Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he has taken to establish a central online register for conflicts of interest across government.

Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds

The government accepted the recommendations of the NAO’s 2024 report on conflict of interest management in government. In line with those recommendations,a good practice forum has been established and has met on a number of occasions since the NAO report was published - including to discuss the development of refreshed policy guidance setting a minimum standard, which will be published in due course. Once the revised policy is in place, departments will be encouraged to commission their internal auditors to review their implementation of the standard. In line with the NAO’s recommendation, the Government Internal Audit Agency has participated in the good practice forum.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department has taken to implement the recommendations of the NAO’s 2024 report on conflict of interest management in government.

Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds

The government accepted the recommendations of the NAO’s 2024 report on conflict of interest management in government. In line with those recommendations,a good practice forum has been established and has met on a number of occasions since the NAO report was published - including to discuss the development of refreshed policy guidance setting a minimum standard, which will be published in due course. Once the revised policy is in place, departments will be encouraged to commission their internal auditors to review their implementation of the standard. In line with the NAO’s recommendation, the Government Internal Audit Agency has participated in the good practice forum.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, in how many instances his Department has put mitigations for conflict of interest in place for (a) Ministers and (b) senior officials each year since 1 June 2024.

Answered by Calvin Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans and People)

Information on Ministers' interests is published on GOV.UK as part of the "List of Ministers' Interests" transparency data. Information on the interests of senior officials is published separately on GOV.UK in the "Register of Ministry of Defence Board Member Interests" transparency data.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in how many instances her Department has put mitigations for conflict of interest in place for (a) Ministers and (b) senior officials each year since 1 June 2024.

Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

There are established processes in place for the declaration and management of interests held by ministers and senior civil servants, which ensure that steps are taken to avoid a conflict of interest or manage the perception of a conflict.

a) Information about the ministers’ interests can be found in List of Ministers’ Interests, which is published quarterly.

b) In line with the guidance in the Government’s Financial Reporting Manual, details of the interests held by members of HM Treasury’s Executive Management board that may conflict with their management responsibilities are published in the department’s Annual Report and Accounts.

Data on the specific number of individual mitigation measures put in place across all senior officials is held within confidential records and localised systems. To extract and aggregate a precise historical count of individual mitigations since 1 June 2024 could only be achieved at disproportionate cost.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in how many instances his Department has put mitigations for conflict of interest in place for (a) Ministers and (b) senior officials each year since 1 June 2024.

Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

There are established processes in place for the declaration and management of interests held by ministers and senior civil servants, which ensure that steps are taken to avoid a conflict of interest or manage the perception of a conflict.

Information about the ministers’ interests process can be found in the Ministerial Code, and the List of Ministers’ Interests is published quarterly, with further information on both available, respectively, at the following two links:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ministerial-code/ministerial-code

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/list-of-ministers-interests

Data on the specific number of individual mitigation measures put in place is held within confidential personnel records and localised casework logs. To extract and aggregate a precise historical count of individual mitigations across all senior officials since 1 June 2024 could only be achieved at disproportionate cost.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, in how many instances his Department has put mitigations for conflict of interest in place for (a) Ministers and (b) senior officials each year since 1 June 2024.

Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

There are established processes in place for the declaration and management of interests held by ministers and senior civil servants, which ensure that steps are taken to avoid a conflict of interest or manage the perception of a conflict.

Information about the ministers’ interests process can be found in the Ministerial Code as well as the List of Ministers’ Interests, which is published quarterly.

Found: Minehead) Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat; Chesham and Amersham) Sarah Hall (Labour; Warrington South) Lloyd Hatton

Found: Minehead) Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat; Chesham and Amersham) Sarah Hall (Labour; Warrington South) Lloyd Hatton

Found: Minehead) Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat; Chesham and Amersham) Sarah Hall (Labour; Warrington South) Lloyd Hatton

Found: Minehead) Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat; Chesham and Amersham) Sarah Hall (Labour; Warrington South) Lloyd Hatton