Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what coordination exists between departments including the Department for Work and Pensions and HM Revenue and Customs in investigating suspected identity theft involving government digital services.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
This government takes identity theft, and the harm it can cause victims, seriously.
It is the responsibility of individual departments as to how they coordinate their policy and operational approaches in relation to identity theft involving government digital services.
The Public Sector Fraud Authority’s (PSFA) remit is to work with departments and public bodies to understand, prevent and reduce the impact of fraud. This is achieved by supporting public bodies to have the basics in place, build counter fraud capability and embed financial targets.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department plans to make payments (a) Morgan McSweeney and (b) Tim Allan beyond their regular salaries.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
It is a longstanding policy not to comment on individuals. The Model Contract for Special Advisers is published online and details the specific circumstances in which payments can be made to special advisers upon termination of employment.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the press release entitled Over £17 million saved in past six months through government office closures, published on 23 February 2026, whether the estimated annual savings from closing three central London offices are net of (a) transition, (b) refit and (c) redundancy costs.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The savings from the three central London office closures relate to the annual property running costs. They have not been adjusted for any one-off transition, refit, or redundancy costs.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the potential economic impact of decisions businesses have made on the basis of the announcement of compulsory digital ID on 26 September 2025 and 13 January 2026.
Answered by Josh Simons
Development of the policy underpinning the national digital credential is ongoing.
We are inviting the public to have their say, including business stakeholders, in the upcoming consultation as we develop a safe, secure, and inclusive system for the UK.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many members of the Civil Service Pension Scheme are awaiting retirement quotations or commencement of pension payments beyond expected timescales.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The administration transferred to Capita on 1 December 2025 and the first payroll ran successfully in the same month.
At this time Capita has not provided this information to the Cabinet Office. The focus is on working with the Cabinet Office in order to resolve queries and delays and to move to a stable service as quickly as possible.
We acknowledge and recognise that there are delays and are working closely with Capita in order to move to the expected service levels as quickly as possible. This includes providing additional support to Capita, increasing staffing by c50% over and above the number that transferred from MyCSP. It is also prioritising urgent cases.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what correspondence the Government has had with the Information Commissioner's Office on the data sharing pilot between HMRC and the Home Office.
Answered by Josh Simons
In October 2025, the ICO Review Board observer submitted an inquiry to the DEA Secretariat regarding a news article pertaining to a data sharing arrangement between HMRC and the Home Office.
The DEA Secretariat subsequently contacted HMRC, who forwarded it to the ICO observer.
The minutes from the DEA Debt and Fraud Review Boards are also routinely published on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how migration data is shared with the Office for National Statistics to inform population estimates.
Answered by Josh Simons
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 7th January is attached.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the accuracy of population estimates derived from the 2021 Census.
Answered by Josh Simons
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 7th January is attached.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much funding was allocated to the Civil Service LGBT Plus Network in each of the last five years.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
I refer you to the response given by Minister Gould to PQ43014 in April of this year which asked what the cost to the public purse was of this employee network.
The Civil Service LGBT+ staff network is a volunteer collaborative group of Civil Service staff. The LGBT+ network does not hold a budget, but a department can choose to provide support where there is a business case to do so. We are not aware of any such financial support. There has been no cost to the public purse of the LGBT+ network since 2020. We do not hold any records prior to this date. The LGBT+ network was created in 2003.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what guidance has been issued to help civil servants distinguish between acceptable network activity and activity that may breach impartiality rules.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Staff Network Policy was launched on 23 September 2025 and is applicable to all cross-Civil Service Staff networks, from this date. Departments have been strongly encouraged to adopt or align to this policy for their own departmental networks. The policy establishes a consistent framework to ensure all staff networks operate effectively, in line with the Civil Service code.