Cabinet Office

MyCSP is a private company and carries out most of the day-to-day administration of the Civil Service Pension Scheme, under a contract with the Cabinet Office. As a private company, MyCSP is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act. The Cabinet Office is a public authority for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act.

This government is committed to ensuring departments consider overall value for money in resourcing decisions.

To this end, it has introduced a 2% target for reduction to administration budgets in financial years 2024-25 and 2025-26 and a stop to all non-essential spending on consultancy, with an aim to halve spending in future years.

As set out in the Budget, the government has committed to developing a long-term strategic plan for a more efficient and effective Civil Service, including bold options to improve skills, harness digital technology and drive better outcomes for public services.

Decisions relating to the size and cost of the Civil Service workforce will be considered as part of the Spending Review process. HM Treasury and the Cabinet Office will work closely with departments to develop plans that achieve the government’s reform objectives for the Civil Service.

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

A response to the Hon lady’s Parliamentary Question of 11th December is attached.

The Baroness Pidgeon MBE

House of Lords

London

SW1A 0PW

17 December 2024

Dear Lady Pidgeon,

As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question, asking what assessment has been made of the number of jobs in (1) the bicycle manufacturing industry, (2) the e-bike manufacturing industry, and (3) the supply chains of the bicycle and e-bike manufacturing industries (HL3406).

The estimated number of employees in Great Britain working in the manufacture of bicycles and invalid carriages in 2023 was 2,700, according to the latest available data from the Business Register and Employment Survey1.

The latest UK Standard Industrial Classification of Economic Activities 20072 does not have a unique classification for the manufacture of e-bikes, therefore we are unable to provide an estimate of jobs for this industry.

The supply chain of the bicycle and e-bike manufacturing industries could include a large number of different industrial classifications. We do not hold information on which industries are part of these supply chains and therefore are unable to provide an estimate for the number of jobs in the UK for supply chain industries.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Sir Ian Diamond

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

Please see the letter attached from the Director General for Office for Statistics Regulation.

Ed Humpherson, Director General for Office for Statistics Regulation

The Lord Moylan
House of Lords
London
SW1A 0PW

19 December 2024

Dear Lord Moylan,

As Director General for Office for Statistics Regulation, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking when His Majesty's Government plan to update the assessment of abortion statistics by the UK Statistics Authority in order to comply with the Code of Practice for Statistics (HL3549).

The Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) was established in 2016 and is the regulatory arm of the UK Statistics Authority (the Authority). OSR provides independent regulation of all official statistics produced in the UK. Before 2016, the Authority's Monitoring and Assessment team handled regulatory functions.

Accredited Official Statistics are official statistics that have been independently assessed by OSR to comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics. Accredited Official Statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.

Abortions Statistics for England and Wales produced by the Office for Health Improvement & Disparities (OHID, was previously Department of Health) were assessed as complying with the Code of Practice for Statistics in February 2012, and National Statistics designation was awarded[1].

It is a requirement of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 that the Code of Practice must continue to be complied with by the statistics producer in relation to the statistics. OSR regularly engages with the Head of Profession for Statistics for the Department of Health and Social Care to obtain general assurance on the Department’s compliance with the Code of Practice, but the OSR team has not discussed the abortion statistics specifically in these conversations.

Once a set of statistics has been assessed, OSR can re-assess them at any time. Reassessments can be initiated as a result of concerns raised with us by users, including citizens, academic experts and policy stakeholders. While we do not currently have any plans to re-assess the abortion statistics in this financial year, we are always open to hearing the concerns of people with an interest in the topic area.

To that end, if you have any concerns regarding the trustworthiness, quality and value of these abortion statistics not complying with the Code of Practice for Statistics, please do contact me through our general contact email regulation@statistics.gov.uk.

Yours sincerely

Ed Humpherson
Director General for OSR

[1]Statistics on Abortion: Letter of Confirmation as National Statistics, https://uksa.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/publication/statistics-on-abortion-letter-of-confirmation-as-national-statistics/

There is an established process in place for the declaration and management of interests held by ministers. This ensures that steps are taken to avoid or mitigate any actual or perceived conflicts of interest.

As set out in the List of Ministers' Interests (November 2024), as part of the ministers' interests process, Ministers are asked to confirm that their tax affairs are up to date and that the arrangement of their affairs is consistent with their overarching duty to comply with the law. The List of Ministers' Interests is available on GOV.UK at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/list-of-ministers-interests

We are working with departments on their future plans as part of the upcoming Spending Review.

