Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, pursuant to the answer of 27 January 2026 to Question 106522, on Business: Codes of Practice, whether the correct process she outlined in the answer will require a Regulatory Impact Assessment to be produced under the Better Regulation Framework; and whether she has had discussions with the Regulatory Policy Committee on a potential Regulatory Impact Assessment.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The EHRC has submitted a draft Code of Practice to Ministers, and we are reviewing it with the care it deserves, engaging with the EHRC to ensure that it provides clarity for service providers.
We have always been clear that the proper process needs to be followed, which includes understanding the potential impact on businesses, public functions and services, as well as engaging with relevant committees.
The Code will have implications for service providers up and down the country so it is important that we get this right.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether the (a) Intelligence Community and (b) National Cyber Security Centre will have any role in the certification and auditing of companies authorised to provide electronic balloting services for trade unions.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
This Government is committed to allowing modern, secure, electronic balloting and workplace ballots for trade unions, as political parties and listed companies already use.
We have worked with the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) in our development of this policy which will require detailed cyber-security standards, independent cyber-security certification requirements, and audit principles to be met for electronic balloting to be used.
When conducting statutory ballots by electronic means, trade unions will have to appoint an independent scrutineer who meets the conditions under the Trade Union Ballots and Elections (Independent Scrutineer Qualifications) Order 1993 to assure that there is no contravention of the required standards.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the UK-EU Summit - Common Understanding, 22 December 2025, whether the UK will make additional financial contributions to the European Union as a consequence of the new provisions on (a) Irregular migration and (b) increasing United Kingdom and European Union border security including through law enforcement cooperation.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
No decisions have yet been taken as to whether the UK will make additional financial contributions to the European Union as a consequence of the new provisions set out in the Common Understanding of 19 May 2025 on (a) illegal migration and (b) increasing United Kingdom and European Union border security including through law enforcement cooperation.
Our position remains that we are prepared to make an appropriate financial contribution to support the relevant costs associated with the European Union's work in this policy area, for example to access EU agencies or databases. We will need to work through the details of this in further discussions with the EU.
Any decisions on such matters will be assessed in accordance with Government Accounting Officer rules, including value for money.
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 17 December 2025 to Question 99529 on Civil Service: Redundancy, what indicative figures his Department holds per public body on exits.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Thank you for your question. I refer to the Minister without Portfolio’s s answer PQ 82675.
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 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for government’s most important contracts, Data for July to September 2025, published on 25 December 2025, who the customer is for the contract GBNI - Provision of Public Sector Air Capability (NEWMAT PM-R) with the KPI of Achieve High Level of Customer Satisfaction.
Answered by Chris Ward - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office is the customer for the contract "GBNI - Provision of Public Sector Air Capability (NEWMAT PM-R)".
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 5 February 2026 to Question 108662 on WPP Media: Contracts, whether the RM6364 framework replaces both RM6125 (media services) and RM6123 (advertising); and whether there will be a further replacement for RM6123 in whole or in part in parallel with the new RM6364.
Answered by Chris Ward - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Crown Commercial Service (CCS) has introduced the RM6364 Media and Creative Services agreement for the procurement of marketing, media, and communication services to replace both RM6125 and RM6123.
There are no further replacement agreements planned for RM6123, in whole or in part, to run in parallel with RM6364.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what changes are planned to the Success Profiles framework for Senior Civil Service appointments following his speech of 20 January 2026; and what specific competencies will be added, removed or reweighted.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Our continuing goal is to make recruitment simpler, faster, more efficient and more effective across the Civil Service. We are currently undertaking a review of the Success Profiles framework, considering what the right attributes are to select civil servants with the skills, experience and other attributes that the Civil Service needs. As announced in the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister’s 20 January speech, our approach to hiring for the Senior Civil Service (SCS) will place greater value on frontline delivery, innovation, and private sector skills and experience. This will be reflected in the criteria used to select Senior Civil Servants and the ongoing review.
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 4 December 2025 to Question 94710 on Office for National Statistics: Buildings, what the most recent statistics held by the Office for National Statistics are for the (a) daily average number of employees attending the workplace in their assigned building and (b) absolute number of employees assigned to the building by workplace.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - 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 20th February is attached.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people attended each CEO Community Call in the last 12 months; and what the cost was in staff time.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Since February 2025 there have been three CEO Community Calls. The Chief Executive Officer level attendees numbered 24, 27 and 54. There is no dedicated staff for this work, as the calls were delivered as part of the range of events and services offered by the public sector leadership team.
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, what steps (a) his Department and (b) NHS England is taking to improve communication between (i) NHS Trusts and families and (ii) different Trusts in cases where patients are transferred between (A) hospitals and (B) trusts.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has a range of guidance online relating to communicating with patients, and the sharing of medical records for direct care. NHS England continues to support the secure sharing of patient information to improve safety, reduce the duplication of tests, and support patient choice. Programmes such as Connecting Care Records are designed to enable appropriate access to patient information across organisational boundaries.
In the Government’s 10-Year Health Plan there is a commitment to create a Single Patient Record (SPR). The SPR will provide a single, secure, and up to date record that brings together health and care information so clinicians can access the appropriate information they need, wherever a patient receives care. This will help reduce the delays caused by missing information, and clinicians working with incomplete histories. Subject to parliamentary timetables, the SPR will begin rolling out from 2028, starting with maternity and frailty.
The National Health Service is taking a digital-first approach to patient communications, to ensure seamless and effective communications with patients and families. Further information is available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/about-nhs-digital/digital-first-messaging
There is no specific guidance relating to ensuring correspondence relating to a child is sent to the correct addresses, as this relates to ensuring the accuracy of records which runs throughout the guidance both produced by NHS England, and the professional bodies.
NHS England’s Policy and Guidance Manual for Primary Medical Services provide standard operating processes for general practice registration and include specific guidance when registering a child and the circumstances in which safeguarding guidance should be followed. This essentially underlines a “think family” approach and states an adult with parental responsibility should normally be registered at the practice with the child. Further information on NHS England’s Policy and Guidance Manual for Primary Medical Services is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/primary-medical-services-policy-and-guidance-manual-pgm-2/