Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many job advertisements were published on the Civil Service jobs website in 2025 which were (a) available on public website and (b) only available to Civil Services within the passworded website.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
In 2025, there were 45,566 job adverts published on Civil Service Jobs. Of these, 24,865 (54.6%) were available to the public. The remaining 20,701 (45.4%) were advised internally and/or cross-government, meaning they were available only to existing civil servants.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether Baroness Shafik's contract with his Department stipulates that she may (a) claim House of Lords attendance allowances and (b) speak in the House of Lords.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Baroness Shafik has been on a leave of absence from the House of Lords since 10th September 2025.
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 January 2026 to Question 105244 on Senior Civil Service: Training, if he will publish the training material for the content on inclusion in leadership.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Our leadership development materials use internal case studies and sensitive organisational data to address specific system-wide challenges.
To protect the privacy of this information and integrity, we do not publish these materials externally. We do, however, make the programme’s key themes and learning objectives available on the webpage of Accelerated Development Schemes 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, whether Varun Chandra remains employed as a special adviser.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
In January, Mr Chandra was appointed as the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy to the United States on Trade and Investment.
Mr Chandra remains employed as a special adviser to the Prime Minister.
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 Chris Wormald’s contract as Cabinet Secretary.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
I refer to Minister Turley’s answer 88716, a copy of the Permanent Secretary model contract has been placed in the House Library. This applies to 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, with reference to the speech, Move fast. Fix things, delivered on 20 January 2026 by the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister, what proportion of the Senior Civil Service had (a) primary career experience in policy roles, (b) primary career experience in operational delivery roles and (c) prior private sector experience; and what the equivalent figures were in each of the previous five years as of 1 January 2026.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
We are unable to provide a response as this information is not captured centrally at the application stage.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what advice the Civil Service Commission provides on departures and appointments of Cabinet Secretaries.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Manual, sets out that the Cabinet Secretary is appointed by the Prime Minister on the advice of the First Civil Service Commissioner.
In the Government response to the House of Lords Constitution Committee report into the appointment and removal of Permanent Secretaries, the First Civil Service Commissioner confirmed that the Civil Service Commission does not play a role in Permanent Secretary departures.
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 investigation in the then Consul General in New York in 2017.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The allegations were dismissed 9 years ago on the basis that there was no case to answer.
We do not release confidential documents relating to internal HR processes.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether Tim Allan’s special adviser declaration of interests will be listed in the next annual special adviser report.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
As has been the case under successive administrations, the interests deemed relevant for publication for special advisers in No10 and the Cabinet Office are published on an annual basis by 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 Civil Service Compensation Scheme severance payments to departing Cabinet Secretaries are pensionable.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The terms of the Civil Service Compensation Scheme (CSCS) are the same for all employees regardless of grade. Compensation payments made under the CSCS are non pensionable.