Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much his Department has spent on advertising on podcasts in each of the last three years.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
This information is not held.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will list the training programmes used by civil servants in his Department since 2020.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Cabinet Office staff members can access the full range of learning available to all Civil Servants via the centrally managed learning contracts. The Learning Frameworks service gives civil servants access to quality assured training courses through a supply chain of contracted delivery partners. It can be accessed through the Government Campus website: https://prospectus.governmentcampus.co.uk.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has used artificial intelligence to assist with drafting (a) legislation and (b) policy in the past 12 months.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The drafting of primary and secondary legislation is the responsibility of a large number of officials across government departments. A range of tools are used to assist with this drafting, including AI which is most commonly used to check, critique, and otherwise interrogate drafts. Work is continuously underway to identify ways of improving the efficiency of this work, including collaboration between departments to share ideas and emerging practices.
While AI can be used to assist with the drafting of legislation, the production of the draft remains the responsibility of a lead human drafter to meet the high standards expected of Government legislation. It is Parliament's responsibility to scrutinise and amend legislation as it sees necessary.
More widely, His Majesty’s Government has issued cross‑government guidance and training to civil servants supporting the safe and responsible use of generative AI. The AI Knowledge Hub was launched in May 2025. This includes core principles and relevant guidance for civil servants and supersedes the AI Playbook for Government.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether their Department has used artificial intelligence to assist with drafting (a) legislation and (b) policy in the past 12 months.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
It has not proved possible to respond to the Rt Hon Member in the time available before Prorogation
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will list the training programmes used by civil servants in his Department since 2020.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
It has not proved possible to respond to the Rt Hon Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many honours were awarded to people (a) living and (b) working in Lincolnshire in each of the last ten years; and what the level of each award was.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Transparency data is published alongside each New Year Honours List and King’s Birthday Honours List, giving an individual breakdown of recipients' names, level of award, their short citation and the city and country in which their correspondence address was located. Transparency data for each Honours List in each of the past five years can be found on gov.uk using the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/honours-reform-and-operation#honours-lists
The Cabinet Office does not collect home or work addresses for honours recipients; the information published reflects the correspondence address provided by recipients. This data relates only to the main Prime Minister’s List and does not include data from the Defence List or the Overseas and International List, which are not administered by the Cabinet Office.
Honours are awarded on merit basis. A key aim of the honours system is to ensure that it is more representative of the country as a whole and we will continue to encourage more nominations from every corner of the UK in future honours lists.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many staff within his Department are reliant on a visa for employment.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
39 civil servants are employed through Skilled Worker visas in the Cabinet Office. Before they can be considered for visa sponsorship, all candidates for Cabinet Office posts must meet the Civil Service nationality rules which operate alongside UK immigration rules.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people have his Department taken on internship schemes open only to those with certain protected characteristics in each of the last three years.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
In each of the last 3 years Cabinet Office has placed less than 5 people on internship schemes open only to those with certain protected characteristics. The exact number has been redacted to avoid identification of individuals.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many post office branches have (a) opened and (b) closed in Lincolnshire since 2016.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Rt Hon. gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 23rd March is attached.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much his Department has spent on special severance payments in each of the last three years.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The total value of severance payments is set out in the department’s Annual Report and Accounts, which are available online for the last three years.