Information between 3rd December 2025 - 13th December 2025
Note: This sample does not contain the most recent 2 weeks of information. Up to date samples can only be viewed by Subscribers.
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3 Dec 2025 - Pension Schemes Bill - View Vote Context Mike Wood voted Aye - in line with the party majority and against the House One of 75 Conservative Aye votes vs 0 Conservative No votes Tally: Ayes - 154 Noes - 303 |
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3 Dec 2025 - Pension Schemes Bill - View Vote Context Mike Wood voted Aye - in line with the party majority and against the House One of 74 Conservative Aye votes vs 0 Conservative No votes Tally: Ayes - 143 Noes - 304 |
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10 Dec 2025 - Conduct of the Chancellor of the Exchequer - View Vote Context Mike Wood voted Aye - in line with the party majority and against the House One of 86 Conservative Aye votes vs 0 Conservative No votes Tally: Ayes - 90 Noes - 297 |
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10 Dec 2025 - Seasonal Work - View Vote Context Mike Wood voted No - in line with the party majority and against the House One of 91 Conservative No votes vs 0 Conservative Aye votes Tally: Ayes - 320 Noes - 98 |
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10 Dec 2025 - Seasonal Work - View Vote Context Mike Wood voted Aye - in line with the party majority and against the House One of 91 Conservative Aye votes vs 0 Conservative No votes Tally: Ayes - 98 Noes - 325 |
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Mike Wood speeches from: Oral Answers to Questions
Mike Wood contributed 1 speech (92 words) Thursday 11th December 2025 - Commons Chamber Department for Business and Trade |
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Mike Wood speeches from: US National Security Strategy
Mike Wood contributed 1 speech (266 words) Thursday 11th December 2025 - Commons Chamber Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office |
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Mike Wood speeches from: Oral Answers to Questions
Mike Wood contributed 2 speeches (209 words) Thursday 4th December 2025 - Commons Chamber Cabinet Office |
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Mike Wood speeches from: Draft Infected Blood Compensation Scheme (Amendment) Regulations 2025
Mike Wood contributed 1 speech (508 words) Wednesday 3rd December 2025 - General Committees Cabinet Office |
| Written Answers |
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Military Aircraft: Ministers
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) Wednesday 3rd December 2025 Question to the Ministry of Defence: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 18 July 2025 to Question 66652 on Military Aircraft: Ministers, what the total cost to the public purse was for those tasks. Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) The total cost for Government Minsters travel on the RAF Command Support Air Transport between 3 July 2024 and 4 July 2025 is £858,724.23. This was approximately 51.3% lower than the previous year.
Some elements included in the total cost are air passenger duty, catering, insurance, fuel, civilian airfield usage, landing & handling fees. Since my response to Question 66652, I can confirm that an additional task has been identified which is in scope and the total costs cover 44 tasks, that were completed between 4 July 2024 and 18 July 2025. It has been the practice of successive administrations not to publish granular information relating to the official movements of Ministers and those accompanying them within the United Kingdom. Information about official overseas travel is published as part of the Cabinet Office transparency returns and made available on the GOV.UK website. |
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Public Sector: Workplace Pensions
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) Wednesday 3rd December 2025 Question to the HM Treasury: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she intends to cap public service pension costs under section 12 of the Public Service Pensions Act 2013. Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury) Section 12 of the Public Service Pensions Act 2013 (the Act) requires an employer cost cap to be set in each of the public service pension schemes.
The Act requires that Treasury regulations must provide for the costs of a scheme to remain within specified margins either side of the employer cost cap of the scheme. The Regulations (SI 2014 No. 575) provide the margins are 3% of pay and that steps must be taken to return the cost of a scheme to the employer cost cap if the cost of the scheme would otherwise go beyond these margins.
