Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to Minister for the Cabinet Office's Oral Statement of 24 June 2025 on the National Security Strategy, Official Report, columns 974-76, what estimate he has made of the proportion of GDP spent on broader resilience and security spending in the most recent period for which data is available.

Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

The National Security Strategy 2025 was published on 24 June 2025. It confirms that by combining an increase in funding with recognition of the vital contribution the Single Intelligence Account plays to our national defence, the UK will spend 2.6% on NATO qualifying defence spending from 2027. This will be considered core spending.

NATO provides reporting guidelines for the 1.5% defence and security related spending. It will include investments that raise the overall resilience of our societies, such as energy security, telecommunications, and infrastructure, as well as the execution of defence plans, expanding industrial capacity and innovation and counter hybrid actions.

Along with all other NATO allies, the UK will report against the new categories of defence spending at the next NATO reporting deadline.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the appointment of the (a) chair and (b) members of the Ethics and Integrity Committee will be (i) a regulated public appointment and (ii) subject to Select Committee pre-appointment scrutiny.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

We are restoring confidence in government and the highest standards in public life and have already taken steps to improve probity and transparency, including through issuing a new Ministerial Code which highlights the importance of the principles of public life, by strengthening the terms of reference for the Independent Adviser, and by introducing a new monthly Register of Gifts and Hospitality.

An update on the Ethics and Integrity Commission will be provided in due course.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what metrics are tracked on his Department's internal dashboards; and if he will make it his policy to publish them on gov.uk.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The Cabinet Office does not centrally record the total number of metrics captured. Our teams and business units maintain a wide array of dashboards tailored to their specific functions and business requirements. A precise, aggregated figure is not available. The dashboards contain internal management information, and it is not Cabinet Office policy to publish them.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will place in the Library a copy of the standard template for submissions to (a) Cabinet Office Ministers and (b) the Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

I refer the Hon Member to the answer on 17 February 2025 (PQ HL4631) and on 7 April 2025 (PQ 42819).

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether Departments will be required to produce internal Outcome Delivery Plans (a) to monitor spending outlines in the Spending Review 2025 and (b) as part of the Mission Board delivery programme.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The Government has published its Plan for Change, which sets out clear and ambitious milestones to reach over this Parliament from each of the Government’s national missions. Detail on wider government commitments will continue to be provided by relevant departments.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she plans to (a) amend and (b) review the definitions of (i) defence and (ii) national security spending, for the purposes of (A) statistical and (B) NATO targets.

Answered by Darren Jones - Minister of State (Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister)

NATO has a common definition of defence expenditure which is agreed by all NATO Allies. A full definition can be found here:

https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_49198.htm

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 9 June 2024 to Question 54793 on British Indian Ocean Territory: Sovereignty, what proportion of the costs will come from the (a) Ministry of Defence and (b) Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office budgets.

Answered by Darren Jones - Minister of State (Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister)

The payments to Mauritius will be split between the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and Ministry of Defence. They will be published in the normal manner alongside other departmental spend in the annual accounts.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has a target for the number of staff it plans to employ over the period of the Spending Review.

Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

The Department’s SR settlement of a 10% real terms reduction to admin budgets by 2028-29 means HM Treasury will need to get smaller, necessitating a reduction in resource in some areas. Headcount reductions will be subject to future business planning where the department will take decisions on how the savings will be delivered.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what the planned (a) commencement and (b) implementation dates are for each substantive policy provision of the Employment Rights Bill.

Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

On 1 July the Government published the Employment Rights Bill Implementation Roadmap. The Roadmap provides clarity for employers and workers on how and when Government will engage and consult on the detailed implementation of Bill measures once it becomes law, and when measures will take effect.

The Roadmap outlines several phases of commencement including following Royal Assent, in April 2026, in October 2026, and in 2027. As part of our Plan for Change we are working at pace to deliver on our commitment to Make Work Pay, engaging and consulting throughout to make sure we get the detail right.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to his Department's press release entitled Business Secretary announces new DBT non-executive directors, published on 17 December 2024, if he will publish the correspondence to and from the Commissioner for Public Appointments to obtain permission to appoint Nita Clarke without open competition.

Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

I fully respect the principles of public appointments and the Governance Code for Public Appointments was fully adhered to in this process: the rationale for appointing without competition was made public at the time of announcement, following consultation with the Commissioner, and there is no requirement under the Code to publish this correspondence. A fair and open competition was undertaken with a strong field of applications. However, it needed to be strengthened further by the appointment of Nita Clarke, who is bringing vital skills in employee engagement, partnership and employee voices in the workplace drawn from a long and distinguished career including as Vice President for Employee Relations at the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 9 June 2024 to Question 54793 on British Indian Ocean Territory: Sovereignty, whether his Department's spending on the deal will count towards meeting the (a) 2.5 percent and (b) 3 percent defence spending targets.

Answered by Luke Pollard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

The NATO qualifying status of these costs will be considered in the usual way.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 9 June 2024 to Question 54793 on British Indian Ocean Territory: Sovereignty, what is the cash terms, monetary value of the Defence payment towards the Chagos deal in each individual year of the Spending Review 2025.

Answered by Luke Pollard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

I refer the hon. member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for South Suffolk (James Cartlidge), in response to Question 59129, on 23 June 2025.

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