Asked by: Lord Leigh of Hurley (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether the first 100 days of their administration has resulted in good governance; and whether they intend to undertake an evaluation of those 100 days.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Good governance has been and continues to be integral to our administration as we deliver our Plan for Change.
Asked by: Lord Leigh of Hurley (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether (1) the Prime Minister’s Office, or (2) the Cabinet Office Propriety and Ethics Team, ask (a) a specific question on past criminal convictions, or (b) a generic question on potential activities in the past that might cause embarrassment for the Government, when vetting Ministers on appointment.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
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.
Asked by: Lord Leigh of Hurley (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to the Cabinet Office annual report and accounts 2023 to 2024, published on 12 December 2024, and specifically to pages 21 and 69, which senior officials had use of the official car services contracted from the Government Car Service, other than the Cabinet Secretary.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
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.
Asked by: Lord Leigh of Hurley (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 22 April (HL6565), how, if at all, the policy of salary transparency applies to transparency on (1) severance payments, and (2) cash equivalent transfer value pension amounts, with respect to (a) senior civil servants and (b) special advisers.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
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.
Asked by: Lord Leigh of Hurley (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the salary level or grade of seniority of a (1) permanent civil servant, (2) direct ministerial appointment, (3) public appointment and (4) special adviser at which there is a policy of public transparency on the individual public servant’s remuneration.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
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.
Asked by: Lord Leigh of Hurley (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many full-time equivalent employees work in the Propriety and Ethics department in the Cabinet Office.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
There are 19.3 FTE working in the P&E team broken down as follows:
Director P&E: 1 FTE
P&E Core: 6 FTE
Integrity Systems Team: 9.4 FTE
Secretariat to the Independent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests: 2.9 FTE