Alex Burghart

There has been no engagement between Cabinet Office or Equalities Ministers and the Bank of England on banknote design and imagery. Officials in the Office for Equality and Opportunity engaged with a Bank of England counterpart in August 2025 in relation to their consultation on this topic as part of normal due process.

The Electoral Commission’s guidance for regulated donees sets out the requirements on members associations regarding the declaration of political donations.

Members associations are required to report all permissible donations received for their use or benefit in connection with any of their political activities with a value of over £11,180, and all impermissible donations over £500. The political activities of a members association include promoting or developing policies for adoption by a party or promoting candidates for internal office within the party.

Certain payments and services are not treated as donations, and are exempt from the reporting requirements. A full list of exemptions is available on page 16 of the Commission’s guidance; for example, any donation worth £500 or less, and the provision by an individual of their services voluntarily and in their own time.

The Commission also provides ongoing advice to members associations on whether their activities fall within the definition of political activities.

All vacancies for OEO are advertised via Civil Service Jobs, ensuring the recruitment process is appropriately followed.

Recruitment is by exception where there is a clear business critical need or specialism that can not be found within the Department.

The Commission's guidance for political parties and regulated donees outlines how donations and loans from the same source must be grouped. Donations made in the same calendar year by the same source must be reported when the aggregate amount is above the reporting threshold.

It is a principle of company law that companies have a seperate legal personality from the people who own or operate them. As such, donations from individuals and from companies are considered seperate for the purposes of reporting.

There is no list of genders, sexual orientations or gender identities formally recognised by the Office for Equality and Opportunity.

The Government is committed to commencing the socio-economic duty in the Equality Act 2010. The duty will require public bodies, when making strategic decisions, to actively consider how their decisions might help to reduce the inequalities associated with socio-economic disadvantage. To ensure effective implementation, we will certainly give due regard to the equality impacts of commencement.

The exchequer contribution to the Ministerial Pension Scheme in the financial year 2024–25 is 10.5% of pay per annum.

I will place a copy of the brand guidelines final report in the Library. Other final reports are commercially sensitive and contain personal data and information provided in confidence which is not suitable for publication.

The Hawkhills campus currently operates as a fully functioning residential training facility, providing 102 en-suite bedrooms, conference suites and classrooms to support the UK Resilience Academy under an existing Cabinet Office service contract running until April 2028.

We are currently exploring the future estate requirements of the National School at The Hawkhills and elsewhere to inform planning across these sites. Longer-term operational cost allocations will be finalised alongside the development of the National School’s operating model.

Our estates requirements are subject to formal business case approvals, planning, and standard commercial procurement processes to ensure rigorous value for money for the taxpayer. Site running costs are currently met through existing Cabinet Office baseline contract arrangements, and longer-term operational cost allocations will be finalised alongside the development of the National School’s operating model.

The Cabinet Office manages central Learning Frameworks contracts through which departments can procure specialist external learning and development services.

The EY contract was awarded in 2020 under a Crown Commercial Framework (RM6145) and is for expenditure up to a maximum of £195m, depending on demand - the spend up to end September 2026 was £161,622,467.

The KPMG contract awarded in 2020 was also awarded under the same Crown Commercial Service Framework, this was valued at up to £237m, ended in 2024, and the total spend was £235,132,270.

There was subsequently a further contract to KPMG as a direct award. This contract was up to £186m, and total spend to end September 2026 was £167,630,873. The services covered by the contract ​could only ​be provided by KPMG at that time for technical reasons, as set out in the published award notices.

A Notice was published in July 2026 that two further contract awards are intended to be made to KPMG and EY as direct awards under Procurement Act 2023 as they concern the supply of services by existing suppliers which are intended as an extension to existing services in circumstances where:

(a) a change in supplier would result in receiving services that are different from, or incompatible with, the existing services; and

(b) the difference or incompatibility would result in disproportionate technical difficulties in operation or maintenance.

In line with previous and current central learning contracts, when enacted, these latest contracts will be fully based on a ‘pay as you use’ basis without any value, volume or exclusivity guarantees.

The initial budget for the National School of Government and Public Services for 2026-27 is £172m. This is subject to departmental transfers and is reviewed as part of regular business planning. The majority of this budget (£138m) is for the Fast Stream graduate scheme, including salary costs for those on the Fast Stream. Our current FTE is 390.86, this figure is reviewed regularly as part of internal workforce, resourcing and recruitment planning.

Budget and staff headcount for 2027-28 will be agreed through the Cabinet Office business planning process.

The National School is part of the Cabinet Office, operating within standard Civil Service rules including the requirement for political impartiality. The School has senior governance in place around its curriculum and works closely with Cabinet Office colleagues as appropriate to maintain those standards.

