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 - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
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 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 20th May 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, with reference to his Department’s press release entitled Ministers rip up consultation culture, published on 26 March 2026, which government department were consulted on a change to producing annual report.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Department for Health and Social Care is the government department referred to in the press release entitled Ministers rip up consultation culture published 26 March, that consulted on a change to how it produces its Annual Report.
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, whether the new accountability framework for Permanent Secretaries will result in a reduction in responsibilities for other cabinet ministers.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The new accountability framework for Permanent Secretaries does not change the responsibilities of cabinet ministers.
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 his Department’s press release entitled Ministers rip up consultation culture, published on 26 March 2026, which government department was consulting on a change to how it produces its annual report, as referenced in the press release; and how many of these consultations had it undertaken previously.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
It has not proved possible to respond to the Hon Member in the time available before Prorogation.
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 his Department’s press release entitled Ministers rip up consultation culture, published on 26 March 2026, if he will make an assessment of 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 - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
It has not proved possible to respond to the Hon Member in the time available before Prorogation
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 his Department’s press release entitled Ministers rip up consultation culture, published on 26 March 2026, whether the new accountability framework for Permanent Secretaries, designed to focus on delivering the Prime Minister’s priorities, will result in a reduction in responsibilities for other cabinet ministers.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
It has not proved possible to respond to the Hon Member in the time available before Prorogation.
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 his Department’s press release entitled Ministers rip up consultation culture, published on 26 March 2026, what the projected savings to the public purse are as a result of reduced consultations.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Policy analysis is currently ongoing to develop recommendations to reduce unnecessary bureaucracy. We have already identified initial targeted first steps, but this is a significant piece of work requiring ministerial decisions across a range of policy areas. We are developing our plan of work and raising our ambition. Once this has been agreed, we will be in a position to develop quantifiable metrics in terms of resource savings to the public purse.
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 his Department’s press release entitled Ministers rip up consultation culture, published on 26 March 2026, what systems of artificial intelligence will be used to identify disproportionate consultation and reporting requirements.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
We are using state-of-the-art large language models to identify all duties to consult within the statute book, as well as contextual information such as responsible department and the circumstances under which consultation is required.
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 his Department’s press release entitled Ministers rip up consultation culture, published on 26 March 2026, what mechanisms will be in place to allow Parliament to scrutinise decisions to reduce consultation requirements.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The government is committed to protecting the necessary checks and balances to ministerial and Parliamentary decision making. In line with standard processes, Parliament will have the opportunity to scrutinise and challenge any changes to consultation requirements where they are legislative.