Jul. 14 2025
Source Page: EM on UK-EU TCA Partnership Council decision on energyJul. 14 2025
Source Page: EM on UK-EU TCA Partnership Council decision on energyJul. 14 2025
Source Page: Letter dated 24/04/2025 from the Cabinet Office to all Business Unit Heads and senior Finance Business Partners regarding guidance on the procurement of branded merchandise and the use of external venues for events. [redacted] 3p.Asked by: Tracy Gilbert (Labour - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the funding allocated to the Infected Blood Compensation Authority is drawn from the £11.8 billion set aside by the Government for infected blood compensation or provided from a separate budget.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
In the Autumn Budget, the Government announced £11.8 billion in compensation to people who were infected and affected as a result of the Infected Blood scandal.
This is separate to the funding allocated to the administrative costs of the Infected Blood Compensation Authority.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an estimate of the cost to the public purse of Ministerial pensions in the (a) 2023-24 and (b) 2024-25 financial year.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
MPs and Ministers have membership to the Parliamentary Contributions Pension Fund (PCPF) of which the ministerial share is typically around 8% of the total exchequer contribution.
In 2023/24, the Exchequer paid contributions totalling £7,693,885 into the fund and the Ministerial share was £643,123.98.
The total contribution information is available in the PCPF 2023-24 accounts (p45) using the link below:
The 2024-25 figures will be published by the PCPF Trustees in October 2025.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 13 June 2025 to Question 57252 on Arms Length Bodies: Parliamentary Scrutiny, whether written Parliamentary Questions on the work of (a) public corporations and (b) private companies owned by the Government are expected to be answered by (i) the sponsoring minister or (ii) through correspondence from the Chief Executive of that body.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Written Parliamentary Questions about specific arm’s-length entities, including public corporations or government-owned companies, should be directed to the relevant sponsoring department. The arrangements for answering such questions are a matter for sponsoring departments to agree in consultation with individual arm’s length entities.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an estimate of the number of Civil Service employees who possess a Level 7 Apprenticeship qualification.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office does not hold this information. We are committed to apprenticeships as a route to improving the skills of our workforce and opening up careers in the civil service around the UK.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of contracts with (a) Serco and (b) other providers for critical public safety services on the reputation of the Government.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The government has taken significant steps to increase transparency in the delivery of public services. Cabinet Office regularly publish a list of the most significant contracts held by central government on Gov.uk. This list includes up to four Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for each contract, along with the supplier's performance against those KPIs.
Serco’s contract performance information is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/key-performance-indicators-kpis-for-governments-most-important-contracts.
In 2019, the government introduced a new approach to the monitoring and management of strategic suppliers through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the government and each of its strategic suppliers. Strategic Suppliers have agreed to provide government with the information it needs to monitor and manage risks across their supply chains. Details of the current policy can be found here:
The Government does not routinely release information relating to formal warnings issued to suppliers as this may prejudice a supplier’s commercial interests.
Contracting Authorities are responsible for the award of contracts in line with the procurement regulations at the time of the award. This would include undertaking due diligence on suppliers as required by those regulations. It would not be appropriate for the Cabinet Office to comment on any specific procurements, that would be for the relevant Contracting Authority to respond.
Details of central government contracts above £12,000 and public sector contracts above £30,000 for procurements commenced before 24 February 2025 are published on Contracts Finder (https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder). Contracts procured under the Procurement Act 2023, which came into force on 24 February 2025, are published on the Central Digital Platform Find a Tender service (https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Search/Results).
The government must ensure that there are sufficient safeguards in place to allow the prevention of suppliers with a history of serious contractual failures from being awarded public contracts. The recently launched Procurement Act 2023 has strengthened our ability to respond where issues arise and address poor performance. The Act makes it easier for contracting authorities to exclude suppliers from bidding for public contracts for past poor performance or where there has been breach of contract. Cabinet Office has published extensive guidance to support contracting authorities, in addition to a robust and wide reaching training offer to support the implementation of the Procurement Act.