Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many departmental Senior Civil Service away days have taken place in calendar year 2026 to date; in what specific venues; at what cost; and if there was any associated social or team-building activity at public expense.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
In the calendar year 2026, the Cabinet Office has not held any departmental Senior Civil Service away days.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 4 June 2026 to Question 4161, on Government departments: marketing, how much has been spent on branded goods and merchandise by each of the department’s Arm’s Length Bodies since the Government Chief Commercial Officer letter was sent; on what items, and at what cost.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
I refer the Honorable Member to the answers to the following questions which cover spend on branded goods and merchandise by Cabinet Office Arms Length Bodies:
Question 4161 of 4 June 2026 which covered spend by the Government Property Agency (Executive Agency), Infected Blood Compensation Authority (Non-Departmental Public Body) and other small expert Arms Length Bodies including the Senior Salaries Review Board, Civil Service Commission, Ethics and Integrity Commission, and House of Lords Appointments Commission;
Question 18638 of September 2025 which covered the four branded-refreshed banners which were bought by the Government Commercial agency;
Question 16034 of 16 July 2026 which covered spending by the UK Statistics Authority.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what written representations have (a) Cabinet Office Ministers and (b) the Prime Minister received from the Mayor of Greater Manchester since July 2024.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
It would not be appropriate to comment on private correspondence that may or may not have been received.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what is the percentage office workplace attendance requirement in each of the (a) Government Property Agency and (b) Cabinet Office’s offices, broken down by location; and whether attendance statistics are collated for each of those individual offices.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office, including the Government Property Agency as one of its Executive Agencies, does not centrally collect or hold data on average workplace attendance. The monitoring of office attendance remains the responsibility of individuals, line managers and business units. Line Managers are expected to be aware of, and ensure compliance with, the minimum 60% expectation for their direct reports.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, further to the answer of 22 June 2026, to Question 10189, on Databases: EU law, if they will list the data and reporting requirements that the department must make to the European Commission and its agencies.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK and EU share information and data as part of our broader cooperation on trade, economy and security. The UK acts in accordance with the reporting and information sharing provisions set out in the Trade and Cooperation Agreement and the Withdrawal Agreement, including the Windsor Framework.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the percentage of desks provided for staff is as a proportion of the total number of assigned staff in (a) her Department's London headquarters and the (b) Office of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and (c) Government Property Agency.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
It has been the practice of 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.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, further to the answer of 8 July 2026 to Question 14349 on Civil Service: Temporary Employment, if she will list each of the internship schemes that have been made available in the last 12 months through (1) the Cabinet Office and (2) the Office of the Prime Minister, other than the Fast Stream Summer Internship Programme.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
There are no centrally run internship programmes within the Cabinet Office other than the Summer Internship Programme (SIP). Individual Business Units and Arms’ Lengths Bodies run small local internship schemes that are not managed or overseen by the centre of Cabinet Office.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what specific diversity and inclusion (a) days, (b) weeks and (c) months, were recognised and marked by (i) Cabinet Office and (ii) the Office of the Prime Minister, in the calendar year 2025.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Office of the Prime Minister was not established in the period requested and therefore all information relates to the core Cabinet Office only.
Diversity and inclusion marked events have occurred under successive governments.
Below is the specific diversity and inclusion marked events for the Cabinet Office for the calendar year 2025.
Cabinet Office recognised the following diversity and inclusion days in 2025:
Holocaust Memorial Day (January)
International Women’s Day (March)
Young Carer Awareness Day (March)
International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (May)
Carers Rights Day (June)
Neurodiversity Pride Day (June)
Bi Visibility Day (September)
Menopause Awareness Day (October)
International Men’s Day (November)
Transgender Day of Remembrance (November)
International Day of Persons with Disabilities (December)
Cabinet Office recognised the following diversity and inclusion weeks in 2025:
National Inclusion Week (September)
Baby Loss Awareness Week (October)
Interfaith Week (November)
Cabinet Office recognised the following diversity and inclusion months in 2025:
Pride Month (June)
South Asian Heritage Month (July)
World Alzheimer's Month (September)
Blood Cancer Awareness Month (September)
Black History Month (October)
National Care Leavers Month (November)
UK Disability History Month (December)
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether there have been any changes to the (a) Missions and (b) specific Milestones announced in the Plan for Change, CP 1210, of 5 December 2024.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds
Missions remain a priority across Government departments, in line with the strategy set out in the Plan for Change.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether Senior Civil Servants who underperform against Ministerially set KPIs but subsequently win another Senior Civil Service role through fair and open competition will be permitted to take up that appointment.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Senior Civil Servants who consistently fail to perform to the required standard must be placed on performance development plans and we have introduced cross government consistency check meetings to ensure data is better shared across departments. Departments are responsible for setting recruitment arrangements within their organisation, in line with the recruitment principles, and can choose to limit eligibility by restricting those subject to formal poor performance procedures from applying.