Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many full time equivalent staff in his Department have been employed for the purpose of making social media content in each of the past three years.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Due to the difficulty of disaggregating the number of staff who are employed to produce social media content from staff who are employed to work on broader digital communications, it is not possible to report exact figures in response to this question.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department operates a code system to determine when and what replies are given to written parliamentary questions.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
It is for the answering Minister to determine how to reply to a written parliamentary question.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether any publications have failed SAFE assessments due to gender-critical content.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
There have been no such instances of failure.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many and what proportion of civil servants are (a) on temporary contract and (b) consultants in his Department.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Information on the number of civil servants employed on temporary contracts is published quarterly by the Office for National Statistics as part of the quarterly Public Sector Employment statistics. Information can be accessed for September 2025 at the following web address:
Public sector employment, UK: September 2025
Departmental expenditure on consultancy is published within the Annual Report and Accounts. The latest report for FY 2024/25 can be found at the following web address:
Cabinet Office annual report and accounts 2024 to 2025 - GOV.UK
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 25 November 2025 to Question 91376 on Government Hospitality: Wines, how much his Department spent with Berry Bros for invoices under £25,000 since 4 July 2024.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
I refer the Hon Member to the answer of 25 November 2025, Official Report, PQ 91376.
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 25 November 2025 to Question 91381 on Tom Kibasi, what the length of his secondment to Downing Street was.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Tom Kibasi was hired on secondment for a period of 2 months.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, further to his Department's publication entitled Public-sector trade union facility time data, updated on 27 November 2025, how many and what proportion of public bodies required to submit facility time data did not submit data, including data by (a) civil service, (b) education, (c) local authorities, (d) NHS, (e) police and (f) other bodies in (i) 2023-24 and (ii) 2024-25.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
A list of the Public Bodies which are required to submit facility time data can be found in Schedule 1 of The Trade Union (Facility Time Publication Requirements) Regulations 2017.
The public-sector trade union facility time data for the year 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 has been published on .gov.uk.
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 9 December 2025 to Question 95640 on Senior Civil Servants: Redundancy Pay, what was the legal basis for the previous Cabinet Secretary being given an exit payment.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Employment Rights Act 1996 defines contracts and employee rights for pay, leave, dismissal and other employment rights.
The model Permanent Secretary contract mentioned in the answer of 9 December 2025, states the terms and conditions and is used for Permanent Secretary level appointments including the Cabinet Secretary.
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 26 November 2025 to Question 92016 on Civil Service: Management, for what reason the Terms of Reference are not subject to external publication.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Corporate governance in central government departments: code of good practice (2017) does not require publication of board and committee Terms of Reference.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by the Prime Minister on 12 November (HC Deb col 148), whether (1) the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, or (2) his special advisers, had any involvement in media briefings.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
No.