Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he has had recent discussions with his EU counterparts on whether there is any unallocated money in the EU SAFE fund.
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. The UK’s defence industry continues to have access to SAFE under standard third country terms with the potential to contribute up to 35% of the content of SAFE contracts. We remain fully committed to our close cooperation with the EU and European partners to strengthen European security and continue to work to progress commitments on security and defence made at the 2025 UK-EU Summit.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he has had recent discussions with his EU counterparts on whether there will be a second round of the EU SAFE fund.
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. The UK’s defence industry continues to have access to SAFE under standard third country terms with the potential to contribute up to 35% of the content of SAFE contracts. We remain fully committed to our close cooperation with the EU and European partners to strengthen European security and continue to work to progress commitments on security and defence made at the 2025 UK-EU Summit.
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 January 2026 to Question 104159 on Public Bodies: Facilities Agreement, whether his Department holds a list of the public sector organisations who were (a) contacted and (b) reminded to provide facility time data in (i) 2024-25 and (ii) 2023-24.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office does not hold the requested information.
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 5 February 2026 to Question 108662 on WPP Media: Contracts, whether the RM6364 framework replaces both RM6125 (media services) and RM6123 (advertising); and whether there will be a further replacement for RM6123 in whole or in part in parallel with the new RM6364.
Answered by Chris Ward - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Crown Commercial Service (CCS) has introduced the RM6364 Media and Creative Services agreement for the procurement of marketing, media, and communication services to replace both RM6125 and RM6123.
There are no further replacement agreements planned for RM6123, in whole or in part, to run in parallel with RM6364.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what comparative assessment he has made of the gender pension gap in the civil service with the overall gender pension gap.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Civil Service pension schemes are some of the most generous pension schemes available in the UK, utilising defined benefit arrangements and contractual enrolment to ensure those who dedicate their working lives to public service are rewarded appropriately in retirement. The vast majority of private sector employers utilise defined contribution arrangements and automatic enrolment therefore a comparative assessment of the gender pension gaps could be misleading as it doesn’t account for the overall generosity of the schemes.
The gender pension gap can be measured in different ways. Based on the latest data available, from 2024, the gap has reduced from 47% in 2016 to 42%. This is based on the difference in average pension in payment for men and women, expressed as a percentage of the average pension for men. We fully expect this position to continue to improve as the equality employment legislation reduces historical differences in both the gap in pay and pensions accruing.
The Cabinet Office will be commissioning the Government Actuary’s Department to carry out further analysis of the current position and will then consider next steps.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to tackle the gender pension gap in the civil service.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Civil Service pension schemes are some of the most generous pension schemes available in the UK, utilising defined benefit arrangements and contractual enrolment to ensure those who dedicate their working lives to public service are rewarded appropriately in retirement. The vast majority of private sector employers utilise defined contribution arrangements and automatic enrolment therefore a comparative assessment of the gender pension gaps could be misleading as it doesn’t account for the overall generosity of the schemes.
The gender pension gap can be measured in different ways. Based on the latest data available, from 2024, the gap has reduced from 47% in 2016 to 42%. This is based on the difference in average pension in payment for men and women, expressed as a percentage of the average pension for men. We fully expect this position to continue to improve as the equality employment legislation reduces historical differences in both the gap in pay and pensions accruing.
The Cabinet Office will be commissioning the Government Actuary’s Department to carry out further analysis of the current position and will then consider next steps.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people attended each CEO Community Call in the last 12 months; and what the cost was in staff time.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Since February 2025 there have been three CEO Community Calls. The Chief Executive Officer level attendees numbered 24, 27 and 54. There is no dedicated staff for this work, as the calls were delivered as part of the range of events and services offered by the public sector leadership team.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many civil servants were dismissed from the Civil Service but not referred to the police for breaching the Official Secrets Act between 2005 and 2025.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
This information is not held centrally by the Cabinet Office.
Departments have delegated responsibility for decisions relating to dismissal of an employee.
Civil Service statistics on the composition of the Civil Service workforce, including data on those leaving the Civil Service due to dismissals, are available on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the self-employed earnings are included in the (a) Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, (b) Average Weekly Earnings and (c) Labour Force Survey.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 20th February 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 20 January 2026 to Question 104162 on Senior Civil Servants: Recruitment, what the department, grade and job title was of the 90 civil servants recruited that were advertised across government but not recruited externally.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The table below shows the breakdown of grades for the vacancies referred to in our previous answer:
Grade | Offers Made |
SCS Pay Band 1 | 61 |
SCS Pay Band 2 | 21 |
SCS Pay Band 3 | 4 |
SCS Pay Band 4 | 4 |
Grand Total | 90 |
In order to release details of roles advertised cross-government, we would need to consult with each vacancy holder/recruitment team to understand why the role was not advertised externally (i.e. was this due to logistics or for security reasons) and seek their consent to public release. This would exceed the cost limit of PQs and, as such, we are unable to provide this information.