Treasury Directions made under the Act specify when the employer cost cap is to be assessed (The_Public_Service_Pensions__Valuations_and_Employer_Cost_Cap__Directions_2023_-_Final.pdf ). Valuations of the employer cost cap as at 31 March 2016 and at 31 March 2020 have been undertaken by each of the schemes, for example see page 9 of the Civil Service Pension Scheme Actuarial Valuation as at 31 March 2020 - Valuation Results. Valuations of the employer cost cap as at 31 March 2024 are currently underway and are expected to be published next year.
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Admiralty House: Repairs and Maintenance
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) Wednesday 3rd December 2025 Question to the Cabinet Office: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Deposited Paper DEP2025-0726, committed on 21 October 2025, what was the cause of the breakdown in the toilet macerator. Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office) The toilet macerator was found to be leaking and upon investigation the pump was defective. The macerator was 10 years old and it was concluded that the unit should be replaced.
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Government Departments: Assets
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) Wednesday 3rd December 2025 Question to the Cabinet Office: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Departmental Strategic Asset Management Plan Executive Summaries 2025 - 2026, published on 30 October 2025, when the summaries for all departments will be published. Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office) The intention is to publish all summaries of departmental Strategic Asset Management Plans (SAMPs) on the UK government website. For practical purposes, this is being done in phases with a second batch going live in December.
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Government Departments: Vetting
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) Thursday 4th December 2025 Question to the Cabinet Office: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the UK Security Vetting is currently meeting its key performance indicators for vetting timeliness. Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) United Kingdom Security Vetting (UKSV) continues to meet its agreed Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for all product types. The UKSV KPIs are established and regularly reviewed in consultation with departments to ensure that operational demand is balanced while retaining assurance in national security safeguards. Furthermore, UKSV's KPIs are subject to ministerial oversight.
In line with the practice followed by successive administrations, the Government does not otherwise comment on security matters.
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Global Switch
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) Thursday 4th December 2025 Question to the Cabinet Office: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 29 October 2025, to Question 83794, on Global Switch, whether any central government body still uses data centre services provided by Global Switch according to records held by the Crown Commercial Service or Cabinet Office. Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) I refer the Honourable Gentleman to the answer of 29 October 2025, that we do not comment on specific companies. Ensuring the security of UK data is a priority for the government. When the government procures any service, cybersecurity is a paramount requirement.
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Quint Group
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) Thursday 4th December 2025 Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, who the members are of the Quint working group. Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) The Hon Member may be referring to the informal grouping of the United Kingdom, United States, France, Germany and Italy which, for example, works alongside the EU and NATO on promoting stability in the Western Balkans. |
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Office for National Statistics: Buildings
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) Thursday 4th December 2025 Question to the Cabinet Office: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, further to the deposited letter from the Acting National Statistician of 22 May 2025, pursuant to the answer of 29 May 2025, to Question 53545, on Office for National Statistics: Buildings, and with reference to the Table 1 statistics on daily attendance in each of (a) Darlington, (b) Manchester and (c) Edinburgh, how many civil servants do the figures relate to in each building, and what was the frequency of their attendance on which the 5% statistic was calculated by ONS. 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 gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of the 26th November is attached.
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Unite: Conference Centres and Hotels
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) Friday 5th December 2025 Question to the Department for Business and Trade: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the answer of 18 November 2025, to Question 88690, on Unite: Conference Centres and Hotels, what steps (a) BDO, (b) the inspector and (c) the Certification Officer taken to ensure that documents held by Unite, Unite members and its contractors or sub-contractors, are not lost or destroyed, and whether any formal notices have been served to this effect. Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) As previously publicly notified, an inspector, duly appointed by the Certification Officer, is carrying out the inspection under statutory powers. Accordingly, the Certification Officer is allowing that process to proceed. No formal notices have been served by the Certification Officer. Section 33(7) of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 makes it an offence for any official or agent of a trade union to destroy, falsify or make false entries in documents relating to the union’s financial affairs. BDO is a private entity, and the government cannot comment on its actions. |
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Jeffrey Epstein
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) Friday 5th December 2025 Question to the Department for Business and Trade: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 18 November 2025 to Question 88691 on Jeffrey Epstein, whether the records are searchable by keyword. Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) Yes, digital records are searchable by keyword. |
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Arms Length Bodies: Equality
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) Friday 5th December 2025 Question to the Cabinet Office: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 21 October 2025, to Question 76829, on Arms Length Bodies: Equality, whether any assessment has been made of the level of compliance by Arms Length Bodies with the May 2024 EDI spending control guidance. Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office) As part of the requirements of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Expenditure Guidance, external EDI expenditure must be reported to the Cabinet Office by departments and Arms Length Bodies who employ civil servants. There is no additional assessment on compliance by ALB’s and reported expenditure is published annually.
