Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many and what proportion of staff in his Department have (a) office-based, (b) hybrid and (c) remote-working contracts.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office remains committed to flexible working and the business benefits that it offers. We expect that most of our staff will be able to work both from home and in the workplace as part of an informal, non-contractual hybrid working arrangement. This is agreed and arranged with staff members individually.
The department does have a small number of homeworking contracts where this is appropriate- as at 31 Dec 2025 we had 126.1 FTE homeworkers out of 5211.0 FTE total, giving a proportion of 2.4%.
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 the potential impact of the Procurement Act 2023 on the (a) number and (b) total value of public procurement contracts awarded to small and medium-sized enterprises.
Answered by Chris Ward - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
This Government is determined to ensure the £400 billion of public money spent on public procurement annually delivers economic growth and supports British businesses, especially SMEs.
We are starting to see more opportunities for SMEs and VCSEs as the Procurement Act 2023 is implemented and embedded across the public sector. Initial trends show that the proportion of PA23 tender lots with a planning, tender, transparency or dynamic markets notice tagged as suitable for SMEs has increased to around two thirds of all requirements.
To continue to build on this positive trend, this Government has also published a new, more ambitious, National Procurement Policy Statement (NPPS), which requires contracting authorities to consider ways to increase procurement spend with SMEs and Voluntary, Community, and Social Enterprises (VCSEs).
We have also introduced changes allowing local councils to reserve over one billion pounds worth of lower value contracts to suppliers based locally or within the UK which has recently become law, a step strongly supported by SMEs.
We will set out further reforms, including the response to the recent public procurement consultation, in due course. These reforms will further support British SMEs to bid for contracts.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people were employed in manufacturing roles in each of the last five years.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 23rd February is attached.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to support British manufacturing SMEs to bid for contracts.
Answered by Chris Ward - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Government is determined to ensure the £400 billion of public money spent on public procurement annually delivers economic growth and supports British businesses, especially SMEs.
The Government’s reforms to the National Procurement Policy Statement (NPPS) requires contracting authorities to consider ways to increase procurement spend with SMEs and Voluntary, Community, and Social Enterprises (VCSEs), like in the manufacturing sector.
We have also introduced changes allowing local councils to reserve over one billion pounds worth of lower value contracts to suppliers based locally or within the UK which has recently become law, a step strongly supported by SMEs.
We will set out further reforms, including the response to the recent public procurement consultation, in due course. These reforms will further support British SMEs, like in manufacturing, to bid for contracts.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 8 January to Question 102676, on Government Departments: Social Media, how much the Government has spent on targeted advertising on social media platforms since 2024.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
All government advertising on social media platforms is targeted.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the value of a) grants and b) other forms of financial assistance to charities working in the immigration sector was in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Chris Ward - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Government publishes data on grant funding annually in the Government grants register on gov.uk.
Grant funding for the period 2023/24 is publicly available. Grants funding data for 2024/25 will be published in March 2026. Grants funding data for 2025/26 is scheduled for publication in March 2027.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the total expected value is of the media strategy, planning, and buying contract awarded to WPP Media; and what estimated cost savings will result from reducing the number of suppliers under the new agreement.
Answered by Chris Ward - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
WPP Media has been awarded a place on Lot 1 of the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) RM6364 Media and Creative Services agreement.
The agreement, managed by CCS, will play an important role in ensuring that the UK public receives clear, accurate, and authoritative information from the government. By uniting media planning and buying under a single agency, the government will streamline its work to reach target audiences more effectively across diverse platforms. This consolidation is designed to drive value, improve operational efficiency, and ensure more effective media buying for every pound of public money spent.
Spend and related savings will be determined by individual public sector bodies based on their specific requirements.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what performance indicators will be used to evaluate WPP Media’s provision of media planning and buying services across Government; and how often performance will be reviewed.
Answered by Chris Ward - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Crown Commercial Service reviews framework-level performance on a quarterly basis, including pricing commitments, financial transparency, social value delivery, and client satisfaction.
Individual departments are responsible for managing day-to-day performance and specific service-level agreements for their own call-off contracts.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate his Department has made of the number of cyber attacks there have been on infrastructure in the last three years.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Cyber attacks against the UK are increasing in scale and impact. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) categorises cyber incidents that have a substantial impact on the national security, the economy, or critical infrastructure as ‘nationally significant incidents’. In the 12 months to August 2023, 62 nationally significant incidents were recorded. This increased to 89 in 2024, and further rose to 204 in 2025. NCSC’s Annual Review provides further information on cyber incidents and trends.
On improving the cyber security of national infrastructure, I refer to my answer for UIN 906730, debated on 4 December 2025. The Government is committed to strengthening cyber security across the UK. The recently introduced Cyber Security and Resilience Bill will strengthen the UK’s cyber defences and ensure that critical infrastructure and the digital services on which companies rely are secure.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what plans his Department has to improve cyber security infrastructure.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Cyber attacks against the UK are increasing in scale and impact. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) categorises cyber incidents that have a substantial impact on the national security, the economy, or critical infrastructure as ‘nationally significant incidents’. In the 12 months to August 2023, 62 nationally significant incidents were recorded. This increased to 89 in 2024, and further rose to 204 in 2025. NCSC’s Annual Review provides further information on cyber incidents and trends.
On improving the cyber security of national infrastructure, I refer to my answer for UIN 906730, debated on 4 December 2025. The Government is committed to strengthening cyber security across the UK. The recently introduced Cyber Security and Resilience Bill will strengthen the UK’s cyber defences and ensure that critical infrastructure and the digital services on which companies rely are secure.