The creation of the National School of Government and Public Administration supports the government's wider commitment to deliver £2 billion in administrative savings across the Civil Service. The National School will design and deliver training in-house, drawing on external specialists only where they genuinely add value. Proportionate use of expert external organisations has been used to help establish the School.

The UK Resilience Academy is a Government service delivered for and on behalf of the Cabinet Office, operating both virtually and at its residential training campus at The Hawkhills in North Yorkshire. The Academy will continue to deliver resilience and emergency management training from The Hawkhills alongside the newly established National School of Government and Public Services.

The Cabinet Office’s contract with Serco Limited for the delivery of UK Resilience Academy services runs until April 2028. The contract remains active and operates in accordance with its agreed terms; consequently, no termination has occurred, and no costs or compensation are payable.

The value of this work was £15,134.00 in 2025-26. The scope of the work was the strategy for a pilot behaviour change campaign, an implementation plan, and an evaluation framework based on the Government Communication Service evaluation cycle. Following the launch of the National School of Government and Public Services, we will consider how best to implement behaviour change campaigns to help build a skilled Civil Service.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 10th September is attached.

Facility time for 2025-26 will not be published, as it is no longer a requirement following the repeal of the Trade Union (Facility Time Publication Requirements) Regulations 2017 in February 2026.

I refer the Hon Member to the Government’s statement and release of information on 1 June 2026 in response to the Humble Address, in particular the section entitled 'Government methodology in complying with the Humble Address' in the document laid before Parliament.

Gross annual administrative costs cannot yet be provided. The costs for running No.10 North will be found from existing departmental budgets. Teams transferring into No.10 North from other Government Departments as part of machinery of Government moves are expected to transfer with the relevant budget currently available to them.

I refer the hon. Member to the response to Question 20845.

Council tax premiums for empty homes do not apply to the Ministerial residences in Admiralty House.

The responsibility for the publication of information on Direct Ministerial Appointments on the announcement portal rests with individual sponsor departments. The primary function of the portal is to bring together, into a central resource, announcements of new Direct Ministerial Appointments from across government. While the portal records the expected length of term of individual new appointments, it does not record actual end dates for those appointments that come to an end. Questions about the status of individual appointments would be for sponsor departments.

Socio-economic background is one of the considerations that determines whether individuals can apply for the Going Forward into Employment pathways listed below.

• DCMS Learn & Grow Pathway

• DWP Social Mobility Apprenticeship

• Crown Prosecution Service Diversifying CPS Careers

• MHCLG Masterclass Pathway (sometimes referred to as the Civil Service Masterclass)

• Home Office Pathway to Employment

More information on GFiE Pathway opportunities for people from Low Social Mobility Backgrounds can be found on the GFiE Civil Service Careers site: https://www.civil-service-careers.gov.uk/gfie-pathways/#social-mobility. This site is visible in the public domain.

Lead Special Advisers in departments may be titled ‘Chief of Staff’ to their appointing minister. Therefore there are approximately 17 Special Advisers with the title of ‘Chief of Staff’.

This does not change these individuals’ terms of employment. As per paragraph 2 of the Model Contract for Special Advisers (Job title and duties) which can be found on GOV.UK, the formal job title of all special advisers is ‘Special Adviser’.

Individual data regarding the nationality of job applicants and successful appointees cannot be provided, as this information is confidential. However, data on the wider Civil Service, including nationality, is published regularly on gov.uk.

Mission Boards were established under the previous administration and their operation was the responsibility of the lead Secretaries of State.

The government has been clear that all departments should use public procurement to deliver jobs and skills opportunities.

Procurement Policy Notes (PPNs) are applicable to Central Government Departments, Executive Agencies and Non-Departmental Public Bodies unless otherwise stated in the PPN.

All other public bodies are routinely encouraged to adopt PPNs.

The UK and EU are committed to building a closer relationship and are negotiating agreements that will boost trade, enhance energy security and create opportunities for young people. The government will ensure that these agreements are consistent with its wider international obligations.

I refer the Honourable Member to the response to Question 16155 of 28 July 2026.

This government welcomes views and input on the Civil Service from across Parliament, including through engagement with the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, the Public Accounts Committee, and the Lords Constitutional Committee.

All legislation introduced by HM Government is subject to full parliamentary debate and scrutiny.

The services transferring to the OneGov Delivery Agency are expected initially to continue to charge other government departments in accordance with existing agreements or Memoranda of Understanding. Work to establish OneGov has commenced and will consider issues such as longer-term funding models and scope of service delivery.

Accounting officer responsibilities for the Cabinet Office group will be published in due course.

The OneGov Delivery Agency is yet to be formally established. Work is underway to establish the agency for 1 April 2027. Its future budget for 2027-2028 will be determined as design work progresses. Costs incurred during the current year 2026-2027 will be absorbed in existing Cabinet Office budgets.