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 his speech entitled Move fast. Fix things, delivered on 20 January 2026, whether training delivered under Learning Frameworks 2.0 will cease to be procured from external suppliers.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Many of the Civil Service’s training needs can be delivered in-house, by civil servants. However, it is important to note that the Civil Service will always want to bring in expert knowledge, insight and learning from outside the Civil Service to ensure that civil servants have the right technical knowledge and skills.
The National School of Government and Public Services will deliver more training in house - especially for leadership and management, and core skills. Over the course of the next three years, Government Skills will increase the focus on in-house delivery where it is sensible to do so and, by April 2029, we will have moved to a new delivery model where we work directly with more suppliers.
Over this three year period, the Cabinet Office will use the Learning Frameworks 2.0 contracts to deliver training services to the Civil Service whilst the infrastructure needed by the National School of Government and Public Services is established.
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 105252 on Government People Group: Contract, which public body and business unit is the customer under the KPI.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
With regard to the PeopleScout Ltd contract referenced in question 105252, Cabinet Office awarded the contract and the Government Recruitment Service within Cabinet Office is the responsible Customer. Consequently, the Customer referenced within the KPI is Government Recruitment Service, and the Supplier will only accept commissions directly from this entity.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what guidance his Department has issued on pension forfeiture in relation to (a) Civil Service and (b) Ministerial pensions.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Guidance on the forfeiture process for the Civil Service Pension Scheme is provided on the scheme website within the Employer Pension Guide.
No guidance has been issued on forfeiture for the Ministerial Pension Scheme.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether applicants for civil service roles self-certify their ethnicity.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Yes. Candidates may self-certify their ethnicity when applying for Civil Service roles, though it is optional and is not included in decision making regarding appointments.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, who is responsible for (a) undertaking and (b) overseeing the due diligence process in relation to the appointment of a Cabinet Secretary; and how potential conflicts of interest are managed.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
I refer to the Gov.uk announcement of the Cabinet Secretary appointment, which said that a due diligence process has also been undertaken by the Permanent Secretary of the Cabinet Office and the interim Government Chief People Officer.
The First Civil Service Commissioner approved the comprehensive due diligence process and agreed the conclusions drawn, to form the basis for the Prime Minister to make an appointment decision.
All Permanent Secretaries must follow the ‘Declaration and management of outside interests in the Civil Service’ guidance.
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 publication entitled Cabinet Office - Second Headquarters: Year in Review 2025, of 9 January 2026, how many headcount staff are assigned to work in the second Headquarters; and how many desks there are.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office Second Headquarters is based in the Government Hub at 1 Atlantic Square, Glasgow.
The Cabinet Office's Second Headquarters serves as a key regional base, accommodating over 700 Cabinet Office staff.
It has been the practice of successive governments not to comment, on grounds of both national security and staff safety, on the physical capacity or staffing numbers for individual buildings of the government estate.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether Sir Chris Wormald undertook a formal exit interview upon leaving the post of Cabinet Secretary.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
I refer to the Gov.uk announcement of Sir Chris Wormald’s departure. No further comment will be provided.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, further to the answer by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Cabinet Office of 29 October 2025, to Question 83801, on Peers and Members: Social Class, and to the answer by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent of 5 February 2026, to Question HL13977, on Civil Service: Unpaid Work, how should the children of peers self-certify their social class if they apply to the Civil Service Internship Scheme in the absence of a classification by the Office for National Statistics.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
All candidates are required to complete the questions set by ONS for determining socio-economic background based on their individual circumstances. For parental occupation this is at the age the candidate was 14. This allows the Civil Service to make a determination on their eligibility based on their answers. This is the same approach as was used for Fast Stream Internships under the previous administration.
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 20 January 2026 to Question 104805 on Senior Civil Servants: Redundancy Pay, whether (a) Cabinet and (b) Permanent Secretaries asked to leave posts will be given Civil Service Compensation Scheme terms as severance payments in future.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
I refer to Minister Turley’s answer for 88716 and 95640. The Permanent Secretary model contract sets out the contractual detail on compensation payments for all Permanent Secretaries.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what role the Cabinet Office had in relation to the investigation into 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.
These allegations were considered by the Cabinet Office as the individual was a permanent member of staff of that Department.