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 3 February 2026 to Question HL13976 on Civil Servants: Media and Public Speaking, on what dates the guidance has been revised since July 2024; and what his planned timetable is for further revision and policy development.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Guidance is regularly reviewed and updated, in accordance with best practices, to maintain its relevance, appropriateness, and effectiveness in addressing its intended topics. The timeline for this is dependent upon the area of policy development in question.
Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Droitwich and Evesham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much and what proportion of central Government advertising spend was spent with (a) Meta, (b) Google, (c) Twitter/X, (d) YouTube and (e) TikTok in the last (i) three, (ii) six and (iii) 12 months; and what the total spend was in each of those periods.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
As digital and social media become central to how people consume information, Government is adapting its communications approach to meet audiences where they are.
Digital and social media channels enable us to reach audiences more cost-effectively, delivering better value from communications budgets.
The table shows monthly platform expenditure for the last 12 complete months. Twitter/X is excluded due to zero expenditure. This list is not comprehensive of all social media platforms used.
Date | Meta | TikTok | YouTube | Grand Total | |
Jan 25 | £1,115,953.00 | £1,213,342.00 | £0 | £702,900.00 | £3,032,195.00 |
Feb 25 | £1,514,555.00 | £1,510,013.00 | £114,589.00 | £853,837.00 | £3,992,994.00 |
Mar 25 | £2,062,190.00 | £3,202,959.00 | £157,767.00 | £1,366,138.00 | £6,789,054.00 |
Apr 25 | £343,556.00 | £231,438.00 | £0 | £153,443.00 | £728,437.00 |
May 25 | £394,475.00 | £197,552.00 | £0 | £249,593.00 | £841,620.00 |
Jun 25 | £449,914.00 | £488,775.00 | £0 | £214,741.00 | £1,153,430.00 |
Jul 25 | £1,058,727.00 | £772,827.00 | £0 | £195,158.00 | £2,026,712.00 |
Aug 25 | £1,613,621.00 | £959,909.00 | £0 | £270,287.00 | £2,843,817.00 |
Sep 25 | £1,429,652.00 | £972,581.00 | £0 | £273,406.00 | £2,675,639.00 |
Oct 25 | £1,863,553.00 | £1,517,730.00 | £58,723.00 | £393,222.00 | £3,833,228.00 |
Nov 25 | £2,222,017.00 | £1,803,863.00 | £132,931.00 | £365,748.00 | £4,524,559.00 |
Dec 25 | £1,962,956.00 | £1,692,115.00 | £259,102.00 | £469,430.00 | £4,383,603.00 |
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he has had recent discussions with the European Union on payments to the EU for participation in Security Action for Europe.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
UK negotiations with the EU on a bilateral agreement to facilitate UK participation in the EU’s Security Action for Europe (SAFE) instrument concluded last year. The UK entered negotiations in good faith, recognising our mutual strategic interest and commitment to work with the EU on defence. However, this Government has always been clear that we will only sign agreements that are in the national interest - in this case we were unable to reach an agreement that passed that test. While it is disappointing that we were not able to positively conclude discussions, the UK’s defence industry continues to have access to SAFE under standard third country terms.
Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he plans to update the Cabinet Manual in the near future.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government takes the function of the Cabinet Manual seriously and we will keep it under review.
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 16 February 2026 to Question 111711 on Ministers: Public Appointments, whether this process requires (a) previous political activity to be declared prior to appointment and (b) current political activity to be declared on an ongoing basis.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Direct Ministerial Appointments are required to adhere to the Code of Conduct for Board Members of Public Bodies. As set out in the Code, all potential conflicts of interest - including political activity where that is an actual or perceived conflict to the role - should, as a minimum, be declared publicly, usually in the sponsor body’s register of interests. It is the sponsor body’s responsibility to maintain a register of interests, which should be proactively refreshed twice yearly at the beginning of the fiscal year and at the beginning of Q3. Appointees are asked to inform their sponsor body throughout the year of any relevant additions or changes to their interests as soon as they occur.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether Ministers and special advisers in his Department have met the Royal Household to discuss the rebranding of UK Government.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
For information relating to stakeholder engagement, I refer the Hon. Member to Question 112168.
Asked by: Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Ministerial Pension Scheme or the Parliamentary Contributory Pension Fund benefit from any optional remuneration arrangements.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Ministerial Pension Scheme does not utilise salary sacrifice arrangements.
An active member is required to pay a member contribution rate of 11.2% of pensionable salary to participate in the scheme.
Asked by: Baroness Falkner of Margravine (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have declined to lay before Parliament a draft statutory code submitted by an arm's-length body between January 2015 and December 2025, where that code has not been subject to litigation.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The information requested is not held centrally by the Cabinet Office.
Asked by: Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government which Government departments, Executive Agencies and Arm’s-Length Bodies operate salary sacrifice arrangements; and what categories of benefit are provided under those arrangements.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Cabinet Office does not hold information about what salary sacrifice schemes government departments offer.
Asked by: Lord Swire (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by the Minister for the Cabinet Office on 9 February (HC110416), which (1) bodies, and (2) individuals, they consulted before making the strategic decision to adopt "UK Government" as the primary identity for all public-facing communications in the place of “HM Government”.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
For information relating to stakeholder engagement, I refer the Noble Lord to Question HC112168:
Question: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Prime Minister, as the King's principal adviser, (a) was consulted on and (b) approved the decision to change the HM Government identity to the UK Government; and whether the Prime Minister was advised by Tim Allan in this regard when Mr Allan was Executive Director of Communications. 112168
Answer: There are no plans to discontinue the use of “HM Government”.
Please refer to https://www.communications.gov.uk/guidance/marketing/branding-guidelines/ for guidance on logo use. There are no plans to publish the revised guidance held by the Government Digital Service and the Government Communication Service.
Communications teams are advised to use "UK Government" rather than departmental names and logos for announcements, to provide clarity to the public. This does not affect the use of "His Majesty's Government", which continues on relevant official communications and records.
"UK Government" has long been the term used for the government in public-facing communications. All governments have regularly reviewed and updated government branding guidance to ensure that communications with the public are clear.
This guidance was developed in consultation with relevant stakeholders and in accordance with standard protocols in Summer 2025.