Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by the Prime Minister on 12 November (HC Deb col 148), whether (1) the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, or (2) his special advisers, had any involvement in media briefings.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
No.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Answer by the Minister for the Cabinet Office on 25 November (HC91373), whether guidance has been given informally to special advisers through cross-government special adviser meetings about (1) including, or (2) excluding, information on email or other corporate communications.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
There is guidance in place when it comes to the use of non-corporate communications channels, available on gov.uk.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to the Public Appointments Data Report 2024/25, published on 2 December, whether they plan to set targets for the number of public appointments based on social class.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The government is committed to ensuring that public appointments are more representative of our nations and regions and will set out its approach in due course.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government why the Director General of the Propriety and Constitution Group has been removed from the 'our management' section of the Cabinet Office website homepage; and whether that position has been downgraded.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Director General, Propriety and Constitution group remains a SCS3 civil service post. The Cabinet Office gov.uk page will be updated in due course.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government on what dates calls have been held between the government and corporate lobbyists since 4 July 2024; which lobbying firms joined those calls; and which ministers have joined those calls.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Details of Ministers and Senior Officials' meetings, including those held using video or audio-conferencing technology, and including phone calls where these replace or take the format of an official meeting, are published by departments on GOV.UK every quarter.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the legal basis for the Prime Minister's occupation of his residence in Downing Street.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The registered legal title of Downing Street is held in the name of the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, as has been the case under successive governments. Under all recent governments this accommodation is allocated to the Prime Minister.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to paragraph 3 of the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers, published in September 2024, whether the Prime Minister's chief of staff has been authorised by the Prime Minister to represent the views of the Prime Minister to the media.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
All special advisers are bound by the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers. The Code of Conduct for Special Advisers sets out special adviser's obligations with regards to the media.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by the Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office on 4 November (HC85501) and Lord True on 23 April 2021 (HL14191), and with regard to paragraph 1.6(d) of the Ministerial Code, what is the public interest argument for not releasing details to Parliament of public spending on the Downing Street flats.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
As was the case under successive administrations, an itemised list is not routinely published. Total expenditure from the Prime Minister’s allowance on their official residence is disclosed in the Cabinet Office Annual Report and Accounts.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government which public body holds the current cash equivalent transfer value of the pension scheme established under the Pensions Increase (Pension Scheme for Keir Starmer QC) Regulations 2013; and which public body holds details on the individual benefits of that scheme available to the scheme's member.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Information about this Pension Scheme, including a calculation of the cash equivalent transfer value, was included in the Crown Prosecution Service's annual report and accounts for 2013-14. The Pension Scheme is managed by the Cabinet Office, and details of individual benefits are held by Capita, the Scheme Administrator (the cash equivalent transfer value is calculated only when required). There has been no change to the policy under the last Administration not to publish information about civil servants' individual pensions apart from in the remuneration reports contained in departmental annual reports and accounts.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve transparency and scrutiny in government appointments following breaches of the Governance Code on Public Appointments by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport in her appointment of the new independent Football Regulator.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Commissioner for Public Appointments routinely provides independent assurance that public appointments are made in accordance with the Principles of Public Appointments and the Governance Code on Public Appointments.
Following the Commissioner’s investigation into the appointment of the Chair of the Independent Football Regulator, the Government welcomes his findings against which we are reviewing the robustness of the current guidance with a view to learning the lessons from the report.
The Government published a revised Governance Code on 30 October. In addition, the Cabinet Office will be required to publish departmental performance information for the first time, to enable effective scrutiny of performance on public appointments.
That approach is a strengthening of the public appointment process, which was not in place under the previous Government.