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 and what proportion of civil servants in her Department were on permanent home working contracts in 2025.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Between January 2025 and December 2025, 138 Cabinet Office employees were contractual home workers (130 FTE). This represents 2.4% of the overall workforce.
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 her Department spent on interpreters and related translation services in 2025.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office spent £335,074.59 on interpreters and translation services in 2025.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether (1) 10 Downing Street and (2) Number 10 North monitor the amount of food waste generated each month.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
10 Downing Street monitors food waste on a monthly basis through it's services provider. Heron House already had waste collection management facilities in place, managed by the building service provider directly.
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 her Department spent on activities relating to Pride Month 2026.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office is aware of the following Pride related spend:
£7,002.98 to fund the cross-Civil Service LGBT+ Network presence at Pride, covering up to 15 events taking place across the UK during summer 2026. This figure includes two events which took place during Pride Month (June).
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, which Minister gave authorisation for the national emergency alert sent in August 2026.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security) (Jointly with the Cabinet Office)
The Emergency Alert broadcast on 14 August was authorised by the First Secretary of State following a request from the National Fire Chiefs Council. Every Emergency Alert is carefully coordinated with responding public bodies and agencies.
This tool is only used in emergency scenarios and where the need is greatest. The Cabinet Office remains committed to reviewing every alert request on a case-by-case basis.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether her Department (a) uses or (b) is taking steps to install rooftop solar panels on its premises.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
(a) The Cabinet Office estate isn’t currently using rooftop solar panels.
(b) Feasibility studies are currently being conducted at a number of Cabinet Office locations. Where opportunities are identified that rooftop solar panels can be installed, the earliest opportunity to commence delivery would be from the financial year 2027-28.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether her Department monitors the amount of food waste generated by its offices each month.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office monitors food waste in line with the Greening Government Commitments.
Data is collected through existing estate and facilities management arrangements and reported to the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA).
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 agency staff were employed by his Department in each of the last five years.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Information on agency staff hired by the department can be found on gov.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 appointed anyone from outside the civil service other than special advisers since July 2024.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Yes, the Cabinet Office has appointed a number of candidates who were external to the Civil Service into roles. This includes candidates who applied through standard recruitment campaigns on Civil Service Jobs and were successful after open and fair competition, as well as those who have joined on secondment.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he had made of the potential impact of introducing digital ID on remote communities in rural areas.
Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Inclusion is one of the core principles of the proposed national, free Digital ID.
The Government held a public consultation from 10 March - 5 May and convened the People’s Panel, which brought together a diverse group of people - selected to be broadly representative of the whole British public - to consider different perspectives and debate trade-offs.
This was supplemented with an inclusive engagement programme, including targeted conversations with representatives of rural communities, and Ministerial engagements across the UK. Taken together, this will ensure that the Government hears from as many people as possible, including the perspectives of rural communities.