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Civil Servants: Workplace Pensions
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) Friday 5th December 2025 Question to the Cabinet Office: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 15 September 2025 to Question 74665 on Civil Service: Workplace Pensions, whether civil servants who are members of Classic, Classic Plus and Premium are able to (a) claim those pensions at 60 and (b) accrue pensionable contributions from Alpha whilst they remain in Crown service; and whether Nuvos members can do the same at 65. Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office) Members of Classic, Classic Plus, Premium and Nuvos can claim their pensions on partial retirement (subject to them reducing their pensionable earnings by 20% by working less hours or at a lower grade) and continue in service accruing Alpha benefits (on that new lower salary). The pension they claim will be reduced (abated) if, when added to their new salary, the total exceeds their pay before partial retirement.
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Lord Case
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) Friday 5th December 2025 Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 19 November 2025 to Question 88283 on Simon Case, what his remuneration is; and whether it includes pension contributions. Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government) Lord Simon Case was directly appointed Chair of the Barrow Delivery Board by the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government in February 2025.
In line with Cabinet Office guidance around direct ministerial appointments, published in October 2025, Lord Case is renumerated at a daily rate of £725.00 with a time commitment of 3 to 4 days per month. Renumeration does not include pension contributions. |
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Public Appointments: Disclosure of Information
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) Tuesday 9th December 2025 Question to the Cabinet Office: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will ensure that direct ministerial appointments publish a declaration of interests on gov.uk. Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office It is the responsibility of individual sponsor departments to publish details of the direct ministerial appointments that they make, including their terms of reference. Information about managing conflicts of interest and the public announcements that should be made for Direct Ministerial Appointments is set out in the Guidance on Making Direct Ministerial Appointments.
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Government Departments: Vetting
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) Tuesday 9th December 2025 Question to the Cabinet Office: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment they have made of the impact of vetting delays on (a) recruitment and (b) project delivery across government departments and national security agencies. Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) Since April 2024, United Kingdom Security Vetting (UKSV) has consistently met its agreed Key Performance Indicators (KPI), across each product type.
With the appropriate Ministerial oversight, UKSV works closely with the departments and decision-making authorities they serve to understand their forecasted demand for the provision of vetting services.
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Government Departments: Advertising
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) Tuesday 9th December 2025 Question to the Cabinet Office: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 23 September 2025 to Question 75722 on Government Departments: Advertising, if he will publish equivalent data for spending on (a) hard copy advertising, (b) public relations and (c) marketing. Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office The requested information is not held centrally or in the specific categories outlined in the question.
Please refer to departmental transparency data.
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United Kingdom Security Vetting: Staff
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) Tuesday 9th December 2025 Question to the Cabinet Office: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people are employed by UK Security Vetting by (a) permanent civil servants, (b) fixed-term appointees and (c) contingent labour. Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) United Kingdom Security Vetting (UKSV) delivers National Security Vetting services to departments and agencies across government, police and industry. UKSV’s workforce planning is driven by the demand forecasting and operational employment requirements of these departments and agencies. The resourcing of UKSV includes a diverse range of staffing contracts to meet forecast demand.
