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 24 March 2026 to Question 120845 on Parliamentary and Political Service Honours Committee: Public Appointments, for what reason the campaign has not been reopened for the three vacancies.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Parliamentary and Political Service Honours Committee is quorate: there are more independent members than official members. Additional members can be appointed if wider skills or experience are required. Following the appointment of the new Chair, recruitment of additional members is now under consideration.
Asked by: Alex Burghart (Conservative - Brentwood and Ongar)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 24 March 2026 to Question 118525 on Ministers: Maternity Leave, whether Ministers providing temporary cover under the provisions of the Ministerial and other Maternity Allowances Act 2021 are entitled to a severance payment when they leave office.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Ministers providing temporary leave cover, whilst a minister takes maternity leave under the provisions of the Ministerial and other Maternity Allowances Act 2021, are asked to waive their entitlement to a severance payment.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the business appoint rules apply to Crown Servants who work for regulators who are not classed as Civil Servants.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Public bodies operating at arm’s length from the government, including regulators who are staffed by Crown servants who are not civil servants (and who do not otherwise fall directly under the Business Appointment Rules) are expected to implement their own equivalent processes to manage potential conflicts of interest, with these being tailored to their specific organisational context.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to his Department’s press release entitled Ministers rip up consultation culture, published on 26 March 2026, whether any primary legislation will be required to implement the changes announced on 26 March 2026.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The government is committed to identifying existing disproportionate reporting and consultation duties that are slowing down delivery. The policy analysis is in the early stages and all options are being considered.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many staff members have left their roles working in 10 Downing Street in each of the last 12 months; and how many of those received a redundancy payment in each of the last 12 months.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Data on the number of officials in the Cabinet Office is published monthly at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cabinet-office-workforce-management-data-2023-to-2024. Business Unit level data including for Business Units in Number 10 Downing Street is published quarterly at https://www.data.gov.uk/dataset/ff76be1f-4f37-4bef-beb7-32b259413be1/organogram-cabinet-office. We do not routinely comment on individual HR matters.
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 24 February 2026 to Question 110815 on Special Advisers: ICT, whether (a) special advisers and (b) senior civil servants have auto-delete functionality turned on for (i) corporate and (ii) non-corporate communication devices when discussing government business.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The policy covering non-corporate communication channels is published on gov.uk, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/non-corporate-communication-channels-for-government-business/using-non-corporate-communication-channels-eg-whatsapp-private-email-sms-for-government-business-html
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 12 March 2026 to Question 118784 on Leader of the House: Written Questions, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the Cabinet Office Answer of 24 February 2026 to Question 113610 in light of his answer to Question 118784.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Due to the small size of some teams, releasing this information with the specified detail could create concerns regarding personal data.
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 4 September 2025 to Question 70519 on Public Inquiries, what the total cost to the public purse to date of the Infected Blood inquiry has been; and whether there is a total budget for the Infected Blood inquiry.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Infected Blood Inquiry publishes its own financial reports, which can be found here: https://www.infectedbloodinquiry.org.uk/about/financial-reports.
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 a policy on Ministers attending events with the Muslim Council for Britain in a non-Ministerial capacity.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
I refer the Hon Member to the answer of 17 March 2026, Official Report, PQ 118753.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when he expects the financial report for the Infected Blood Inquiry for the financial year 2025-2026 to be published.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
We expect the Inquiry, which has now formally completed its work, to publish its final financial report soon