John Hayes

The Office for Equality and Opportunity does not have its own definition of gender identity.

All staff at the Equality and Human Rights Commission are working to advance equality through their statutory remit. No staff are specifically employed in full-time equivalent diversity, equality and inclusion roles.

The Church Commissioners and Archbishops' Council agreed funding of £11 million for 2023-25 in support of Buildings for Mission. £9 million was allocated to dioceses to fund 30 building support officers to give specialist advice, and there was a small works grant fund. More information about the fund can be found here: Church of England announces £9 million to help parishes with repairs and specialist advice | The Church of England

The National Church Institutions has directly funded 14 grants to Anglican churches in Lincolnshire, amounting to £217,000, through its conservation grants programme and allocated Cultural Recovery Funding.

There are also a small number of other national grant-making bodies, such as the National Churches Trust, to which churches can apply for support, as well as a small number of local Lincolnshire charities that give small grants to local churches, and the Church is very grateful for their continued support.

Along with the lead bishops for church buildings, the Bishop of Bristol and Bishop of Ramsbury, I have welcomed the Government's renewal of the Listed Place of Worship Grant Scheme, which will help many listed churches in Lincolnshire reclaim the cost of VAT on church repairs. The Church Commissioners continue to advocate for the Scheme, and for it to be put on a more long-term footing. Comment on the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme announcement | The Church of England

The National Church Institutions are awaiting the Government’s formal response to the 2017 Taylor Review (The Taylor Review: Sustainability of English Churches and Cathedrals - GOV.UK) into the Sustainability of Church Buildings commissioned by the Department of Culture Media and Sport.

There is currently a total of 7 full time equivalent staff within the Race Equality Unit.

Overall staff figures for the Office for Equality and Opportunity total 133.8 Full Time Equivalents, of which the Race Equality Unit total 6 FTE, the Disability Unit total 19.8 FTE and the Women and Equalities Unit total 36.5 FTE. This excludes any temporary time limited resource from wider Cabinet Office.

Anyone should be able to privately pray when at work or accessing services and the religion or belief protections in the Equality Act 2010 (the Act) already ensure this. The Act does not take precedence over other civil or criminal law. Accordingly, amendment of the Act in this regard would not be appropriate.

All Serious Fraud Office (SFO) staff are routinely provided with laptops that enable them to work flexibly in the office, at home or other locations.

In financial year 2024-25, the SFO spent  £1311.77 on  equipment to enable a small number of staff needing workplace adjustments to work from home. No data is recorded specifically on workplace adjustment expenditure for home-working in the previous two years.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) spent the below amounts on equipment such as chairs, monitors and desks to enable to staff to work from home effectively in the last three years:

The Attorney General’s Office operates 60% minimum office attendance for most staff and hybrid working. To support staff working at home the department offers a contribution to equipment. The cost to the department in each of the last three years is £284.00 in 2023, £578.32 in 2024, and £214.94 in 2025.

We remain committed to supporting the use of apprenticeships across all government departments to break down barriers to opportunity. This includes supporting the Government's commitment to 2,000 digital apprenticeships through its TechTrack scheme by 2030 to improve digital skills and drive improvements and efficiency in public services.

Additionally, a new cross-government Level 3 apprenticeship programme in Business Administration, the ‘Civil Service Career Launch Apprenticeship’ (CLA), will see new apprentices kickstart their careers, across various departments, starting from January 2026.

In addition, my department continues to offer apprenticeship opportunities each year. Given the size of the Attorney General’s Office (approximately 60 staff) this number can vary. We currently have one apprentice.

This Government is committed to working with the police and other partners to address the blight of wildlife crime in Lincolnshire and across the country.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has fourteen Areas (regional teams) across England and Wales – the CPS East Midlands Area serves the counties of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, and Nottinghamshire including the cities of Nottingham, Derby, and Leicester, and the county of Rutland.

More broadly, we have announced that the CPS will receive an additional £49m to support victims of crime and transform the services they provide to the public.

We are introducing tougher measures to clamp down on anti-social behaviour, stronger neighbourhood policing, and robust laws to prevent farm theft and fly-tippers.

We are recruiting 13,000 more neighbourhood police and police community support officers across England and Wales.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council Wildlife and Rural Crime Strategy 2022-2025 provides a framework through which policing, and its partners, can work together to tackle the most prevalent threats and emerging issues which predominantly affect rural communities.

CPS prosecutors also work closely with local police officers and officers from the National Wildlife Crime Unit to tackle all types of rural crime.

The CPS also provides legal guidance on wildlife, rural, and heritage crime, which is available to all its prosecutors to assist them in dealing with these cases. It also provides specialist training to ensure that its prosecutors have the expert knowledge needed to prosecute these crimes.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at the heart of the Government’s plan to kickstart an era of economic growth, transform how we deliver public services, and boost living standards for working people across the country.

The Government Legal Department is making limited use of generative AI (“Gen AI”) powered by large language models. Since December 2024, GLD has been running a trial of Microsoft’s M365 Copilot, which now has 100 participants and will shortly increase to 150. GLD’s AI Programme is considering where AI may be used and provide tangible benefits within specific work areas and processes, including proposed testing of online legal research tools with Gen AI-based capabilities.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at the heart of the Government’s plan to kickstart an era of economic growth, transform how we deliver public services, and boost living standards for working people across the country.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is exploring new and existing technologies, including AI, to enhance efficiency. AI has the potential to support the CPS day-to-day in the delivery of justice. I am keen to explore the opportunities for efficiency that this new technology can bring, being mindful of ethical considerations.