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Civil Servants: Communications
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) Tuesday 9th December 2025 Question to the Cabinet Office: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what is the most recent estimate of (a) the headcount size of the Government Communication Service and (b) staff who work in communications functions in the Civil Service who are not GCS. Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office I refer the Hon Member to the response provided for PQ 92419 for the headcount size of the Government Communication Service.
Information regarding Civil Service staff working in communications functions who are not part of the Government Communication Service is not held centrally.
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Official Residences: Empty Property
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) Tuesday 9th December 2025 Question to the Cabinet Office: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the answer of 28 October 2025 to Question HL10808 on Official Residences, how long the other residences have been unoccupied. Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office There are two additional flats in Admiralty House which can be allocated to ministers as official residences at the Prime Minister’s discretion. Neither flat has been allocated to a minister under the current administration.
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Inflation
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) Tuesday 9th December 2025 Question to the Cabinet Office: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Office for National Statistics has made an assessment of the adequacy of GDP deflation forecasts. 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 gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of the 1st of December is attached.
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Tim Allan
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) Tuesday 9th December 2025 Question to the Cabinet Office: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the due diligence on the appointment of special adviser, Tim Allan, included the work of his company, Portland, for the Russian Government. Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office There is a rigorous process to ensure any potential conflicts of interest are captured, and have appropriate mitigations in place to reflect specific circumstances. Ahead of his appointment, the new Executive Director of Communications in 10 Downing Street fully complied with this process. This is set out in the Special Adviser Code of Conduct and lists of Special Adviser interests are published annually. Mr Allan is not a shareholder in Portland, and hasn’t been since 2019, and has no interest in it.
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The Spectator: Advertising
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) Tuesday 9th December 2025 Question to the Cabinet Office: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 17 November 2025 to Question 88705, on the Spectator: Advertising, whether the SAFE framework permits government advertising on the (a) Daily Express, (b) GB News and (c) the Morning Star. Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office Following assessment under the SAFE Framework, government advertising is permitted on The Daily Express (now express.co.uk).
No SAFE framework assessment has been conducted on GB News or the Morning Star.
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Baroness Shafik
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) Tuesday 9th December 2025 Question to the Cabinet Office: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 20 October 2025, to Question 81325, on Baroness Shafik, and further to the revised Cabinet Office guidance on Direct Ministerial Appointments of October 2025, para 21, whether the remuneration of Direct Ministerial Appointments will be published. Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office In the new Guidance on Making Direct Ministerial Appointments, which was published on 30 October 2025, it is stated that all Direct Ministerial Appointments announcements should include “remuneration details, where such is incurred”. |
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Public Appointments: Political Impartiality
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) Tuesday 9th December 2025 Question to the Cabinet Office: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 3 November 2025, to Question 84247, on Public Appointments: Political Impartiality, what communications has the Cabinet Office had with the Commissioner for Public Appointments in relation to previous political activity, which is outside the scope of the Code of Conduct for Board Members of Public Bodies but in scope of the Governance Code for Public Appointments, not being publicly declared. Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office The Governance Code on Public Appointments covers the processes departments should follow for recruiting public appointees, whereas the Code of Conduct for Board Members of Public Bodies covers the behaviour of such appointees once they are in post. The codes set out processes for the publication of political activity for successful candidates and existing public appointees respectively.
Candidates for public appointment roles are asked to declare potential conflicts of interest in their applications - and are advised to err on the side of declaring if in doubt - so that the Advisory Assessment Panel can take a view on whether any actual or perceived conflicts can be appropriately managed. These wider declarations cover a full range of interests, including financial interests, and are for assessment as part of the recruitment process, not for publication. As mentioned above, the Governance Code sets out the political activity that needs to be published.
