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 2 December 2025 to Question 93002 on Devolution, and with reference to his Department's joint press release entitled UK Minister vows to work with devolved nations to deliver growth in first visit to Northern Ireland, published on 3 October 2024, for what reason the press release referred to the devolved nations.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Reminders on terminology have been issued to relevant teams and departments.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the number of cases in which retired civil servants have been ordered to repay pension benefits due to administrative errors made by civil service pension providers; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact of those cases on those retired civil servants.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The administration of the Civil Service Pension Scheme is the responsibility of the Cabinet Office. However, the government has a duty to recover overpaid public money to ensure the scheme remains fair and sustainable for all taxpayers.
The Civil Service Pension Scheme pays out 732,000 pensions per month, and processes in excess of 1,000,000 member transactions each month. There have been, on average, 40 cases a year where human or administrative error led to a member being overpaid since 2014. While many overpayments in the scheme occur due to the late notification of a member's death, these specific cases do not relate to processing mistakes. Under current contracts, if the scheme cannot recover these funds from the member, it seeks recovery from the pension administrator.
We recognise that being asked to repay funds can be stressful. To manage the impact on retired civil servants, the scheme administrator works individually with those affected to create manageable recovery plans. These plans focus on the member's specific ability to pay, often spreading repayments over a long period to ensure that no undue financial hardship is caused.
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 15 May 2025 to Question 50576, on Cabinet Office: Recruitment, what is a level move.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
In the Civil Service a level move is when a civil servant moves from one role to another at the same grade as their current one. This can be from one government department to another or within the same department.
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 15 May 2025, to Question 50576 on Cabinet Office: Recruitment, whether members of the Senior Civil Service can be permanently promoted up a grade without open and fair competition.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Promotion on a permanent basis can only take place after fair and open competition. Senior Civil Service vacancies are advertised externally by default and exceptions must be approved by a Minister or Permanent Secretary equivalent in non-Ministerial departments. Civil Service Commissioners chair all competitions for SCS3 and SCS4 posts to ensure appointments are made on merit.
Asked by: Euan Stainbank (Labour - Falkirk)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps Civil Service Pensions is taking to improve the process for the provision of the death in service benefit pay-out to bereaved families.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Scheme Manager and the Scheme Administrator work in close partnership to ensure that all death in service cases are treated as a matter of the highest priority.
To improve the provision of benefits to bereaved families, the new Civil Service Pensions Scheme Contract has been strategically designed with enhanced performance metrics and more rigorous key performance measures. These improved indicators allow the Scheme Manager to exert greater leverage over the Administrator, ensuring that service delivery meets strict standards and that any delays are met with robust financial penalties.
Furthermore, the Cabinet Office has implemented a standardised contract management policy to provide consistent, high-level oversight. This ensures that the administration of death in service benefits is not only closely monitored but held to a level of accountability that directly supports a more efficient and responsive process for claimants.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what information his Department holds on what leadership and promotion schemes run by the Civil Service are restricted to people (a) from ethnic minorities and (b) with other protected characteristics.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Promotion in the Civil Service is through fair and open competition and is overseen by the Civil Service Commission.
The Cabinet Office is responsible for centrally managed leadership development programmes for staff at G7 to DD (the Accelerated Development Schemes). Recruitment to these programmes is guided by the same principles. Participation in the Accelerated Development Schemes is not restricted to ethnicity or other protected characteristics.
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 1 December 2025 to Question 93375 on Government Departments: Facilities Agreements, whether his department holds information on which departments have given agreement to allow paid time to be used for trade union activities.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office does not hold any central records on which departments have given agreement to allow paid time to be used for trade union activities.
Asked by: Baroness Finn (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Cabinet Office report Public Appointments Data Report 2024–25, published on 2 December, whether the forthcoming annual report of the Public Appointments Commissioner will include political activity statistics for 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 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: 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.