Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 26 July 2024 to Question 1260 on Senior Civil Servants: Recruitment, how many of the appointments for the Director Generals of the five Mission Delivery Boards have been internally advertised; and how long have those vacancies been advertised.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Five Directors General (DG) have been selected as Senior Responsible Officers (SROs) for each of the five Missions. All five were selected by the Cabinet Secretary and relevant Permanent Secretary, in consultation with their Secretary of State, on the basis of their expertise and experience.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the Government's policy is on its special advisers (a) posting political opinions and (b) commenting on Government business on social media.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Code of Conduct for Special Advisers sets out Special Advisers’ obligations with regards to the media, including social media.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether changes have been made to the Government-appointed trustees of (a) Dorneywood and (b) Chequers since 4 July 2024.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
No changes have been made by the government with regard to government-appointed trustees on the boards of Dorneywood or Chequers.
Asked by: Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government why in their proposals to reform the eligible membership of the House of Lords they have not included consideration of the bishops.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
In its manifesto, the Government promised to bring about an immediate reform by removing the right of hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords.
The Government has now introduced legislation to implement this reform. This is a first step in taking forward the Government's commitments to wider reform of the House of Lords, including the introduction of a retirement age, a new participation requirement, changes to the appointments process, as well as establishing an alternative second chamber that is more representative of the regions and nations of the UK.
Asked by: Baroness Jenkin of Kennington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Prime Minister, or the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff, undertook an equality impact assessment, and considered the public sector equality duty under the Equality Act 2010, when deciding to remove the portrait of the first female Prime Minister from the Downing Street study.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The portrait continues to hang in 10 Downing Street.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the former Prime Minister's letter entitled Government transparency and open data, published on 14 December 2017, whether the content of the letter remains Government policy; and when Government departments plan to publish updated structure charts and organograms.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Transparency reporting requirements remain in place, with data regularly being published on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Smith of Basildon on 4 September (HL Deb col 1157), and to the Written Answer by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Cabinet Office on 4 September (HC2317), whether Nick Thomas–Symonds declared, as a political donation in kind, the reported use of a seconded member of staff from Labour Together to (1) the Permanent Secretary to the Cabinet Office, or (2) to the Cabinet Secretary, before that member of staff, Jessica Sargeant, was appointed as a Deputy Director at the Cabinet Office by exception; whether they considered recusal; and whether Cabinet Office officials were informed of any political donations when they considered the delegated Recruitment Principles exception request for Miss Sargeant’s appointment to the Cabinet Office’s Propriety and Constitution Group.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
There is an established process in place for the declaration and management of private interests held by ministers, which ensures that steps are taken to avoid or mitigate any potential or perceived conflicts of interest.
Asked by: Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Cabinet Office on 4 September (HC2317), whether a Minister is required to declare a political donation as an interest to their Department if they make a Government decision that directly and personally financially benefits the donor; and what guidance (1) the Cabinet Office, and (2) the Independent Adviser on Ministers' Interests, have issued on such requirements, and on recusal processes in the event of conflicts of interest.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
There is an established process in place for the declaration and management of ministers’ private interests, which ensures that steps are taken to avoid or mitigate any potential or perceived conflicts of interest.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the Government's policy is on giving (a) bonuses and (b) reward-based pay to civil servants in the form of shopping vouchers.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
As has been the case under successive administrations, non-cash vouchers of small amounts may be used to mark the significant contributions of staff who have worked on specific projects outside of formal performance management processes.
All individual awards follow an established approval process to ensure value for money.
It is also important to confirm that shopping vouchers are not used by government departments to pay traditional end of year performance bonuses - for those departments who still adopt that approach these end of year bonuses are paid as cash payments through payroll.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many special advisers in each department are on (a) four month probationary contracts, (b) six month fixed term contracts and (c) full contracts with no probationary period.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
All special advisers are subject to the Model Contract for Special Advisers, which is published online at gov.uk. It stipulates that the first four months of their appointment will be a probationary period.
There are no special advisers on six month fixed term appointments, or contracts without a probationary period.