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Cabinet Office: Public Expenditure
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) Tuesday 9th December 2025 Question to the Cabinet Office: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to page 30 of the Cabinet Office Annual report and accounts 2024-2025, HC1372, 23 October 2025, how the cross-government charges levied by his Department’s functional business units were calculated; and for what reason income rose to £1.29 billion in 2024–25. Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office Departmental income has steadily risen since 2020. This reflects an increase in the uptake of the Department’s services year on year.
The Cabinet Office's functional income arises principally from the services it provides across government. Under this model, certain government functions are headquartered in the Cabinet Office and departments pay to access and use them.
For instance, the GPA provides departments and ALBs with office space across the country. They have continued to onboard properties nationally, delivering a fully integrated property management service across government.
Another primary source of income that the Department generates is in relation to the Government People Group who provides specialist human resource services to Government.
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Prime Minister's Chief of Staff: Incentives
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) Tuesday 9th December 2025 Question to the Cabinet Office: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff will receive a (a) performance and (b) Christmas bonus. Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office Special Advisers are not entitled to bonuses. Special Adviser remuneration is included in the Annual Report on Special Advisers, published on gov.uk.
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Government Communication Service: Audit
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) Tuesday 9th December 2025 Question to the Cabinet Office: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 10 October 2025, to Question 70464, on Government Communication Service: Audit, what is the timetable for the completion of the current annual data collection. Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office The 2025 data collection is complete.
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Holiday Accommodation: Business Rates
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) Tuesday 9th December 2025 Question to the HM Treasury: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the answer of 2 December 2025 to question 95074 , how many of the businesses classified as holiday sites in the Valuation Office Agency draft 2026 rating lists have had their rateable value i) decrease ii) stay the same iii) increase compared to their 2023 rateable values. Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury) The VOA published the Draft non-domestic rating list on 26 November 2025, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/non-domestic-rating-change-in-rateable-value-of-rating-lists-england-and-wales-2026-revaluation-draft-list |
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Senior Civil Servants: Training
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) Tuesday 9th December 2025 Question to the Cabinet Office: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the annual cost is of the Senior Leaders Scheme; and how many deputy directors participated in the last year. Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office) This year there are 114 deputy directors taking part in the Senior Leadership Programme established in 2018. The programme is 14 months’ long and costs a total of £1,373,401.91.
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Hospitality Industry: Business Rates
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) Tuesday 9th December 2025 Question to the HM Treasury: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the answer to question 95074 of 2 December 2025, how many of the businesses classified as restaurants and cafes in the Valuation Office Agency draft 2026 rating lists have had their rateable value i) decrease ii) stay the same iii) increase compared to their 2023 rateable values. Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury) The VOA published the Draft non-domestic rating list on 26 November 2025, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/non-domestic-rating-change-in-rateable-value-of-rating-lists-england-and-wales-2026-revaluation-draft-list |
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Hospitality Industry: Business Rates
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) Tuesday 9th December 2025 Question to the HM Treasury: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the answer to question 95074 of 2 December 2025, how many of the businesses classified as hotels etc in the Valuation Office Agency draft 2026 rating lists have had their rateable value i) decrease ii) stay the same iii) increase compared to their 2023 rateable values. Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury) The VOA published the Draft non-domestic rating list on 26 November 2025, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/non-domestic-rating-change-in-rateable-value-of-rating-lists-england-and-wales-2026-revaluation-draft-list |
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Hospitality Industry: Business Rates
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) Tuesday 9th December 2025 Question to the HM Treasury: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the answer to question 95074, how many of the 52,080 businesses classified as pubs and wine bars in the VAO draft 2026 rating lists have seen their rateable value i) decrease, ii) stay the same and iii) increase compared to their 2023 rateable values. Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury) The VOA published the Draft non-domestic rating list on 26 November 2025, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/non-domestic-rating-change-in-rateable-value-of-rating-lists-england-and-wales-2026-revaluation-draft-list |
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Civil Service: Equality
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) Tuesday 9th December 2025 Question to the Cabinet Office: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to his Department's press release entitled Civil Service staff networks to only meet outside working hours and have all events signed off by senior managers, published on 23 September 2025 if he will place in the Library a copy of the new guidance on diversity networks. Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office) The Staff Network Policy is an internal Civil Service staff policy. It is not in the public domain and as such a copy will not be placed in the Library.