The Cabinet Office has a clear policy for new government procurement card applications which must be accompanied by confirmation a budget holder within the relevant business unit approves the issue of the card. Initial use of the card is restricted to certain categories of spend alongside a single transaction limit and monthly spend limit. These restrictions can only be lifted by completing a business case. All new card applications must include a signature to confirm that the cardholder has read and accepted departmental policies and the consequences of misuse.

The Cabinet Office had 298 and 320 government procurement cardholders at the end of 2022 and 2023 respectively.

The Government Property Agency had 5 and 8 government procurement cardholders at the end of 2022 and 2023 respectively.

The Government Property Agency confirmed £24,315.62 excluding VAT was spent during the period 4th July 2022 to 4th July 2024 on new furniture and fittings plus other refurbishment (including moves) This is broken down as follows;

• New Furniture and Fittings - £526.87

• Other Refurbishment of Ministerial Offices including moves - £23,788.75

The full itemised list can be found below:

(a) new furniture and fittings

Covering the period from the creation of DSIT, as announced by the Prime Minister on 7 February 2023 to 4 July 2024:

• Date reference: 01/03/2023

• What: Supply and installation of 4x key safe for private offices

• How much: £302.89 ex VAT

• Note: 1x key safe out of these 4 key safes was for the DSIT Permanent Secretary’s room (not ministerial) - however, we are not able to separate the cost of this from the overall costs for these fittings and works as a whole

• Date reference: 02/02/2024

• What: Supply and installation of key safe for private office

• How much: £68.25 ex VAT

• Date reference: 02/04/2024

• What: Installation of portrait of HM The King at ministerial offices

• How much: £51.91 ex VAT

• Note: Portrait was supplied under the government's His Majesty The King's Portrait Scheme

• Date reference: 16/04/2024

• What: Installation of a heavy duty key safe for private office

• How much: £103.82 ex VAT

(b) other refurbishment of Ministerial offices

Covering the period from the creation of DSIT, as announced by the Prime Minister on 7 February 2023 to 4 July 2024:

• Date reference: 26/7/2023

• What: Removal of whiteboards from wall, repair and redecoration (repainting) of damaged wall in ministerial office

• How much: £472.98 ex VAT

• Date reference: 7/8/2023

• What: Churn of furniture (relocation, repositioning, removal of furniture to storeroom and installing furniture from storeroom) in private offices

• How much: £311.47 ex VAT

• Date reference: 16/11/2023

• What: Churn of furniture (removal of furniture to storeroom and installing replacement furniture, reused from separate office) in ministerial office

• How much: £415.30 ex VAT

• Date reference: 15/12/2023

• What: Major churn of furniture (internal movement and relocation of furniture to move ministerial teams to different rooms from previous rooms) of ministerial and private offices

• How much: £13,661.92 ex VAT

• Date reference: 19/1/2024

• Removal of noticeboards and relocation of artwork, repair and redecoration (repainting) of damaged walls in 2x ministerial rooms

• How much: £1,855.57 ex VAT

• Date reference: 12/04/2024

• Removal of whiteboards from 3x walls, repair and redecoration (repainting) of damaged walls in ministerial office

• How much: £2,249.52 ex VAT

• Date reference: 21/06/2024

• What: Redecoration (repainting) of ministerial office

• How much: £1,539.77 ex VAT

• Note: Works completed prior to 4 July 2024

• Date reference: 27/06/2024

• What: Redecoration (repainting) of ministerial office, and installation of 7 pictures throughout ministerial office and private office

• How much: £3,281.99

• Note: Works completed prior to 4 July 2024

During this period DSIT was originally part of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) which was dissolved on 7th February 2023 and split into DESNZ, DSIT and DBT. As a result of this, the former BEIS departments were moved out of 1 Victoria Street and into different buildings. The GPA has no record of any ministerial furniture or refurbishment expenditure at the former BEIS office (1 Victoria Street) during the requested period.

Decisions to suspend an employee are delegated to individual departments. Data on the number of civil servants who have been suspended due to allegations of misconduct are therefore not held centrally.

Civil Service statistics on the composition of the Civil Service workforce, including data on those leaving the Civil Service due to dismissals, are available on GOV.UK.

The EU Relations Secretariat was established in the Cabinet Office to give effect to the Government's manifesto commitments to reset the relationship with the EU, implement the Windsor Framework in good faith and protect the UK's internal market, as well as responsibility for the UK-EU Withdrawal Agreement and Trade and Cooperation Agreement.

