Asked by: Baroness Finn (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to the six-month extension of contract C2980 with KPMG at no additional cost (modification notice 2025/S 000-005296) and the upcoming Learning Frameworks 2.0 procurement (notice 2025/S 000-004188), whether a bridging arrangement with an alternative supplier was considered; whether KPMG has received any new contractual guarantees or assurances as part of the extension and, if so, whether these will be published; and what measures are in place to ensure that KPMG’s incumbency does not confer an unfair advantage in the forthcoming Learning Frameworks 2.0 competition.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
As part of the contract extension, KPMG has not received any new contractual guarantees or assurances.
For the Learning Frameworks 2.0 competition, the procurement is being run as a fair and open competition.
Asked by: Baroness Finn (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent on 6 March (HL5301), why data on senior civil servants registering for One Big Thing 2023 was deleted 12 months after the initiative ended given that the technical report on the evaluation states on page 17 that data would be securely stored for three years before being destroyed.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The privacy statement for the One Big Thing 2023 online platform stated that all personal data collected via the online platform would be deleted within 12 months of the initiative ending. The definition of personal data included the grades of individuals who registered to the Platform. The reference on data storage on page 17 in the technical report was therefore an error, which we will seek to correct.
Asked by: Baroness Finn (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to the Evaluating One Big Thing 2023 report published on 30 January, whether the figures in the report were based on actual registration data or another methodology.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Figures in the Evaluating One Big Thing 2023 report were based on actual registrations to the online platform for One Big Thing 2023. Therefore figures did not include any civil servants who engaged with One Big Thing 2023 components without registering on the online platform.
Asked by: Baroness Finn (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent on 6 March (HL5301), (1) on what date the data on senior civil servants who registered for One Big Thing 2023 was deleted, (2) whether any data was retained beyond the stated 12-month period, and (3) how the Evaluating One Big Thing 2023 report, published on 30 January, included detailed registration figures by department if the data had been deleted before that point.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Data collected via the One Big Thing 2023 online platform was deleted by 31 December 2024, in line with the platform’s privacy statement. Beyond 31 December 2024, we retained aggregated data on overall registrations and % registrations by department.
The analysis reported in the Evaluating One Big Thing 2023 report was completed before the data was deleted but publication was delayed due to various factors including the General Election.
Asked by: Baroness Finn (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many policy reviews and consultations the Cabinet Office has launched since the General Election on 4 July 2024; what the subject of each review is; and what the anticipated timescales are for their completion.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Following the election, this Government has outlined its ambitions through the Plan for Change, which sets out an ambitious set of milestones - across the missions - for this Parliament.
As the House would expect, Government continually reviews its work to ensure that it is delivering the best outcomes for the people of the United Kingdom, and that its policies continue to represent the best value for the taxpayer.
Public reviews will be available on gov.uk as they are published.
Asked by: Baroness Finn (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Framework Agreement between the Cabinet Office and the Civil Service Commission, the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments and the Commissioner for Public Appointments, published on 21 February, was signed off by a Minister, and if so, which Minister approved it.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
In line with Managing Public Money, The Framework Document for the Independent Offices (Civil Service Commission, Advisory Committee on Business Appointments and the Commissioner for Public Appointments) was cleared by the Permanent Secretary of the Cabinet Office and was reviewed by Cabinet Office ministers and by the Treasury Officer of Accounts (TOA) and the Spending Team prior to publication.
The Framework Document for the Independent Offices (Civil Service Commission, Advisory Committee on Business Appointments and the Commissioner for Public Appointments) followed the clearance process set out in Managing Public Money and was reviewed by Cabinet Office ministers prior to publication in the usual way
Asked by: Baroness Finn (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the House of Lords Appointments Commission guidance on political donations, dated December 2019, was signed off by a Minister; and if so, which Minister approved it.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The House of Lords Appointments Commission is an independent, advisory non-departmental body of the Cabinet Office. The guidance on political donations was approved by the Commission in December 2019 as an internal document for members. It was subsequently published in January 2022 as a result of a Decision Notice by the Information Commissioner following a previous Freedom of Information request.
Asked by: Baroness Finn (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Armstrong Memorandum remains extant.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Civil Service ‘About us’ page on Gov.uk was inaccurate and has been updated.
The Armstrong memorandum of 1985 set out that “it is the duty of civil servants to serve their Ministers with integrity and to the best of their ability”, and that “the British civil service is a non-political and disciplined career service”. This was codified in 1996 with the creation of the Civil Service Code, a document that governs the conduct of civil servants to this day.
Asked by: Baroness Finn (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, for each of the last five years, how many individuals have been appointed to the Senior Civil Service in the Propriety and Constitution Group; and of these (1) what was their grade on appointment, (2) how many were appointed through external competition, cross-government competition, intra-departmental competition, or managed moves, (3) how many were recruited from outside the Civil Service, and (4) how many were made on a temporary basis.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Cabinet Office’s Propriety and Constitution Group was created in 2022/23 from parts of three separate business units; the Cabinet Secretary’s Group, Union and Constitution Group, and the Inquiries BU. We have therefore included data from 2022 to present.
Our central data does not record managed moves so we are unable to include information on these.
There were no intra-departmental competitions.
Year appointed | Grade | Approach | Successful candidate | Contract | Roles appointed |
2022 | SCS Pay Band 1 SCS2 | Across government | Internal Internal | Permanent Permanent | 1 1 |
2023 | SCS Pay Band 1 | External | Internal | Permanent | 1 |
2024 | SCS Pay Band 1 | Across government EOI | Internal | Temporary | 1 |
| SCS Pay Band 1 | External | External | Temporary | 1 |
2025 | None To Date | ||||
Asked by: Baroness Finn (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Civil Service is independent of His Majesty's Government; and whether the statement that civil servants are independent of Government on the Civil Service ‘About us’ page on Gov.uk is compatible with (1) the Carltona principle, (2) the Civil Service Code, (3) the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010, and (4) the Prime minister’s role as Minister for the Civil Service.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Civil Service ‘About us’ page on Gov.uk was inaccurate and has been updated.
The Armstrong memorandum of 1985 set out that “it is the duty of civil servants to serve their Ministers with integrity and to the best of their ability”, and that “the British civil service is a non-political and disciplined career service”. This was codified in 1996 with the creation of the Civil Service Code, a document that governs the conduct of civil servants to this day.