Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government which trade unions are recognised by the MyCSP.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
MyCSP operates as a private company, delivering the administration of Civil Service pensions through commercial contract arrangements starting 2013 and ending December 2025.
Any decisions concerning the recognition of trade unions are made independently by them as the employer. They are contractually obliged to comply with UK legislation, which includes worker and employment rights, including those rights associated with trade union recognition.
As far as we are aware, MyCSP does not currently recognise any trade unions either by voluntary or statutory arrangement. They do have staff representation on their Board.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make it his policy to create a single public reporting service for problems at (a) local and (b) national government level.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
This Government is determined to reforming the state to deliver high quality public services and better value for money for the taxpayer.
The Government recognises the importance of transparency of public services, that appropriate feedback mechanisms help to ensure accountability by identifying and resolving problems, and that public participation can help to improve future service design to meet the needs of end users. The Service Manual provides guidance on creating and running public services in accordance with the Service Standards, both of which are available on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Josh Dean (Labour - Hertford and Stortford)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent assessment his Department has made on the potential merits of using (a) local and (b) regional newspapers for government advertising.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Government selects media channels for communications based on reaching target audiences effectively. The Government values the important role of local and regional newspapers and is developing a Local Media Strategy. As part of this, the Cabinet Office and DCMS are exploring how to better utilise local press for government advertising.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what contracts their Department has with Palantir.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Details of central government contracts above £12,000 for procurements commenced before 24 February 2025 are published on Contracts Finder. Contracts procured under the Procurement Act 2023, which came into force on 24 February 2025, are published on the Central Digital Platform Find a Tender service.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when he plans to publish the Resilience Strategy.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Government will set out its resilience strategy in due course.
Asked by: Graeme Downie (Labour - Dunfermline and Dollar)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people with Hepatitis B had received an interim payment of compensation from the Infected Blood Compensation Authority by 30 June 2025.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The delivery of the Infected Blood Interim Compensation Payments is the responsibility of the four existing Infected Blood Support Schemes (IBSS). Interim Payments have been made to people infected with HIV and/or Hepatitis C as a result of infected blood and their bereaved partners. People infected with Hepatitis B are not eligible to apply to IBSS and are therefore not eligible for interim payments.
However, the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme, which is being delivered by the Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA), has broader eligibility criteria than the current Infected Blood Support Schemes. People who are or were infected with a chronic case of Hepatitis B are eligible for compensation under the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme, including compensation for past financial loss and care costs.
Asked by: Graeme Downie (Labour - Dunfermline and Dollar)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people with Hepatitis B were waiting for an interim payment of compensation from the Infected Blood Compensation Authority on 30 June 2025.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The delivery of the Infected Blood Interim Compensation Payments is the responsibility of the four existing Infected Blood Support Schemes (IBSS). Interim Payments have been made to people infected with HIV and/or Hepatitis C as a result of infected blood and their bereaved partners. People infected with Hepatitis B are not eligible to apply to IBSS and are therefore not eligible for interim payments.
However, the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme, which is being delivered by the Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA), has broader eligibility criteria than the current Infected Blood Support Schemes. People who are or were infected with a chronic case of Hepatitis B are eligible for compensation under the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme, including compensation for past financial loss and care costs.
Asked by: Lord Agnew of Oulton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to page 43 of their policy paper Spending Review 2025: Departmental Efficiency Plans, published on 11 June, what was the average span of managerial control across the Cabinet Office by grade in 2024–25; and how many line management posts they expect will be removed to achieve the £5 million saving identified through organisational restructure by 2028–29.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The average span of control of line managers by grade in FY 2024/25 has been presented in the table below.
Line Manager Grade | Average Span of Control |
Perm Sec | 12.5 |
SCS3 | 7.6 |
SCS2 | 5.3 |
SCS1 | 4.5 |
Grade 6 | 3.5 |
Grade 7 | 2.0 |
SEO | 3.1 |
HEO | 3.3 |
EO | 6.2 |
In line with the 2025 Spending Review, we are restructuring the Cabinet Office into a more strategic, specialised, and smaller department. Our focus is on identifying budgetary savings rather than meeting a specific headcount target.
So far, 540 employees have been approved to leave through the Voluntary Exit Scheme.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department's press release entitled Conclusion of His Majesty The King’s free Portrait Scheme, published on 28 November 2024, what the percentage take-up rate was for (a) UK Government departments and (b) arm's-length bodies separately.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
His Majesty The King’s free Portrait Scheme was a voluntary programme offering a free, framed portrait of The King to any eligible public institution that requested one.
Following the conclusion of the scheme, a breakdown of the take up was published on gov.uk.
Asked by: Graeme Downie (Labour - Dunfermline and Dollar)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on compensation for people impacted by infected blood and also by variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
In his 2022 Compensation Framework Study, Sir Robert Francis recommended that variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD) was not included in the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme. He noted that “this is a rare disease for which there is a separate compensation scheme. It is unlikely, therefore, that a separate category is justified in this scheme. However, many of the infected have been warned there is a risk of their having vCJD. Assuming that risk, insofar as it exists, is shared by all who have received blood or blood products in the relevant period, there is no special case for taking it into account in this scheme."
Chapter 5 of the Infected Blood Inquiry’s May 2024 Report examines the Government response to vCJD.