Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an assessment of trends in the level of discrimination against civil servants not a member of a trade union in (a) employment and (b) promotion decisions.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
No assessment has been made as information about trade union membership is not collected during the recruitment process. Decisions on permanent employment into and promotion within the Civil Service are made in accordance with the Civil Service Recruitment Principles, which requires appointments to be made ‘on merit on the basis of fair and open competition’.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how his Department checks the office attendance of individual civil servants.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The monitoring of office attendance remains the responsibility of individuals, line managers and business units. Line Managers are expected to be aware of, and ensure compliance with, the minimum 60% expectation for their direct reports.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 19 November 2025, to Question 87336, on Alex Chisholm and Simon Case, whether Ministers in his Department (a) were consulted on and (b) approved the severance payment.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
I refer to my answer for 87336. All payments were made in line with managing Public Money guidance and the approvals process outlined, with both being approved by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 21 October 2025 to Question 82673 on Government Departments: Social Media, on which topics, campaigns and programmes social media influencers have been used by the two agencies since July 2024.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Please see below for the campaigns:
Breakfast Clubs
National Minimum and Living Wage
Warm Home Discount
GREAT Audacious Kingdom
GREAT USA
Some work is not included given commercial and wider sensitivities.
These campaigns are used to raise awareness about government schemes and initiatives and promote the UK internationally.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the 2017 Memorandum of Understanding between HMRC and the Cabinet Office has been updated since the introduction of the Data Protection Act 2018; and on what basis data transfers for honours probity checks continues.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
As noted in our answer to PQ 92590, the Memorandum of Understanding between the Cabinet Office and HMRC was last updated in 2023. The Memorandum of Understanding, which is published in full on gov.uk, sets out the legal and lawful basis by which data is transferred.
The 2023 Memorandum of Understanding is available at the following link:
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 11 November 2025 to Question 83803 on New Media Unit: Finance, what the estimated expenditure is by (a) his Department and (b) the New Media Unit on social media influencers through third party suppliers since 4 July 2024.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
I refer the Rt Hon Member to the answer on 2 December 2025 (PQ 93743).
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many applications for the restoration of (a) honours and (b) medals have been received since February 2021; and how many have been granted.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Since 2021, there have been 24 applications received from, or on behalf of, LGBT Veterans who had forfeited medals. 9 of these cases were found to be eligible for restoration. There have been no applications for the restoration of honours.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what is the annual budget and target headcount for the Office for the Impact Economy.
Answered by Josh Simons - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Prime Minister launched the Office for the Impact Economy in November in a decisive step towards partnering more effectively with the impact economy.
The Office is continuing to scale up, including working collaboratively with impact economy stakeholders and local areas to design its strategy, offer and priorities. This includes reviewing all the recommendations of the Social Impact Investment Advisory Group, as well as bringing in experts on secondment.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 18 November 2025 to Question 90252 on Cabinet Office: Lord-lieutenants, whether his Department handled complaints concerning Lord Lieutenants, Vice Lord Lieutenants and Deputy Lieutenants before 7 October 2025.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Complaints concerning Lord-Lieutenants have been handled by the Cabinet Office since the formal complaints procedure relating to the Lieutenancies was published in 2021. Complaints about Vice Lord Lieutenants and Deputy Lieutenants are handled by the relevant Lord-Lieutenant.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish the Government Communications Service Inclusive communications template.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
There are currently no plans to publish this template.