The EU Relations Secretariat brings together civil servants who were already working on EU relations from across the government. The data on this headcount will be published in 2025.

The EU Relations Secretariat was established in the Cabinet Office to give effect to the Government's manifesto commitments to reset the relationship with the EU, implement the Windsor Framework in good faith and protect the UK's internal market, as well as responsibility for the UK-EU Withdrawal Agreement and Trade and Cooperation Agreement.

All Senior Civil Servant roles within the EU Relations Secretariat are currently filled. We are recruiting for the new role of Second Permanent Secretary; the advert for which closed on 8 December.

The Travel, Transport, Accommodation & Venue Solutions (RM6342) is not a contract but a commercial agreement. There is no guaranteed spend associated with this agreement, as it is designed to provide a solution for potential procurement needs. As such, there is no specific spend or proportion of the agreement value allocated to the provision of services for asylum seekers, refugees, or migrants.

Mr Johnson's claim for the Public Duty Cost Allowance covering eligible costs incurred in 2022/23 was paid on 1 November 2023. This followed a decision made the previous month to grant an exception to the policy which requires all claims to be submitted by the end of quarter 1 of the following financial year. This was granted because Mr Johnson only began accruing eligible costs in late 2022/23.

Mr Johnson's claim for the Public Duty Cost Allowance covering eligible costs incurred in 2022/23 was paid on 1 November 2023. This followed a decision made the previous month to grant an exception to the policy which requires all claims to be submitted by the end of quarter 1 of the following financial year. This was granted because Mr Johnson only began accruing eligible costs in late 2022/23.

The Government is grateful to the Committee for its report.

The Government will consider the report alongside the development of other proposals to strengthen standards in public life and will update Parliament in due course.

The cost to the public purse for new furniture and fittings or refurbishment of the Prime Minister’s office in the specified time period was £0.

The primary existing use-case for blockchain technology is in cryptoassets. The Treasury has confirmed government’s intention to proceed with a financial services regulatory regime for cryptoassets, which will provide valuable protections for consumers and give firms regulatory certainty along with the flexibility to innovate. Blockchain technology has broader use-cases, which are addressed by responsible departments.

The government will publish a new National Procurement Policy Statement under the Procurement Act that will support the Government’s missions, drive value for money and deliver social value. We have been consulting with stakeholders on the development of the statement. This has included a series of roundtable discussions, and an online NPPS stakeholder survey. The new National Procurement Policy Statement will be completed in time for the commencement of the Procurement Act on 24 February 2025.

We are currently collecting financial data from arms lengths bodies, which includes non-departmental public bodies, for 2023/24 and will publish it in due course.

Financial data for arm’s length bodies, including non-departmental public bodies, in 2022/23 is published on GOV.UK.

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

A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 13th December is attached.

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

A response to the Hon. Lady’s Parliamentary Question of 13 December is attached.

The priorities for the honours system are available online: https://honours.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/about/governance/#primeminister

This Government is committed to implementing the Windsor Framework and protecting the UK internal market. In furtherance of these commitments and those made in the Safeguarding the Union command paper, the following bodies that include external sector experts have been established:

- Independent Monitoring Panel: Anna Jerzewska, Aidan Reilly and Alastair Hamilton were appointed on 19 September. The Panel has met once under this Government.

- Intertrade UK: Baroness Foster of Aghadrumsee was appointed as Chair on 19 September. Since that time, work has continued on other preparatory activity necessary to establish the body. It is expected that Intertrade UK will meet for the first time early in the New Year.

- Horticulture Working Group: Members include a range of trade associations and other industry representatives. The Group has met twice under this Government.

- Veterinary Medicines Working Group: Members include a range of industry representatives and technical experts. The Group has met twice under this Government.

The Government has separately indicated its intention to commission an Independent Review of the operation of Articles 5-10 of the Windsor Framework, in accordance with its duties under the law, and will update Parliament in due course.

On 24 July 2024, the Prime Minister announced via a Written Ministerial Statement that responsibility for the UK’s relationship with the EU, including co-chairing the ministerial structures under the UK’s treaties with the EU, would move to the Cabinet Office.

The EU Relations Secretariat was established in the Cabinet Office to give effect to the Government's manifesto commitments to reset the relationship with the EU, deliver on our commitments in the UK-EU Withdrawal Agreement and Trade and Cooperation Agreement, and implement the Windsor Framework in good faith and protect the UK's internal market.

