Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many special advisers and officials in total from all government departments were in attendance at COP30.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
I refer the Noble Lord to the answer of 17 November 2025, Official Report, PQ 88937.
PQ 88937 Andrew Snowden: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many (a) civil servants and (b) support staff attended the COP30 summit; and for what reason.
Cabinet Office response on 17 Nov: Ministerial travel is undertaken using efficient and cost-effective travel arrangements. Security considerations are also taken into account. Information about official overseas travel is published as part of the Cabinet Office transparency returns and made available on the GOV.UK website. It has been the practice that official Prime Ministerial flights are carbon offset where that is possible. Civil Servants and Special Advisers routinely travel with the Prime Minister, including so as to provide support in the conduct of any official duties, which can arise at any time.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will publish details of the new furnishings and refurbishments in the No. 10 and No. 11 Downing Street flats, including a list of refurbishments made and products purchased, with costs for each item.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
I refer the Noble Lord to the answer of 27 October 2025, Official Report, PQ 85501:
PQ 85501 Charlie Dewhirst: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to page 139 of the Cabinet Office annual report and accounts 2024-25, published on 23 October 2025, if he will provide a breakdown of the expenditure, including for individual fixtures and fittings, for the (a) refurbishment and (b) furnishing of the empty Downing Street flat; and if he will name which was empty flat.
Cabinet Office response on 4 November: As was the case under successive administrations, an itemised list is not routinely published.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect to complete the quango review.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Arms Length Body (ALB) Review, formally launched on 7th April 2025, is ongoing and its outcomes will be communicated in due course.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government which officials of the government of China Jonathan Powell has met during his term as National Security Adviser; and whether they will publish a summary of the content of those meetings.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The government has a clear and consistent policy not to comment on any of the National Security Adviser’s meetings with external parties, for obvious reasons to protect sensitive information pertaining to this country’s national security. This has been the case under successive governments.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government who the current and previous occupants of grace-and-favour accommodation under the present government have been, including the dates they moved in and out.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Since 5 July 2024, official residences have been allocated as follows:
Chequers - the Prime Minister (ongoing).
11 Downing Street - the Prime Minister (ongoing).
10 Downing Street - the Chancellor of the Exchequer (ongoing).
Dorneywood - the Chancellor of the Exchequer (ongoing).
Chevening - the former Foreign Secretary the Rt Hon David Lammy MP was allocated Chevening following the General Election. Following the appointment of a new Foreign Secretary in September 2025, the Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP has been allocated Chevening.
1 Carlton Gardens - the former Foreign Secretary the Rt Hon David Lammy MP was allocated 1 Carlton Gardens following the General Election and this remains allocated to him as Deputy Prime Minister and Lord Chancellor.
Hillsborough Castle - available for ministers in the Northern Ireland Office while on duty in Northern Ireland (ongoing).
Admiralty House, Flat 2. This was allocated to the Defence Secretary on a short-term basis between 9 September 2024 and 4 November 2024. Following this, it was allocated to the former Deputy Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Angela Rayner MP.
The former Deputy Prime Minister’s move in process commenced on 12 December 2024 and the flat is now vacant following the resignation of the former occupant.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what were the total severance payments made to (1) ministers, and (2) special advisers, who left government in the past 12 months; and what was the total amount of those payments.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The cost of severance payments for Ministers is not held centrally by the Cabinet Office as individual departments are responsible for administering severance payments to their Ministers.
The cost of severance payments for special advisers between 1st April 2024 and 31st March 2025 was £3.1 million.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what funding they will provide for the Emergency Alerts service once its initial three-year funding comes to an end.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
As set out in the 2025 Resilience Action Plan, the Emergency Alerts system is one of many public warning and informing capabilities that the UK Government, Devolved Governments and Category 1 responders have at their disposal. It is an integral part of keeping the public safe as it allows for quick sharing of life-saving information.
Since the launch of Emergency Alerts in 2023, the system has been activated five times, in conjunction with other local warning methods, during emergencies to minimise risk to life.
On Sunday 7th September at around 3pm tens of millions of phones across the country received the test message, marking the largest simultaneous public communications event since the Second World War.
The UK Government will continue to ensure that Emergency Alerts capability is maintained and it is expected that the funding of the system will continue through routine departmental spend.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many special advisers are in post, broken down by department; and how many special advisers left their posts between July 2024 and June 2025.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
A breakdown of how many special advisers are in post by department is available in the Annual Report on Special Advisers is attached. Between July 2024 and June 2025, 19 special advisers left their posts.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to set up an Office of the Deputy Prime Minister; and if so, what the organisational structure of that office will be.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
I refer the Noble Lord to the answer given by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Cabinet Office on 10 July, Official Report, PQ HC64454.
PQ 64454 Kevin Hollinrake: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Government plans to establish an Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. 64454
Minister Oppong-Asare response, published 10 July: Deputy Prime Ministers are rightly supported in their role to deliver the additional responsibilities.
The Deputy Prime Minister’s responsibilities are set out on Gov.uk and any such plans would be set out in the usual way.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many large-scale exercises with their involvement were undertaken in the past year to prepare for terrorist attacks and other civil contingencies, and what were the learning outcomes from those exercises.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
As is longstanding practice under successive administrations, the Government does not publish the exercises that it undertakes for terrorist attacks or other civil contingencies unless requested to by inquiries or where it would serve to make the public better prepared.
The national exercise for 2025 will be a pandemic preparedness exercise. It will aim to test our ability to respond to a pandemic arising from a novel infectious disease, involving all regions and nations of the UK and thousands of participants.
The publicly available UK Resilience Academy Lessons Digest synthesises and shares lessons learned from selected large-scale exercises and emergency responses.