Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to ensure the 2025 Government Communications Service (GCS) audit includes all GCS staff; and how many GCS staff there are in (a) Downing Street and (b) his Department.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government Communication Service (GCS) conducts an annual data collection, requiring government organisations to submit accurate and timely returns through departmental single points of contact. It should be noted that some organisations may have undergone significant changes since the data was collected in July 2025.
At the time of the collection:
(a) Downing Street: The Number 10 Civil Service Communications team consisted of 44.8 FTE.
(b) Cabinet Office: Core Cabinet Office comms roles consisted of 40.43 FTE (of which 22 are roles within Press Office and Cabinet Office Digital Communications) with 141.52 FTE in the Central GCS team (also based within the Cabinet Office).
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Cabinet Office still operates a Hybrid Development Working Group.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Civil Service has a number of cross-government groups to address common issues, find solutions to complex policy challenges and support the sharing of best practice.
The Cross-Government Group on Working Flexibly meets on an adhoc basis and focuses on effective and positive ways of working in a hybrid world, as well as supporting the implementation of related legislation changes across departments.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to allow trade union representatives to access NHS buildings on strike days.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has no current plans to introduce new provisions regarding trade union access to National Health Service premises on strike days. Under existing legislation, including the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 and the Employment Rights Act 1996, lawful picketing and trade union activity are permitted, provided they comply with statutory requirements and do not disrupt services or compromise safety.
Responsibility for managing access to NHS buildings during industrial action rests with individual NHS employers. They are best placed to assess local circumstances and ensure arrangements align with operational needs and legal obligations, including the Code of Practice on Picketing.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the Answer of 29 October 2025 to Question 82664 on Disinformation, whether the software has been used to monitor comment relating to (a) gender criticism, (b) asylum hotels and (c) national flags being placed on lampposts.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
No. This software is used to analyse mis and disinformation narratives from publicly available information online. It is only used to analyse narratives that pose a risk to UK national security or public safety.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Answer of 9 July 2025 to Question HL8844 on Affordable Housing: Finance and pursuant to the Answer of 3 November 2025 to Question 78177 on Affordable Housing: Finance, for what reason the Social Time Preference Rate discount has not been applied to the Social and Affordable Homes Programme.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
At the Spending Review, the government announced £39 billion, in nominal terms, for a new Social and Affordable Homes Programme (SAHP) over 10 years from 2026-27 to 2035-36.
Economic appraisal for the SAHP business case was carried out following HMT Green Book methodology and used the Green Book discount rate (known as the Social Time Preference Rate) to assess the economic value for money of the programme in present value terms.
I otherwise refer the Rt Hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 78177 on 3 November 2025 for further details.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the Answer of 21 October 2025 to Question 81183 on Electronic Government: Logos, what was the total cost to (a) Cabinet Office and (b)DSIT of the redesign.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Three contracts were awarded with external agencies to support the redesign of the GOV.UK brand, in December 2023, March 2024 and July 2024. Expenditure under these contracts totalled £532,000. Of this, £421,750 was paid by Cabinet Office and £110,250 was paid by DSIT.
Out of the total, £219,620 was spent between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024.
The refreshed GOV.UK brand comprises designs, guidance and components that underpin the whole GOV.UK product suite – including the GOV.UK website, GOV.UK App, GOV.UK One Login and GOV.UK social media channels – which enable a modern, coherent and accessible user experience that appeals to the broadest possible audience.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for Cabinet Office, how is the ethnicity definition of White Irish defined and what distinguishes it from White British (a) in relation to those who live or lived in Northern Ireland and (b) in general.
Answered by Josh Simons - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon. gentlemen’s Parliamentary Question of 14th November is attached.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if the UK Statistics Authority will make it their policy to undertake an assessment whether HM Government's use of the Social Time Preference Rate to discount the total cost of the Chagos Islands Treaty is in line with the best practice in their Code of Practice for Statistics.
Answered by Josh Simons - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon. gentlemen’s Parliamentary Question of 14th November is attached.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether all special advisers who have joined since July 2024 were informed by Cabinet Office Special Adviser HR that they will lose their employer contributions if they leave before two years of employment unless they transfer in another pension scheme.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Special Advisers are provided with guidance regarding Civil Service Pension schemes during onboarding and offboarding, as well as throughout their tenure. Special Advisers are also directed to published Civil Service Pension scheme resources.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether special advisers have been informed by the Cabinet Office that they lose their employer contributions on the Civil Service pension scheme if they leave before two years of employment unless they transfer in another pension scheme.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Special Advisers are provided with guidance regarding Civil Service Pension schemes during onboarding and offboarding, as well as throughout their tenure. Special Advisers are also directed to published Civil Service Pension scheme resources.