Asked by: Baroness Finn (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government why the Cabinet Office report Public Appointments Data Report 2024–25, published on 2 December, does not include political activity statistics; and who took the decision not to include those statistics.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
This was not a decision taken by ministers. The Public Appointments Data Report 2024-25 did not include information on the political activity of public appointees due to the transition to the public appointments digital service in 2023.
The Commissioner for Public Appointments Annual Report 2024-25 was published on 17 December. For appointments made during the reporting period, the report provides the percentage of appointees who declared political activity. It does not provide a breakdown of political activity by party for the reason stated above.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what is the timetable for Departments to implement the Civil Service diversity network guidance in their own departmental diversity networks; and whether the diversity policies adopted by individual departments are centrally monitored or held by the Cabinet Office.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Responsibility for, and management of, departmental diversity networks, is delegated to individual departments as the employer. This includes the decision to adopt or align with the Staff Network Policy. The Cabinet Office has not set a timetable for departments. Departmental policies are not monitored or held centrally by the Cabinet Office.
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 91618 on Cabinet Office: Social Media, on what topics, campaigns and programmes the expenditure on each platform was for.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Please see below for the requested breakdown:
Campaign | Platform |
NMU - Border Security | Meta |
NMU - Breakfast Clubs | Meta |
Cabinet Office - COVID enquiry | Meta, LinkedIn, Snapchat, TikTok, Reddit |
NMU - Community Diagnostic Centres | Meta, Snapchat |
Government Digital and Data | |
Great Futures | |
NMU - Neighbourhoods | Meta |
Veteran employment support campaign | Meta, LinkedIn |
Veterans healthcare campaign | Meta |
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: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the regional representation of new peers appointed for each year since 2015 to the current December 2025 list.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The House of Lords works best when there is a diversity of perspectives represented, including from all the nations and regions of the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister published a statement in June 2025, setting out the roles and responsibilities of those involved in the appointments system, in which he emphasised that party leaders should consider national and regional representation when making nominations, to ensure the second chamber better reflects the country it serves.
As a first step in reform of the House of Lords, the Government introduced the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill which removes the right of hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords. The Government’s priority is to get this Bill on the statute book as soon as possible.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, Pursuant to the answer of 2 December 2025, to Question 92612, whether Tim Allan is required to recuse himself from government policy or communications on matters relating to the clients of Strand Partners.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Before joining the government, Mr Allan sought and received advice on his interests. He has followed every element of the advice received.
As a result of that advice, he resigned his directorship with Strand and ceased any involvement in its governance or operations. Mr Allan has recused himself from engagement with Strand Partners in relation to the firm’s business, and from involvement in any procurement relating to Strand Partners during his period of employment.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many months each of the Ministerial flats in Admiralty House have been empty for.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Official residences are allocated to Ministers at the Prime Minister's discretion, to support them in their official duties. This has been the case under decades of successive governments, and it is not usual practice to publish specific dates of their occupation.
Asked by: Baroness Finn (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what changes have been made to the collection of political activity data in relation to regulated public appointments since the public data appointments reporting year 2024–25.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
This was not a decision taken by ministers. The Public Appointments Data Report 2024-25 did not include information on the political activity of public appointees due to the transition to the public appointments digital service in 2023.
The Commissioner for Public Appointments Annual Report 2024-25 was published on 17 December. For appointments made during the reporting period, the report provides the percentage of appointees who declared political activity. It does not provide a breakdown of political activity by party for the reason stated above.
Asked by: Baroness Finn (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many regulated public appointments made since 4 July 2024 have made a declaration of political activity relating to the Labour Party.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
This was not a decision taken by ministers. The Public Appointments Data Report 2024-25 did not include information on the political activity of public appointees due to the transition to the public appointments digital service in 2023.
The Commissioner for Public Appointments Annual Report 2024-25 was published on 17 December. For appointments made during the reporting period, the report provides the percentage of appointees who declared political activity. It does not provide a breakdown of political activity by party for the reason stated above.
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 has a book of precedents.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Cabinet Office Precedent Book was last updated in 1992 and has been largely superseded by other documents, including the Cabinet Manual.
The Cabinet Office does not maintain a book of precedents.