Alex Burghart

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.

For security reasons we do not comment on the specific location of individual’s offices. The Prime Minister’s Special Reviewer on Global Finance and Cooperation has access to appropriate office space within the Cabinet Office’s existing footprint if required.

Professor Sir Anthony Finkelstein’s appointment as the Independent Reviewer of the Use of Non-corporate Communications Channels is a Tier 1 Direct Ministerial Appointment made by the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.

I refer the Honorable Member to the answer provided to UIN 116156 on 6 March 2026, which confirmed that the principles of the Rules on lobbying for non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) guidance, published in October 2010, remain Government policy.

The social value requirements for the Media and Creative Services framework agreement (RM6364), under which WPP Media is appointed, are set out in the framework documentation. These include Framework Schedule 4 (Framework Management) and Framework Schedule 1 Specification (Lot 1 Media Strategy Planning and Buying), which are published on the Government Commercial Agency website at the following link: https://www.gca.gov.uk/agreements/RM6364

For individual Call-Off Contracts under RM6364, customers (Contracting Authorities) are responsible for setting and managing Social Value Commitments relevant to their individual contracts.

The Cabinet Office does not run a specific programme of equality, diversity and inclusion training for Cabinet Office ministers.

The Prime Minister’s expectations of Ministers are set out in the Ministerial Code, which makes clear that ministers are expected to maintain high standards of conduct and to behave in a way that upholds the highest standards of propriety. As per section 1.5 of the Ministerial Code, “Harassing, bullying or other inappropriate or discriminatory behaviour wherever it takes place is not consistent with the Ministerial Code and will not be tolerated.”

Mr Brown has taken up an unpaid role as a Special Reviewer. In this role, he has been supporting the Prime Minister by progressing existing government workstreams.

The civil servants working with Mr Brown are already working full-time within those policy areas.

It has been the practice of this and successive governments not to comment, on grounds of both national security and staff safety, on the physical capacity or staffing numbers for individual buildings of the government estate.

Cabinet Office does not hold a central record of which departments currently (a) operate check off for trade union subscriptions and (b) charge trade unions for that service. While departments are responsible for setting their own policies regarding the administration of trade union subscriptions, the Civil Service Management Code (Section 7.3) provides guidance to departments on voluntary deductions from the pay of civil servants, including trade union subscriptions. The Government has no current plans to update the management code on this matter.

The new RM6364 Media and Creative Services Framework for Lot 4 came into effect on 14th January 2026.

Across the Cabinet Office, there has been no spend against Lot 4 as there is currently no contract in place against this Lot.

HR matters are strictly confidential, and it would not be appropriate to comment publicly.

Information on advice provided to the Prime Minister by the Independent Adviser in relation to allegations concerning ministers can be found in his Annual Reports which are published on GOV.UK. The 2024-2025 report is available here and 2025-2026 report here.

The Special Adviser Code of Conduct can be found here.

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

A response to the Parliamentary Question of 6th July is attached.

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

A response to the Parliamentary Question of 6th July is attached.

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

A response to the Parliamentary Question of 6th July is attached.

The Departments based at DEC are as follows:

• Bishopsgate House

• Department for Education (DfE)

• Darlington Feethams House

• HM Treasury (HMT)

• Office for National Statistics (ONS)

• Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG)

• Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS)

• Department for Business and Trade (DBT)

• Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT)

• Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ)

• Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) are also a part of the wider DEC Campus, but is housed in a separate facility

Central data on Civil Service occupancy is collected and published quarterly on GOV.UK (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-hq-occupancy-data) for all HQ buildings of Whitehall Departments. As was the case under the previous administration, no other information on workforce attendance is gathered centrally. Heads of departments have agreed that 60% minimum office attendance for most staff continues to be the best balance of working for the Civil Service.

The Review into the Organisation, Performance and Transformation of the Permanent Civil Service (“the Review”) will draw on a wide range of expert advisers from academia, private, public, civil society, and international spheres. It will welcome views and input from across Parliament, including through engagement with the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee and the Lords Constitutional Committee.

As the Terms of Reference set out, the Review will consider the wide range of activities undertaken by the Civil Service and will culminate in a report setting out a vision for the future Civil Service as a world class institution, to deliver for Ministers and the public. The Review will report before summer 2027, and it will be made available to the public.

