Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 16 December 2025 to Question 94728 on DEFRA: Redundancy Pay, whether the Chief Secretary to the Treasury approved the exit package of up to £350,000.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Flood Re is a company limited by guarantee. It does not receive any grant funding from the Government. As such, no Government funding has been spent on exit packages at Flood Re.
Under the previous Government, Flood Re was granted an exemption from the civil service pay remit guidance for three years, up to and including the 2026-27 pay year. It has also received pay delegation for a limited number of senior positions over the same period.
Flood Re has confirmed that this payment reflected contractual entitlements. As such, it would not be classed as a special severance payment requiring Chief Secretary to the Treasury approval.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the transparency data, Rt Hon Sir Keir Starmer KCB KC MP official charity receptions, July to September 2025, updated on 19 December 2025, what was the cost to the public purpose of each of the listed official receptions.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
As under previous administrations, details of official receptions are published in quarterly transparency returns on gov.uk.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, Pursuant to the answer of 15 December 2025, to Question 96790, on Tim Allan, how Tom Baldwin is classified in the published list of external meetings.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Special Adviser Code of Conduct sets out the categories of meetings, gifts and hospitality that are declared publicly. Any relevant meetings within this category will be published via this process in the normal way.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, Pursuant to the answer of 9 December 2025, to Question 92610, on Special Advisers, what were the topics of the presentations.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
This was an internal meeting, and the topics of discussion are not a matter of public record.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Cabinet Office publication, Public Appointments made by or of interest to the Prime Minister, of 30 October 2025, what does the inclusion of a regulated public appointment in that list entail for the process of that appointment; and whether the No10 Public Appointments Unit is consulted by the sponsor department on the (a) panel members, (b) longlist, (c) shortlist and (d) proposed final appointment by the sponsor department.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
This Government is continuing to ensure the highest standards in the public appointments process.
The process for public appointments is set out on gov.uk, including a transparent list of appointments that by their nature may be of interest to the Prime Minister’s Office.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Department's register of board members' interests, 2025 to 2026, published on 5 September 2025, what business A.M.Strategy undertakes.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Rt. Hon. Alan Milburn has declared A.M. Strategy Ltd in the Department’s register of interests. This is the business through which he has provided advisory services for several years.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, at what monetary thresholds do exit payments to departing Ambassadors or Heads of Mission need to be approved by (a) the Accounting Officer and Permanent Secretary of FCDO and (b) the Chief Secretary to the Treasury; and whether they need to be published by name of the civil servant in departmental accounts.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The guidance governing the approval of such payments is publicly available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/public-sector-exit-payments-guidance-on-special-severance-payments.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 15 December 2025 to Question 97796, what the estimated financial value was of the Downing Street property in the 2022-23 valuation.
Answered by Chris Ward - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
A professional revaluation of the Downing Street estate was last carried out under the previous government. The estimated value is included in the Cabinet Office Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of aligning shotgun and firearm licensing systems on (a) the rural economy, (b) legitimate sporting shooting and (c) essential wildlife management and crop protection.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government response to the 2023 firearms licensing consultation, published on 13 February 2025, included a commitment to having a public consultation on strengthening the licensing controls on shotguns to bring them more into line with the controls on other firearms in the interests of public safety. We intend to publish this consultation shortly.
We will carefully consider all of the views put forward during the consultation once it is completed, before deciding whether and what changes are necessary in the interests of public safety. We will also provide an impact assessment in relation to any changes that we intend to bring forward after the consultation including, as appropriate, impact on the police, the rural economy, sports, wildlife management and crop protection, in the normal way.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of aligning shotgun and firearm licensing systems on (a) public safety and (b) police licensing resource capacity.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government response to the 2023 firearms licensing consultation, published on 13 February 2025, included a commitment to having a public consultation on strengthening the licensing controls on shotguns to bring them more into line with the controls on other firearms in the interests of public safety. We intend to publish this consultation shortly.
We will carefully consider all of the views put forward during the consultation once it is completed, before deciding whether and what changes are necessary in the interests of public safety. We will also provide an impact assessment in relation to any changes that we intend to bring forward after the consultation including, as appropriate, impact on the police, the rural economy, sports, wildlife management and crop protection, in the normal way.