Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government for what reason they do not keep a central register of training undertaken by civil servants across all government departments; and whether they will review this practice and policy.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Captain of the King's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Government Skills Group, within the Cabinet Office, leads the civil service skills agenda and maintains data on learning and development activity delivered through its centrally managed contracts and systems.
There is no single central register for all training undertaken across all government departments. This is because of the technological barriers to aggregating learning and development data across departmental systems. Responsibility for maintaining records of local learning and development activity rests with individual government departments.
The Government Skills Group is committed to integrating learning and development data across the civil service in the future.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by the Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office on 25 June (HC10289) and with reference to paragraph 1.6(d) of the Ministerial Code, what is the public interest reason for not disclosing the new Gender Reassignment Guidance to Parliament.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Captain of the King's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Cabinet Office believes disclosure of the model Policy and Guidance: Supporting Trans and Non-binary Employees would contravene Section 36(2)(b)(i), (ii), and (c) of the Freedom of Information Act.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Livermore on 2 June (HL105), how many times Lord Mandelson was recorded as visiting 10 Downing Street between 4 July 2024 and being appointed Ambassador to the United States according to (1) the 10 Downing Street diary records, and (2) the Downing Street visitor notification system.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Captain of the King's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)
I refer the noble Lord to the answer given by the then Prime Minister on 7 February 2017, Official Report, PQ 62542. Following the practice followed by past administrations, the Government does not comment on security matters.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by the Parliamentary Secretary in the Cabinet Office on 26 November 2025 (HC92158), whether they will provide equivalent figures on (1) lost, and (2) stolen, devices in the Prime Minister's Office since July 2024.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Captain of the King's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)
For management and staffing purposes, the Prime Minister’s Office is a business unit of the Cabinet Office. Data for business units is not held.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the veracity of a report in The Times, published on 21 February, that the Cabinet Office Propriety and Ethics Team broke into a Cabinet Office safe to obtain and later destroy documents on the review into the conduct of Her Majesty's Consul General in New York.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Captain of the King's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The claims referred to are unfounded.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what advice or guidance (1) the Civil Service People Group, and (2) the Cabinet Secretary, have issued about intimate relationships between Civil Service colleagues, other than the Civil Service Code and Civil Service Management Code; whether (a) junior, and (b) senior, civil servants are permitted to enter sexual relationships with co-workers; what requirements exist to declare such relationships where there is a reporting line or managerial responsibility; and how conflicts of interest are managed in that regard.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Captain of the King's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)
No such guidance has been issued.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by the Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office on 10 March (HC114884), whether the investigation into Lord Doyle will report to the Prime Minister in his capacity as leader of the governing party.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Captain of the King's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Government is not conducting an investigation into Lord Doyle. An investigation is being carried out by the Labour Party.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (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 29 April (HL16424), what is the rationale for not including white Irish under the internship; and what assessment has been made of whether this is positive discrimination against young people who are (1) white British, or (2) white Irish, given the absence of any other internship scheme open to them in that public body.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Captain of the King's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The SIS Summer Intelligence Internship is one of a number of lawful measures (as set out in The Equality Act 2010) used to encourage people from under-represented demographics to consider national security careers.
In addition to the Summer Internship scheme, SIS runs other placements and apprenticeships. The details of which are regularly published on their website. All schemes are only open to those who meet the required British, or British dual-national, nationality criteria.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by the Minister for the Cabinet Office on 10 March (HC116158), whether the Parliamentary Press Gallery was consulted over the abolition of afternoon lobby media briefings; and what role Tim Allan played in the decision to abolish those briefings as Downing Street Director of Communications.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Captain of the King's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)
I refer the Noble Lord to the answer provided on 10 March, Official Report, PQ HC116158:
Question: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, for what reason the Downing Street Press Office no longer holds afternoon lobby media briefings.
Response: As the media landscape has transformed over the last few years, the previous lobby arrangements were no longer fit for purpose. The afternoon lobby was sparsely attended, repetitious of morning lobby, and not a good use to taxpayer-funded Government communications resource. It has therefore been replaced with press conferences and technical briefings which allow journalists more direct access to Ministers and greater ability to access information about government policies.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (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 15 April (HL15659), whether they will now answer the question put: namely, whether the requirement for applicants to the Summer Intelligence Internship to be an ethnic minority, such as White Other, includes White Irish in that definition.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Captain of the King's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)
For the purposes of the Summer Intelligence Internship, ‘White Other’ ethnic minorities include, for example, Romany Gypsy, Scottish Travellers, or Irish Travellers. This does not include White Irish.