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Department for Education: Buildings
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) Tuesday 9th December 2025 Question to the Cabinet Office: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 3 September 2025, to Question 70509, on Government Departments: Buildings, what is the current ownership and freehold, leasehold or rental status, of the Department for Education building on Great Smith Street, London. Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office) The property occupied by the Department for Education on Great Smith Street, London is known as Sanctuary Buildings. GPA, on behalf of the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, holds the leasehold interest in the property and pays the rent. The freehold interest is held by Legal and General Assurance (Pensions Management) Limited.
Information on property registered in England and Wales is available to the public by following the following link to HM Land Registry - Search for land and property information
https://www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry
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Senior Civil Servants: Redundancy Pay
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) Tuesday 9th December 2025 Question to the Cabinet Office: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what his policy is on severance payments to outgoing Cabinet Secretaries and Permanent Secretaries not provided for in the model contract. Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office) The Permanent Secretary model contract sets out the contractual detail on compensation payments for all Permanent Secretaries. This applies to the Cabinet Secretary and there is no separate internal guidance. A copy of the model contract has been placed in the House Library.
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Cabinet Office: Electronic Purchasing Card Solution
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) Tuesday 9th December 2025 Question to the Cabinet Office: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 2 September 2025 to Question 69278 Cabinet Office: Electronic Purchasing Card Solution, if he will itemise the £7,395 spent. Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office) The £7,395 covered in the response to Question 69278 was part of the £8,500 budget referred to in Question 65788 asked by the same MP on 8 July 2025. Under EDI Expenditure rules that budget was listed in the data published on 30 May 2025 and was the maximum approved budget, a ceiling rather than actual spend. Expenditure within this budget facilitated a presence on behalf of the Civil Service at 26 Pride events across the UK.
Itemising spend across all supplier organisations may breach commercial agreements between the department and suppliers.
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Civil Service: Redundancy
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) Tuesday 9th December 2025 Question to the Cabinet Office: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 24 October 2025 to Question 82675 on Civil Service: Redundancy, which public body collated and provided that data to the National Audit Office. Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office) The Cabinet Office provided this information to the National Audit Office. This information was already held under the Redundancy and Compensation Control process.
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Permanent Secretaries: Contracts
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) Tuesday 9th December 2025 Question to the Cabinet Office: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish the Permanent Secretary model contract released under FOI reference FOI2025/09712 of September 2025. Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office) I refer to my answer to 88716, where I confirm a copy of the model contract has been placed in the House Library.
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Civil Servants: Facilities Agreements
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) Tuesday 9th December 2025 Question to the Cabinet Office: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he has issued guidance on civil servants claiming trade union facility time and diversity network time. Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office) The Cabinet Office Facility Time Framework, issued to Civil Service departments, provides guidance on the granting of time off for trade union facility time for civil servants who are trade union representatives. Civil Service staff network activity is separate to trade union activities and duties carried out by trade union representatives in the Civil Service. The Staff Network Policy covers the allocation of time for specific staff network roles and duties.
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Senior Civil Servants: Training
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) Tuesday 9th December 2025 Question to the Cabinet Office: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many and what proportion of officials at each Senior Civil Service grade completed the One Big Thing 2024 Innovation Masterclass from each Department and executive agency; and if he will provide this information in tabular form showing, for each organisation, the total number of officials in scope, the number completing the Masterclass, and the resulting completion rate, alongside the corresponding figures for all staff in that organisation. Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office All publicly available data related to completions of the training can be found in the Evaluation of One Big Thing 2024, published on 10 October 2025.
