, 2021, and 2022 is as follows:

2020 - £691,109.04

2021 - £1,447,806.97

2022 (January to March) - £1,029,308.49

These figures include COP26 travel booked via Corporate Travel Management.

The Ministerial Code sets out that Ministers are expected to maintain high standards of behaviour and to behave in a way that upholds the highest standards of propriety. Ministers are personally responsible for deciding how to act and conduct themselves in the light of the Ministerial Code, and for justifying their actions and conduct to Parliament and the public. The Parliamentary Under Secretary of State has released a public statement and commented that she ‘should have shown more composure’.

There have been numerous meetings between officials and national representatives of PCS, Prospect, FDA and other Trade Unions on a wide range of Civil Service wide workforce matters, including pay and the proposed reductions, since that date.

Specific dates where meetings have taken place are:

7th April

11th April

12th April

17th April

20th April

25th April

28th April

12th May

17th May

31st May

16th June

27th June

30th June

14th July

The Downing Street Briefing Room is in regular use for media briefings twice a day on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, once a day on Fridays when Parliament is sitting, and once a week during parliamentary recess.

There have been seven televised press conferences held so far in the room in 2022.

It is also used for other events such as virtual calls with world leaders.

As at 8am on 19 July, there are 3,349 adverts for 10,409 total postings advertised on the Civil Service Jobs website. The below table shows vacancies and posts by department.

Details of ministerial meetings with external organisations are published on gov.uk as part of the government’s transparency agenda.

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

A response to the Rt hon. Member's Parliamentary Question of 18 July is attached.

The Cost of Living Business Tsar, David Buttress, has and will continue to engage business of all sizes as part of his work to help households cope with the cost of living crisis. He is working closely with business associations to ensure that SMEs - including independent retailers - are able to contribute to this work. The Cost of Living Business Tsar will also work with officials to ensure that deals developed as part of his initiative are ethical and help UK consumers.

Food prices are set by businesses and it is not for the UK Government to set retail food prices or comment on day-today commercial decisions by companies. We continue to monitor food prices using the ONS inflation figures.

The Terms of Reference of the Domestic and Economic (Efficiency and Value for Money) Committee are to drive efficiency, effectiveness and economy in government spending, and scrutinise plans to manage major current and future cost pressures. Further details about this committee were released on GOV.UK on 20 March 2022, accessible below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-efficiency-drive-to-cut-55-billion-of-government-waste.

There are a number of Cabinet Committees that could take agenda items related to civil service staffing. It is a long-established precedent that information about the discussions that have taken place in Cabinet and its Committees is not normally shared publicly.

Under paragraph 14b of the Model Contract for Special Advisers, a special adviser’s employment is automatically terminated when their appointing minister ceases to hold the ministerial office to which they were appointed to assist them.

The Prime Minister accompanied pilots on a routine training flight and, therefore, no extra cost was incurred.

The Prime Minister accompanied pilots on a routine training flight and, therefore, no extra cost was incurred.

The Cabinet Office attaches great importance to the effective and timely handling of correspondence from MPs and Peers. On 26 May 2022, we published data on the timeliness of government responses to correspondence from MPs and Peers for 2021 on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/data-on-responses-to-correspondence-from-mps-and-peers-2021. Cabinet Office timeliness improved each quarter of 2021, with 89% of correspondence received from hon. Members in quarter four responded to within 20 working days.

As per the Guide to Handling Correspondence, updated by the Cabinet Office in July 2021, the target response time set by Departments for correspondence must not exceed 20 working days. The Cabinet Office continues to keep its own processes under review to further improve the time taken to respond.

The Fast Stream is a talent pipeline for government departments and professions. It is only right we pause bringing in candidates as departments set out how they might achieve the government’s commitment to return the Civil Service to the size it was in 2016.

Whilst we pause the Fast Stream for the 2023 intake, we will take the opportunity to further improve the Fast Stream offer. This reform will ensure that when the scheme reopens, it is focused on driving up specialist skills in the Civil Service, as well as improving the regional representation of the Fast Stream.

Information provided by departments to the Cabinet Office shows that as of 1st April 2021, 890 Senior Civil Servants were reported to have been successful in the central Fast Stream selection process. This represents 20% of all Senior Civil Servants (as a percentage of all members where information has been reported by the department as known).

This investigation had not been completed by Lord Geidt prior to his resignation. The investigation, therefore, remains outstanding.

The Prime Minister has taken the decision that the investigation should be a matter for a new Independent Adviser function, as soon as appointed by his successor.

Expenditure on advertising across the three years requested is:

Expenditure in 2021/22 is subject to the Department's audit being finalised, and is therefore provisional.

Given that planning is still underway and no decisions have yet been made, as well as the sensitivities involved, it would not be appropriate to share departmental scenario planning. We are committed to a robust process of scrutiny and challenge in the months ahead, including focusing on impacts on public services, and will engage more broadly at the appropriate time.

Given that planning is still underway and no decisions have yet been made, as well as the sensitivities involved, it would not be appropriate to share departmental scenario planning. We are committed to a robust process of scrutiny and challenge in the months ahead, including focusing on impacts on public services, and will engage more broadly at the appropriate time.

As I outlined in my answer of 18 October 2021 to PQ 54006, Chequers is not a government building; it is run and managed by an independent trust.

Official hospitality provided by the government (e.g. hosting the visit of a representative of a foreign government) is paid for by the public purse. Personal or party political hospitality is not. This has been the case under successive administrations.