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 8 January 2025 to Question 22198 on Civil Servants: Freedom of Information, what grade thresholds does the Government apply in Freedom of Information Act requests when determining whether a civil servant is sufficiently senior that a Section 40 exemption would not apply to the disclosure of their personal information.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
All Freedom of Information requests are considered on their own merits in all circumstances.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether any private sector companies with contracts with his Department will receive higher payments to compensate for the increase in employer National Insurance contributions; and whether there are contractual obligations on passing on increased fees.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
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 his Department’s internal guidance on answering written Parliamentary Questions.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
As was the case under previous administrations, there are currently no such plans to publish this guidance.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether civil servants conducting email audits can review the email inboxes of (a) other civil servants and (b) special advisers.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Cabinet Office does not routinely conduct email audits of its staff. Staff email inboxes cannot typically be accessed by colleagues without permission, but email data can be retrieved for security or HR purposes in exceptional circumstances.
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 13 January 2025 to Question 21348 on Departmental Responsibilities, whether Government departments produce internal Outcome Delivery Plans.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
I refer the Honorable Member to the answer given to the Honorable Member for Brentwood and Ongar on 13 January 2025 (PQ UIN 21348).
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether any suppliers to his Department have contractual terms and conditions requiring pricing reviews due to changes to employer National Insurance contributions.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
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 preparations his Department is making for currently unknown pathogens that could emerge in future.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has a comprehensive epidemic intelligence system to detect, assess, and communicate infectious health threats to the United Kingdom. Horizon scanning and intelligence gathering functions are designed to identify and monitor outbreaks, even when the cause is unknown, such as in the World Health Organization’s hypothetical "Disease X" scenario. Robust risk assessment processes are also in place to implement effective mitigation strategies, ensuring the protection of public health.
For diseases of pandemic potential, the UKHSA’s Centre for Pandemic Preparedness (CPP) works to identify gaps in preparedness and opportunities to enhance readiness. The CPP also serves as the UK secretariat for the 100 Days Mission, a global initiative which aims to ensure that safe and effective diagnostics, treatments, and vaccines can be equitably deployed within the first 100 days of a pandemic.
Further information on the Government’s ambition to protect the UK and ensure it is resilient to a spectrum of biological threats is set out in the Biological Security Strategy, which is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-biological-security-strategy
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 27 November 2024 to Question 14712, on Honours: Public Appointments, at what stage was each of the honours competitions when they were closed and then re-opened; and whether there had there been (a) interviews and (b) shortlists of individual applicants.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
PQ 14712 relates to three Honours Committee campaigns which were launched and closed in the summer of 2024: (i) Community and Voluntary Service (ii), Parliamentary and Political Service, and (iii) Diversity and Outreach (formerly called Representation and Outreach).
For all three campaigns no applicants were shortlisted nor did any interviews take place before the campaigns were relaunched
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 page 16 of the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2022-2025, published on 24 February 2022, what progress the Government has made on delivering the additional 50 Enterprise Advisers.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The action in the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2022-2025 to deliver an additional 50 Enterprise Advisors has been met.
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 24 December 2024 to Question 20750, on Public Sector: Procurement, if he will publish (a) a list each stakeholder that was consulted, (b) the dates of the roundtable discussions including which organisations attended and (c) the online NPPS stakeholder survey; and whether there will wider public consultation.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Details of ministers’ meetings with external organisations are published on a quarterly basis at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ministers-transparency-publications. The NPPS survey was available on gov.uk and received 436 responses including 114 from businesses and/or public sector suppliers, of which 56 identified as SME or VCSE organisations. A further 11 responses were received from Trade Associations representing the views of their wider business membership.