Lord Leigh of Hurley

The government financial reporting manual (FReM) is the technical accounting guide for the preparation of financial statements. The FReM sets out a number of transparency requirements when it comes to severance payments and cash equivalent transfer values specifically, which are separate from the salary transparency requirements.

For severance payments, departments are broadly required to report the number and value of compensation payments made under the terms of any approved compensation schemes, as well as certain detail on any special severance payments made. The FReM also provides that information about the cash equivalent transfer values at the start and end of the report year must be disclosed in relation to directors, together with the real increases.

There is an established process in place for the appointment of ministers. Any conversations held take place in confidence. All ministers are expected to adhere to the high standards of conduct set out in the Ministerial Code.

The Government Car Service (GCS) offers vehicles to government departments as a shared resource. Each department independently determines the allocation of these vehicles in line with the Civil Service Management Code. For security reasons the details of specific allocations are not released.

Good governance has been and continues to be integral to our administration as we deliver our Plan for Change.

In the Civil Service, the Senior Civil Service (SCS) is subject to pay transparency arrangements. Departments publish the remuneration of their staff operating at Board level in their Annual Accounts (Remuneration and staff report). Departments also publish the salaries of their SCS staff in quarterly 'organograms' on GOV.UK.

The Cabinet Office also publishes an annual ‘high earner’ list of senior officials in departments, agencies and non-departmental public bodies. The previous administration did not update this list prior to the General Election. The Cabinet Office will publish a new 2025 list in due course.

Below SCS, delegated grades are not subject to pay transparency arrangements as pay and grading below the SCS has been delegated to departments since 1996, and the publication of permanent civil servants’ remuneration within these grades is at the discretion of each organisation.

Direct ministerial appointees and public appointees are officeholders rather than employees, and do not have a grade of seniority. Most such roles are unremunerated. Where an individual role does attract remuneration, this would usually be made public either in the recruitment advertisement, when made via an open competition, or in the announcement of the appointed individual.

The salaries of special advisers earning equivalent to senior civil servants (£75,000 and above) are given in bands of £5,000 and are published in the Special Adviser Annual Report.

No benefits – financial or otherwise ­– were offered, discussed or agreed to persuade DP World to attend the International Investment Summit.

The International Investment Summit resulted in £63 billion of private investment commitments. It will see billions of pounds flowing into our tech, digital, manufacturing and life sciences sectors, spurring growth in all four nations of the United Kingdom and creating almost 38,000 new jobs in the process.

The UK operates one of the most transparent export licensing systems in the world. We publish quarterly and annual statistics on all our export licensing decisions, including information on export licences granted, refused and revoked. On 11 June 2024, we published an ad hoc data release on export licensing relating to Israel. That ad hoc release was done due to the exceptional circumstances and the Parliamentary and public interest at the time. Since then, in June 2024, the Government released Official Statistics covering all licensing decisions from July to December 2023. Official Statistics for July and August 2024 have not yet been published. Information covering January to July 2024 are planned to be released by November 2024.

The response below covers the central department (DfTc) and the five Executive Agencies: Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA), Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) and Active Travel England (ATE).

Please note: DfT(c) handle all IT devices for Active Travel England (ATE) and so they are included in the returns for DfT(c). The figures provided for Private Offices are included in the central department’s returns, not in addition to.

There are established processes in place for the declaration and management of private and financial interests held by ministers (as set out in the Ministerial Code). These have been followed.