Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish the (a) governance structure, (b) terms of reference for the (i) Senior Steering Group, (ii) Champions Network and (iii) Expert Advisory Group, (c) minutes, (d) declared interests and (e) any recorded conflicts of interest and information on how these were managed for One Big Thing 2024.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The following sets out the key individuals and groups that made up the governance structure for One Big Thing 2024, including their roles:
Group/Individual | Membership | Role |
Sponsor for One Big Thing 2024 | Jo Shanmugalingam, 2nd Permanent Secretary, DfT (at the time) | Responsible for advocacy/ championing One Big Thing 2024 and encouraging participation across the Civil Service. |
Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) | Sapana Agrawal, Director for Civil Service Strategy Unit | Day-to-day leadership of One Big Thing, responsible for ensuring the project meets its objectives. |
Senior Steering Group | Sponsor, SRO, and other senior civil servants (SCS) with responsibility for relevant areas such as Civil Service Communications, Government People Group, and Government Digital Service. | This group acted as a review and challenge function and assured that the design aligned with the needs of the Civil Service. It was responsible for signing off on the approach and products. |
Departmental Champions | SCS departmental champions, nominated by permanent secretaries. | Responsible for ensuring successful delivery and participation in their departments and feeding into overall initiative design and plan via monthly Champion Network meetings. |
Expert Advisory Group | Internal and external innovation experts | This group provided advice to inform the design and development of the One Big Thing 2024 learning offer. |
Central working group | The central project management team in the Cabinet Office’s Civil Service Strategy Unit and delivery partners. | Day-to-day delivery across workstreams, including training products, comms and engagement, platform, data collection, and evaluation. |
No conflicts of interest were recorded. The Expert Advisory Group had representation from external experts from the private sector and academia. Their role was limited to providing subject matter expertise, with no decision-making/ sign-off authority or involvement with delivery.
We are unable to publish the minutes of meetings, as requested, as the effective design of One Big Thing is reliant upon these being internal forums for free and frank discussions, with attendees often providing informal opinions or preliminary views.
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 21 October 2025 to Question 82673 on Government Departments: Social Media, how much has been spent on the two agencies for influencer work since July 2024.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
There are no plans to publish specific financial details in the public domain.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, for what reason the Cabinet Office annual report and accounts 2024-25, HC1372, was published in October.
Answered by Chris Ward - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office Annual Report and Account 2024-25 was laid on 23 October 2025. Departments seek to lay their 2024-25 annual reports as soon as they are able to do so before the statutory deadline of 31 January 2026.
This publication is in line with those of previous years, and comes earlier than the Cabinet Office Annual Report and Account 2023-24, published in December 2024.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to page 58 of the Cabinet Office annual report and accounts 2024-25, published on 23 October 2025, if he will set out the types of personal data reported to the Information Commissioner's Office in each of the eight incidents; and if he will set what types of data were compromised in the Capita cyber-attack.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Please see below the data items as recorded on the notification forms to the Information Commissioner’s Office for the eight incidents referred to on page 58 of the Cabinet Office annual reports and accounts 2024-25:
Incident 1 - Health, name, contact details, date of birth
Incident 2 - Name, account numbers and sort codes
Incident 3 - Names, addresses, dates of birth and medical information
Incident 4 - Name, date of birth, home address and brief medical history
Incident 5 - Names, work email addresses, job roles/grade
Incident 6 - Name, Address, National Insurance Number, economic and financial data
Incident 7 - Name, Address, National Insurance Number, economic and financial data
Incident 8 - Name, allegations of improper conduct
In the majority of the above reported incidents either individual or very small numbers of data subjects were affected by the breach.
Regarding the Capita incident, the types of personal data recorded in the Information Commissioner’s Office notification are as follows:
Name
Contact details
Account numbers and sort codes
Health data
Economic and financial data, e.g. credit card numbers, bank details
Copies of official documents, e.g. driving licences
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to page 35 of the Cabinet Office annual report and accounts 2024-25, published on 23 October 2025, if he will list each (a) Minister and (b) senior official who made use of the Government Car Service; and what were the greenhouse gas emissions reported for 2024-25.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Government Car Service (GCS) provides vehicles to departments as a shared resource and does not record the use of the vehicle on an individual basis. In relation to the specific greenhouse gas emissions of GCS reported for 2024-25, GCS was transferred from the Department for Transport to the Cabinet Office in April 2025. The Cabinet Office does not, therefore, hold information on GCS prior to this date.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many (a) CTC, (b) SC, (c) DV and (d) DV renewal cases are currently awaiting completion by UK Security Vetting.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
United Kingdom Security Vetting (UKSV) is currently meeting its agreed Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) across each product type. UKSV KPIs are set and regularly reviewed in consultation with customer groups to ensure that demand is balanced with maintaining assurance in national security safeguards.
In line with the practice followed by successive administrations, the Government does not otherwise comment on security matters.
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 21 October 2025 to Question 74185 on Deputy Prime Minister: Admiralty House, on what date his Department informed Westminster City Council that the residence in Admiralty House was occupied as a secondary residence.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
As the property was a second residence, the Government was responsible for paying the Council Tax on Admiralty House, not the former Deputy Prime Minister - in line with long-standing precedent under successive governments.
As has been the case under successive administrations, the Government Property Agency is responsible for liaising with Westminster City Council for matters concerning residency at Admiralty House.
Following the introduction of the second homes premium, this has been paid in full in a one-off full payment in July 2025. This payment was made on the date the invoice was received from Westminster City Council.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to page 250 of the Cabinet Office annual report and accounts 2024-25, published on 23 October 2025, what is the (a) purpose and (b) function of the Gresham Estate contract.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The responsibility of the Gresham Estate was transferred to the Office of Government Property (OGP) in 2018. This is an annuity payment which dates back to an Act of Parliament in 1768, when Lord Gresham gave the site to the Crown to use. The Act said he would be paid £500 per annum, and this liability passed to the Gresham Trust when he died, and this is now managed by the Mercers’ Company.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Government Property Agency holds records on the costs of (a) works, (b) fittings and (c) fixtures to Ministerial residences in (i) Downing Street, (ii) Carlton Gardens and (iii) Admiralty House since 4 July 2024.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Government Property Agency holds records on the costs of works, fittings and fixtures relating to ministerial residences of Admiralty House only.
I refer the Honourable Member to 73315 which has since been corrected.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Cabinet Office Annual report and accounts 2024-25, HC1372, and pursuant to the Answer of 21 October 2025 to Question 73315, on Deputy Prime Minister: Admiralty House, on what (a) page and (b) paragraph are the costs relating to the (i) maintenance and (ii) use of Admiralty House.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
All costs relating to the Cabinet Office's annual expenditure are outlined from page 165 onwards, which includes spending by the Government Property Agency as an agency of the Cabinet Office. The report does not enter into granular building level accounts, as has been the case under successive administrations.
I refer the Honourable Member to 73315 which has since been corrected.