Asked by: Charlotte Cane (Liberal Democrat - Ely and East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an estimate of the Gross Domestic Product of Ely and East Cambridgeshire constituency in (a) July 2024 and (b) October 2025.
Answered by Josh Simons - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon lady’s Parliamentary Question of 10th October is attached.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 23 September 2025 to Question 71198 on Unherd: Advertising, whether the Government Communication Service SAFE framework currently permits government advertising on the websites of (a) The Sun, (b) The Daily Star, (c) Spiked and (d) Ladbible.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
SAFE framework assessments have been conducted on The Sun, The Daily Star, and Ladbible, and they have been assessed as appropriate for government advertising. No SAFE framework assessment has been conducted on Spiked.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of bringing forward the 2029 deadline for payments under the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The delivery of compensation is a matter for the Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA). As of 7 October, IBCA has contacted 3,614 people to start their compensation claim, and 3,350 have started the claim process. 2,204 offers of compensation have been made, totalling over £1.6 billion, and so far 1,761 people have accepted their offers with more than £1 billion paid in compensation.
The IBCA Framework Document, published in March, sets out the timelines agreed between IBCA and Cabinet Office; namely for the bulk of infected people to be paid no later than the end of 2027 and the bulk of affected people to be paid no later than the end of 2029.
These timescales have been agreed with IBCA, to ensure that the door is kept open for those who have not yet identified themselves as being infected or affected. In my oral statement to the House on 21 July, I set out that these dates are not targets for delivery, but ‘backstops’.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on making the appointment of Ambassadors subject to the regulated public appointments process.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Heads of Mission are civil servants and as such are subject to different recruitment and appointment rules and processes to public appointees. The Cabinet Office has no plans to make such roles subject to the regulated public appointment process.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Answer of 17 September 2025 to Question HL10221 on Baroness Shafik, what Baroness Shafik's remuneration is.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
It would not be appropriate to comment on individuals. The level of remuneration and the management of relevant outside interests for this role have been agreed in line with relevant guidance and processes.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Manchester Digital Campus project on national security.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Government Property Agency is working with the Cabinet Office to progress a business case for the Manchester Digital Campus (“MDC”). Subject to final approval MDC will form a central component of this Government’s Digital, AI and Innovation Campus in Manchester and would build capacity benefitting multiple Government Missions.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what information his Department holds on the profit margin obtained by MyCSP in each year of their administration of the Civil Service Pension Scheme contract.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
MyCSP is required to provide updates on profit as part of the gainshare provisions within the contract. MyCSP continues to provide this to the Cabinet Office on a six monthly basis. This information is financially sensitive and is not currently reported in the public domain.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to paragraph 3.14 of the report by the National Audit Office entitled Investigation into the administration of the Civil Service Pension Scheme, published on 16 June 2025, HC 951, when he expects the track my case function to be available for members of the Civil Service Pension Scheme.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office expects the ‘Track My Case’ function to be available for members of the Civil Service Pension Scheme after the full service transition to Capita in March 2026.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department had discussions with Lord Mandelson on defence procurement contracts between 10 February and 11 September 2025.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
As Ambassador to the United States, Lord Mandelson met regularly with senior officials to discuss a range of issues across the UK-US relationship, including opportunities for closer collaboration on technology partnership, AUKUS and other ways to deepen the UK-US bilateral relationship.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 14 October 2025 to Question 79077 on Ethics and Integrity Commission, if he will set out the nature of the advice the Cabinet Office will provide to the Prime Minister before the establishment of a public inquiry; and whether that advice will be made public.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Advice will be tailored to the specifics of each case. Broadly, the Cabinet Office will provide advice on whether a proposed inquiry model and its terms of reference appear appropriate to investigate the particular matter in question. This will help ensure that the right response is taken and that we do not adopt approaches that would delay accountability to victims, survivors and their families.
In line with the longstanding approach across multiple administrations, confidential advice to Ministers will not be made public.