Individual departments are responsible for setting their own complaints procedures. In reference to Question 428, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office does not operate a two-stage complaints procedure, as set out on their website: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/foreign-commonwealth-development-office/about/complaints-procedure

The majority of posts in the EU Relations Secretariat are not in the categories capable of being reserved for UK nationals, as specified in Section 3 of the Civil Service Nationality Rules.

The Government is confident that all relevant departments and individuals were engaged through a comprehensive commissioning process managed by the Cabinet Office. All departmental Permanent Secretaries were required to provide assurance that they had taken reasonable steps to identify, search for, and return all material within the scope of the motion. This process ensured that all relevant current and former Ministers, Special Advisers, and officials were contacted. Following this rigorous process and the publication of Volume II of the Government’s response, the Government considers that it has duly discharged its obligations in respect of the Humble Address. A small number of separate, relevant documents continue to be withheld exclusively at the request of the Metropolitan Police to avoid prejudicing their ongoing independent criminal investigation into alleged misconduct in public office. The Government will publish these remaining documents once police authorities confirm it is appropriate to do so.

The Ministerial Code sets out principles relating to ministerial travel for official business. Section 10.1 of the Ministerial Code states that “Ministers must ensure that they always make efficient and cost‑effective travel arrangements. Official transport should not normally be used for travel arrangements arising from party or private business, except where this is justified on security grounds.” Section 10.4 states “When ministers travel on official business, their travel expenses should be borne by the departmental vote.”

Furthermore, section 8.13 of the Ministerial Code notes that “If a minister meets an external organisation or individual and finds themselves discussing official business without an official present (for example, at a social occasion or on holiday) any significant content should be passed back to the department as soon as possible after the event.”

As with any other model policy, the Cabinet Office engaged with a range of stakeholders during development of the model Policy and Guidance: Supporting Trans and Non-binary Employees.

Ministerial appointments and compliance with the Ministerial Code are a matter for the Prime Minister.

There is nothing further to add to the referenced readout on gov.uk.

The Cabinet Office facility time framework and guidance is expected to be implemented across the Civil Service, including all departments and agencies that employ civil servants. It retains the principle that trade union representatives should spend at least 50% of their time delivering their official role.

Departments are responsible for setting their own policies regarding the administration of trade union subscriptions in line with the provisions within the Civil Service Management Code. The Government has no current plans to update the management code on this matter.

The Government is committed to ensuring that the Cabinet Manual continues to be a non-party political record of fact that can be used from one administration to the next. We will seek feedback from parliamentary committees on the draft text later this year.

The Governance Code on Public Appointments requires the public disclosure of political activity within the last five years for successful candidates. The Code of Conduct for Board Members of Public Bodies also requires appointees to comply with the rules of the appointing body on handling conflicts of interests, which typically require the public declaration of potential conflicts, usually in the body’s register of interests.

The general guidance on the declaration of interests process for Non-Executive Board Members, which would include political activity, is published on Gov.uk, with the intention of standardising the management and publication of such interests across UK Government departments in order to increase consistency and transparency, as recommended by the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee.

Departments are responsible for applying the Civil Service Nationality Rules, which govern employment within the Civil Service on the basis of nationality. This includes which roles should be reserved to UK nationals only and where additional restrictions may be required. Candidates with dual nationality are in principle eligible for employment in the Civil Service provided that they meet the requirements in relation to one of their nationalities. They may not be eligible, however, for employment in certain reserved posts where departments and agencies have imposed additional eligibility requirements.

Following the introduction of The Trade Union (Facility Time Publication Requirements) Regulations 2017, the Cabinet Office Facility Time Framework was updated. The update was to inform departments that they were required to publish the relevant data in their annual reports; on their website; and on the Cabinet Office’s facility time publication service. And that the data for each department must be published annually before the 31st July. This came into effect for the financial year 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2018.

The Prime Minister has agreed with the Cabinet Secretary that access talks can take place with declared candidates for the Labour Leadership.

Access talks will be led and coordinated by the Cabinet Secretary.

In line with the Government's statement to the House on 1 June 2026, a small number of documents have been withheld at the request of the Metropolitan Police to avoid prejudicing their ongoing investigation. The Government intends to publish this remaining material when it would no longer be prejudicial to do so. With the exception of these specific documents, the Government considers that it has fully discharged its duties under the Humble Address.