A breakdown of the proportion of officials at each Senior Civil Service grade who completed the One Big Thing 2024 Innovation Masterclass from each Department and executive agency is not publicly available.
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Vetting
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) Wednesday 10th December 2025 Question to the Cabinet Office: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to reduce the time taken for Developed Vetting renewals. Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) I refer the Honourable Gentleman to the responses given on 27 November 2025 to PQs 93373 and 92997. |
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Reform UK: Cryptocurrencies
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) Thursday 11th December 2025 Question To ask the Right hon. Member for Kenilworth and Southam, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, how many donations received as cryptocurrencies has Reform UK declared to the Electoral Commission; what the value of those donations were; and on what dates those donations were received. Answered by Jeremy Wright Parties are required to report donations in cryptocurrencies as non-monetary donations, with the type and amount of crypto asset identified. No political party has reported any donations to the Electoral Commission that they have identified as cryptocurrency. Last week, the Commission published the latest donations to political parties for the third quarter of 2025. Information about all reported donations is available on the Commission’s website, providing important transparency for voters. |
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Political Parties: Finance
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) Thursday 11th December 2025 Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what guidance he has issued to the Electoral Commission on the (a) acceptance and (b) reporting of political donations received through cryptocurrencies by political parties and regulated donees; and whether he plans to discuss this matter with (i) the Electoral Commission and (ii) political parties. Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government) The rules around political donations must be abided by regardless of the type of donation made, which includes cryptoasset donations. Political donations can only be accepted from permissible sources, and the recipients of the donations must make an honest assessment of the value of the donation at the time they receive it. Those who receive political donations from an impermissible or unidentifiable source must return them. The Electoral Commission provides guidance on donations, including for non-standard donations such as those made in cryptocurrencies. |
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Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England: Flags
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) Thursday 11th December 2025 Question to the Department of Health and Social Care: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance has been issued by (a) his Department and (b) NHS England on expenditure on flags. Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care) The Department follows general Government guidance on flying flags, which is available at the following link:
Neither the Department nor NHS England has issued guidance regarding expenditure on flags. |
| Live Transcript |
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Note: Cited speaker in live transcript data may not always be accurate. Check video link to confirm. |
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4 Dec 2025, 9:43 a.m. - House of Commons " Mike Wood sir, the Minister. " Mike Wood MP (Kingswinford and South Staffordshire, Conservative) - View Video - View Transcript |
| Select Committee Documents |
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Friday 12th December 2025
Formal Minutes - Formal minutes 2024-25 Backbench Business Committee Found: Veterans • Clive Jones: Secondary breast cancer • Dame Siobhain McDonagh, Charlie Maynard and Mike Wood |
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Tuesday 2nd December 2025
Oral Evidence - 2025-12-02 16:15:00+00:00 Proposals for backbench debates - Backbench Business Committee Found: Dame Siobhain McDonagh, Charlie Maynard and Mike Wood made representations. |
| Welsh Calendar |
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Thursday 11th December 2025 9:30 a.m. Meeting of Private, Hybrid, Business Committee, 11/12/2025 09.30 - 10.30 (09:30) 1. Introductions, apologies and substitutions (09:30) 2. Minutes of the previous meeting held on 26 November 2025 (09:30) 3. Papers to Note 3.1 Letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Welsh Language to the Chair of the Finance Committee regarding changes to the Budget Process Protocol Items for Consideration (09:30 - 10:00) 4. Review of the Public Bill and Member Bill processes 4.1 Bill timetabling Draft Output (10:00 - 10:30) 5. Political Groups and Groupings View calendar - Add to calendar |
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Tuesday 9th December 2025 9 a.m. Meeting of Private, Hybrid, Business Committee, 09/12/2025 09.00 - 10.00 View calendar - Add to calendar |
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Tuesday 16th December 2025 9 a.m. Meeting of Private, Hybrid, Business Committee, 16/12/2025 09.00 - 10.00 View calendar - Add to calendar |