Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Machinery of Government changes: Fact Sheet, published on 22 July 2026, what the estimated cost is of establishing the Office for the Prime Minister and Cabinet, including staffing, accommodation, information technology and branding costs.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
No10 North is central to the Prime Minister’s commitment to get good growth in every postcode, drive devolution, and bring Government closer to the communities it serves. Mayors, employers, councils, and public services, will work in equal partnership with central government so that decisions about this country’s economic future are no longer only taken in Westminster. The cost of establishing No 10 North is covered by existing departmental budgets. Staffing costs are regularly published on GOV.UK.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Machinery of Government changes: Fact Sheet, published on 22 July 2026, what the estimated cost is of establishing No.10 North, including accommodation, staffing and operational costs.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
No10 North is central to the Prime Minister’s commitment to get good growth in every postcode, drive devolution, and bring Government closer to the communities it serves. Mayors, employers, councils, and public services, will work in equal partnership with central government so that decisions about this country’s economic future are no longer only taken in Westminster. The cost of establishing No 10 North is covered by existing departmental budgets. Staffing costs are regularly published on GOV.UK.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to her Department's press release entitled Government orders that public spending must back British jobs and skills in every postcode, published on 5 August 2026, what recent discussions her Department has had with small and medium-sized businesses on the potential impact of the proposed procurement requirements on their ability to bid for government contracts.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Government is committed to supporting small and medium-sized enterprises across the country. The government issued a public consultation on procurement reform last year and has continued to engage stakeholders, including the Federation of Small Businesses. Streamlining the social value requirements in central government procurement will simplify the procurement process and make it easier for businesses of all sizes to bid for government contracts.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to her Department's press release entitled Government orders that public spending must back British jobs and skills in every postcode, published on 5 August 2026, what assessment her Department has made of the extent to which the new procurement requirements will create additional jobs, rather than influencing the location of jobs that would otherwise have been created.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Social Value Model (PPN 026) is designed to build local workforce capacity, and support UK economic growth. The approach requires suppliers to recognise when suppliers create genuine economic additionality and takes this into account in central government commercial decision-making. This aligns with our Modern Industrial Strategy to drive long-term investment, strengthen supply chain resilience, foster procurement innovation and create high-quality jobs across the country.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Government press release entitled Government orders that public spending must back British jobs and skills in every postcode, published on 5 August 2026, what metrics will be used to assess the number of additional jobs created as a result of the new procurement requirements.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office will publish detailed guidance on the application of social value criteria in central government procurement in the autumn. This will include standard reporting metrics.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to her Department's press release entitled Government orders that public spending must back British jobs and skills in every postcode, published on 5 August 2026, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the proposed procurement requirements on the number of suppliers able to bid for government contracts.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Simplifying the social value requirements in central government procurement will simplify the procurement process and make it easier for businesses of all sizes to bid for government contracts.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to her Department's press release entitled Government orders that public spending must back British jobs and skills in every postcode, published on 5 August 2026, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the proposed reforms on levels of competition in public procurement.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Streamlining the social value requirements in central government procurement will simplify the procurement process and make it easier for businesses of all sizes to bid for government contracts.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to her Department's press release entitled Government orders that public spending must back British jobs and skills in every postcode, published on 5 August 2026, what estimate her Department has made of the proposed procurement requirements on the level of Government procurement expenditure to UK-based suppliers.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The new measures on the application of social value in government procurement provide a clearer, simplified approach that will make it easier for UK businesses to bid for government contracts and support UK jobs and skills.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department’s press release entitled Ministers rip up consultation culture, published on 26 March 2026, if he will set out which cabinet decisions since July 2024 would have been sped up as a result of the proposed reform to the process for collective Cabinet agreement of government policy.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds
Policy analysis on options for reforming collective agreement is ongoing and we have high ambitions for speeding up the government’s decision making processes. All options are being considered for how this success is measured. There are currently no plans to perform a retrospective assessment of which decisions would have been sped-up as a result of any proposed reforms.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of trends in levels of alcohol-specific deaths since 2019.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 20th May is attached.