Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department operates a code system to determine when and what replies are given to written parliamentary questions.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
It is for the answering Minister to determine how to reply to a written parliamentary question.
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 25 November 2025 to Question 91381 on Tom Kibasi, what the length of his secondment to Downing Street was.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Tom Kibasi was hired on secondment for a period of 2 months.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, further to his Department's publication entitled Public-sector trade union facility time data, updated on 27 November 2025, how many and what proportion of public bodies required to submit facility time data did not submit data, including data by (a) civil service, (b) education, (c) local authorities, (d) NHS, (e) police and (f) other bodies in (i) 2023-24 and (ii) 2024-25.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
A list of the Public Bodies which are required to submit facility time data can be found in Schedule 1 of The Trade Union (Facility Time Publication Requirements) Regulations 2017.
The public-sector trade union facility time data for the year 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 has been published on .gov.uk.
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 9 December 2025 to Question 95640 on Senior Civil Servants: Redundancy Pay, what was the legal basis for the previous Cabinet Secretary being given an exit payment.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Employment Rights Act 1996 defines contracts and employee rights for pay, leave, dismissal and other employment rights.
The model Permanent Secretary contract mentioned in the answer of 9 December 2025, states the terms and conditions and is used for Permanent Secretary level appointments including the Cabinet Secretary.
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 26 November 2025 to Question 92016 on Civil Service: Management, for what reason the Terms of Reference are not subject to external publication.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Corporate governance in central government departments: code of good practice (2017) does not require publication of board and committee Terms of Reference.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, to ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office further to the Answer of 4 November 2025, to Question 85708, on Honours: Forfeiture, if he will publish the criteria for removal from the Roll of the Peerage.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
There are no set criteria for removal from the Roll of the Peerage.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Public Appointments Data Report 2024-25, published on 2 December 2025, and with reference to previous reports, for what reason the Public Appointments Data Report 2024-25 does not include information on political activity.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Public Appointments Data Report 2024-25 did not include information on the political activity of public appointees due to the transition to the public appointments digital service in 2023. This data is now being collected and will be considered for inclusion in future reports.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has a book of precedents.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Cabinet Office Precedent Book was last updated in 1992 and has been largely superseded by other documents, including the Cabinet Manual.
The Cabinet Office does not maintain a book of precedents.
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 25 November 2025 to Question 91618 on Cabinet Office: Social Media, on what topics, campaigns and programmes the expenditure on each platform was for.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Please see below for the requested breakdown:
Campaign | Platform |
NMU - Border Security | Meta |
NMU - Breakfast Clubs | Meta |
Cabinet Office - COVID enquiry | Meta, LinkedIn, Snapchat, TikTok, Reddit |
NMU - Community Diagnostic Centres | Meta, Snapchat |
Government Digital and Data | |
Great Futures | |
NMU - Neighbourhoods | Meta |
Veteran employment support campaign | Meta, LinkedIn |
Veterans healthcare campaign | Meta |
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether any publications have failed SAFE assessments due to gender-critical content.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
There have been no such instances of failure.