A pilot of Microsoft Copilot concluded in August 2024, with approximately over 400 staff across the organisation given access to Copilot to assist them in everyday tasks such as summarising emails, creating PowerPoint presentations, and analysing excel data.

The scheme established that that Copilot reduced the amount of time it took staff to complete administrative and day-to-day tasks and has the capacity to save thousands of hours across the organisation.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at the heart of the Government’s plan to kickstart an era of economic growth, transform how we deliver public services, and boost living standards for working people across the country.

During the past 12 months, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has been trialling the use of Technology Assisted Review (TAR), utilising AI, on a live criminal case. The trial demonstrated that TAR could help meet legal disclosure obligations more efficiently.

The trial adhered to relevant disclosure guidelines and officials are still making the decisions on what is in fact relevant and what is disclosed.

Following the success of the trial, the SFO is planning to use TAR in more SFO cases in the future.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at the heart of the Government’s plan to kickstart an era of economic growth, transform how we deliver public services, and boost living standards for working people across the country

Ministers have not used AI in the Department in their roles as Law Officers.

A small number of officials within the Department have been piloting the use of a Microsoft 365 application ‘CoPilot’ which can be used to summarise content and meetings, assisting with drafting content and interrogating information. ChatGPT has also previously been used in this manner.

The Serious Fraud Office has one full-time equivalent staff member employed on this basis.

Paragraph 21.27 of Erskine May states:

“By long-standing convention, observed by successive Governments, the fact of, and substance of advice from, the law officers of the Crown is not disclosed outside government. This convention is referred to in paragraph [5.14] of the Ministerial Code [updated on 6 November 2024]. The purpose of this convention is to enable the Government to obtain frank and full legal advice in confidence.”

This is known as the Law Officers’ Convention and it applies to your question.

Commercial sensitivities exist around aspects of this spend which could prejudice commercial interests. All spend in these areas are subject to the standard value for money assessments.

The Union Flag is flown in Downing Street every day, weather permitting.

The Cabinet Office has spent money on social media influencers since July 2024. Influencers can be effective in reaching audiences that the Government and traditional marketing channels find hard to reach.

10 Downing Street has not spent money on social media influencers since July 2024.

The Government Property Agency uses the Cabinet Office's policy on Office Workstation Safety which includes the purchase of equipment for working at home. We do not have any formal home working contracts at the GPA.

IT equipment is purchased for the Government Property Agency (GPA) via Cabinet Office IT and recharged annually. However, to extract the relevant information would incur disproportionate costs.

Heads of departments have agreed that 60% minimum office attendance for most staff continues to be the best balance of working for the Civil Service.

The provision of equipment by Crown Commercial Service (CCS) for staff to use when working at home is made in line with Health and Safety legislation and workplace adjustment requirements.

Information on how much has been spent specifically to facilitate home working could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 8th July is attached.

There are no plans of this kind. This Government is proudly ensuring that everyone has equality of opportunity through its Opportunity Mission.

This information is not centrally held. All staff are issued with a laptop and mobile to allow remote working where necessary. Heads of departments have agreed that 60% minimum office attendance for most staff continues to be the best balance of working for the Civil Service.

The requested information is not centrally held, and complying with this request would incur a disproportionate cost to the department.

Heads of departments have agreed that 60% minimum office attendance for most staff continues to be the best balance of working for the Civil Service, as was the case under the previous administration.

The Civil Service Muslim Network (CSMN) is a volunteer collaborative group of Civil Service staff. The majority of staff network time is voluntary. The CSMN network does not hold a budget, but a department can choose to provide support where there is a business case to do so. We are not aware of any such financial support. There has been no centrally funded cost to the public purse of the CSMN network in the last three years.

We remain committed to supporting the use of apprenticeships across all government departments to break down barriers to opportunity. This includes supporting the Government's commitment to 2,000 digital apprenticeships through its TechTrack scheme by 2030 to improve digital skills and drive improvements and efficiency in public services.

Within the Cabinet Office, we are looking at every opportunity to increase apprenticeships. For example, last week we announced that this summer we will launch a new cross-Government Level 3 apprenticeship programme in Business Administration. The ‘Civil Service Career Launch Apprenticeship’ (CLA) will see new apprentices kickstart their careers, across various departments, starting from January 2026. In its first year, the CLA will offer roles in three city locations: Birmingham, London, and Manchester. By expanding into Birmingham and Manchester, the Civil Service is strengthening its presence in these growth areas, while still providing opportunities in London to meet workforce needs and priorities.

The Places for Growth Programme has been gathering data on relocation of Government roles from London since September 2021. Since then, latest published data shows 21,002 roles have been relocated from London. By year:

• 3,999 roles were relocated in 2021.

• 7,113 roles were relocated in 2022.

• 7,171 roles were relocated in 2023.

• 2,719 roles were relocated in Quarter 1 of 2024 (the latest published data).

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 7th March is attached.

The Race To The Top (RTTT) grade 6/7 Network was a collaborative volunteer network which no longer exists. The RTTT does not hold a budget, but a department can choose to provide support where there is a business case to do so. We are not aware of any such financial support. We are not aware of any cost to the public purse of the Race To The Top Grade 6/7 Network since 2020. We do not hold any records prior to this date. The RTTT network was created in 2018.