The EU Relations Secretariat brings together civil servants who were already working on EU relations from across the government. The data on this headcount will be published in 2025. The next update to the Cabinet Office organogram with a breakdown of grades will be published on 30 January 2025.

The Government will announce details of the Independent Review in due course, and in line with its obligations under Schedule 6A of the Northern Ireland Act 1998.

The Committee on the Grant of Honours, Decorations and Medals (known as the HD Committee) only has one sub-committee, the Advisory Military Sub-Committee. There are no other sub-committees or working groups for the committee.

I refer the Hon Member to my Hon Friends answer of 6 December, Official Report, 17009.

I refer the Hon Member to my answer of 4 December, Official Report, 14994. The official read-out is a summary of the issues discussed at their meeting.

I refer the Hon Member to my answer of 4 December, Official Report, 14994. The official read-out is a summary of the issues discussed at their meeting.

The National Security and Investment (NSI) Act has an important role to play in ensuring businesses in the UK can thrive and access vital investment without compromising our national security. We are therefore considering the responses to the previous Government’s Call for Evidence and reflecting on our own experiences of making decisions in the NSI system over the past six months.

The Government will confirm the responsible Minister for the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority in due course.

Applications have closed for the Cabinet Office Second Permanent Secretary for European Union and International Economic Affairs role. As was practice under the previous administration we do not comment on competitions underway.

The Windsor Framework provides a wide range support for business between GB and NI.

The UK Internal Market Scheme already enables businesses to move goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland without being subject to customs duties. This is being expanded into the full UK internal market system which will further simplify the movement of goods for businesses.

There will be a competitive procurement exercise for provision of the Trader Support Service, which provides free support and guidance to businesses, to ensure continuity of service from 2026 onwards, and the current service has been extended to the end of 2025.

I apologise to the Honourable Member for the delay in responding to his question of 10 September.

The Government set out clear priorities for the reset with the EU in the manifesto. There are no plans for a Youth Mobility Scheme.

The UK generally seeks provisions in trade agreements to expand opportunities and enhance certainty for UK businesses seeking to export services. The UK’s English Language Training sector is considered and consulted where necessary to ensure that their interests are supported.

Ministers’, Senior Officials’ and Special Advisers’ transparency returns for the period of April to June 2024 were published on 28th November. Data for the period of July to September will be published in due course.

Guidance on ministers’, special advisers’, and senior officials’ transparency returns is published on GOV.UK outlining the Cabinet Office's internal feedback process.

In relation to my answer of 4 November 2024 to Question 11837, decisions about parliamentary engagement are matters for the relevant department owners of each review.

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster committed to a review of UK national resilience in his statement to the House of Commons on 19 July, in response to the Covid-19 Inquiry’s Module 1 report. The review is expected to conclude in Spring 2025 and includes a broad programme of engagement, including Parliamentary, to ensure the UK Government’s approach to resilience best helps mitigate the challenges we face. The review will also consider the future approach to reporting on and scrutiny of UK national resilience.

In late October, the Infected Blood Compensation Authority began contacting the first group of people so that they could begin making their compensation claims. As of 12th December, 10 people have been offered compensation totalling over £13 million. The first few people have accepted their offers and the first payments have now been made. Between now and January, the Authority will reach out to more people so that they can begin making their compensation claims. The Authority is aiming to reach around 250 claims in early 2025 and continue ramping up payments from there. At the October Budget the Government committed £11.8 billion of funding for the compensation scheme. The individual payments build on the more than £1 billion which victims have received so far in interim payments.

I refer the Noble Lord to the read-out of the meeting between the Prime Minister and Prime Minister Mitsotakis. Their discussion focused on areas of shared cooperation including tackling illegal migration and continued support for Ukraine.

The current version of this guidance published on 14 May 2024 remains in place.

The aggregated value of spend on translation via the Crown Commercial Services language services framework (RM6141) is £5,402,890. (correct as of 10/12/2024).

The National School of Government was closed in 2012 by the previous administration.

We are currently considering what approach to training will best ensure the civil service has the skills needed to support the delivery of the government’s priorities.

The Prime Minister published a new Ministerial Code on 6 November 2024 which sets out the standards expected of all government ministers. Part B, Chapter 3 of the Ministerial Code details the established process in place for the declaration and management of interests held by ministers. This ensures that steps are taken to avoid or mitigate any actual or perceived conflicts of interest.

Sue Gray’s employment as a special adviser ended on 6 October 2024 following her resignation that day.