Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many posts there are for (a) press, (b) media and (c) other communications staff in his Department; and what the salary band is for each post.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
In the central Cabinet Office communications team, there are a total of 37 Full Time Equivalent Government Communication Service professionals.
Of this total, 14 are in the media discipline which covers press and media responsibilities.
This is the latest available data from June 2024.
Information on Cabinet Office salary bands can be found in the Statistical tables - Civil Service Statistics: 2024 found here.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what plans he has to update guidance for Government statistics on working age to reflect changes in the State Pension age.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the transparency data entitled Data on responses to correspondence from MPs and Peers in 2023, published on 23 May 2024, how his Department obtained the raw data on correspondence received from MPs by Government (a) Department and (b) agency.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office commissions each Government department and agency individually to request data to be included in the reports titled ‘Data on responses to correspondence from MPs and Peers’ that are published on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department's guidance entitled Guide to Handling Correspondence, updated on 6 September 2024, and with reference to his Department's transparency data entitled Data on responses to correspondence from MPs and peers, 2023, updated on 23 May 2024, whether his Department (a) produces and (b) publishes correspondence performance data on responses to correspondence from Members of devolved (i) Parliaments and (ii) Assemblies.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Department for Work and Pensions complies with correspondence reporting and data requests from the Cabinet Office. The data on responses to correspondence from MPs and Peers 2023 includes performance when responding to correspondence from members of devolved Parliaments and Assemblies. This information has not been separated out in this or previous reports. Correspondence performance data for 2024 will be published in due course.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 14 January 2025 to Question 22905 on State Retirement Pensions: Women and with reference to page 11 of his Department's guidance entitled Guide to Handling Correspondence, updated on 6 September 2024, whether the Department for Work and Pensions complies with reporting and data requests from his Department.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Department for Work and Pensions complies with correspondence reporting and data requests from the Cabinet Office. The data on responses to correspondence from MPs and Peers 2023 includes performance when responding to correspondence from members of devolved Parliaments and Assemblies. This information has not been separated out in this or previous reports. Correspondence performance data for 2024 will be published in due course.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department's guidance entitled Guide to Handling Correspondence, updated on 6 September 2024, and with reference to his Department's transparency data entitled Data on responses to correspondence from MPs and peers, 2023, updated on 23 May 2024, when correspondence performance data will be published for 2024.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Department for Work and Pensions complies with correspondence reporting and data requests from the Cabinet Office. The data on responses to correspondence from MPs and Peers 2023 includes performance when responding to correspondence from members of devolved Parliaments and Assemblies. This information has not been separated out in this or previous reports. Correspondence performance data for 2024 will be published in due course.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 8 January 2025 to Question 21320 on written representations to the Department of Work and Pensions, whether there have been changes to the directions to Government departments on the logging of enquiries from (a) MPs and (b) Members of the devolved Parliaments and Assemblies.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Guide to Handling Correspondence, owned by the Cabinet Office and published on GOV.UK, sets out the guidance for Government departments to follow when handling correspondence from MPs and Members of the devolved Parliaments and Assemblies. The guidance was last updated in 2021.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent assessment he has made of the compatibility of the Civil Service Code with the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
On 17 January 2024, there was an exchange of letters between the Cabinet Office and the Home Office regarding the future implementation of the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill which set out draft guidance to the Civil Service.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-guidance-safety-of-rwanda-bill. Full guidance will be issued when the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum
and Immigration) Bill becomes law.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of trends in the number of requests to receive an official portrait of His Majesty The King by public authorities in (a) Scotland, (b) England, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
As is usual practice following accession, an Official Portrait has been taken of His Majesty The King to mark the start of the new Reign, for use in public buildings and for other official purposes. His Majesty’s Government will use this portrait for the Official Portrait Scheme, announced by the Deputy Prime Minister in April last year.
The scheme opened in November 2023 to enable certain Public Authorities across the UK to apply for a free, framed official portrait of His Majesty The King for display in their buildings.
The scheme is ongoing and is due for completion by mid year 2024. While the scheme is ongoing, we will not be releasing figures on total uptake but requests have been made by Public Authorities across all four nations of the United Kingdom.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what proportion of civil servants on temporary contracts in the Cabinet Office are women.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
This data is available in the Public sector employment Dataset published quarterly by the Office for National Statistics. For the most recent data, June 2023, the details requested are found in Table 8.