Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, pursuant to the Answer of 10 February 2025 to Question HL4540 on Local Government: Equality, whether (a) the Cabinet Office, (b) the Office for Women and Equality and (c) the Equality and Human Rights Commission consider that being gender fluid or gender neutral constitutes the protected characteristic of gender reassignment.
Answered by Nia Griffith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Wales Office)
The Equality Act defines the protected characteristic of gender reassignment as a person that is proposing to undergo, is undergoing or has undergone a process (or part of a process) for the purpose of gender reassignment.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 27 December 2024 to Question 20833 on 10 Downing Street: Art Works, whether she plans for the portrait of Queen Elizabeth I to be permanently installed in 11 Downing Street.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government Art Collection is a working collection, used across government buildings in the UK and the global estate, which means that artworks may change their display location from time to time in response to new display steers and requests.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the headcount of the civil service was in (a) June 2024 and (b) the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Headline civil service employment statistics on both an headcount and full-time equivalent basis (FTE) are published quarterly by Office for National Statistics (ONS) as part of their Public Sector Employment Statistics release and are available at the following web address:
https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/publicsectorpersonnel/bulletins/publicsectoremployment/previousreleases
These statistics show that as at June 2024 civil service headcount stood at 546,000. The latest figures available are as at December 2024 where headcount was 548,000.
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 (a) framework agreements and (b) memorandums of understanding between his Department and (i) the UK Statistics Authority and (ii) Office for National Statistics on (A) how Parliamentary Questions about those organisations should be answered and (B) other matters.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The 2020 MoU between Cabinet Office and the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) is published on gov.uk (here). The Office for National Statistics is part of UKSA and does not have its own MoU. There is no separate Framework Agreement.
A revised MoU is due to be published in 2025.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much his Department has spent on recruitment consultants for public appointments regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments since 4 July 2024; and on which firms.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Since 4 July 2024, the Cabinet Office has spent £17,600 on recruitment consultants for public appointments regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. This was paid to Hays Recruitment Agency to retain their services for the recruitment of a Judicial Member to the Senior Salaries Review Body.
The appointment of Hays Recruitment Agency was agreed by a Minister of the previous administration in March 2024, in accordance with the Governance Code on Public Appointments. The contract concluded in October 2024, following the appointment of a new Judicial Member.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has issued guidance to other Departments on reducing spending on leadership training.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office has not issued any guidance to departments about reducing spending on leadership training. Good leadership and management skills will be needed to deliver the Plan for Change and realise the government’s ambition to reshape the state. A cross-Civil Service leadership and management curriculum is being developed to support the standards expected for leadership and management. We are working to ensure this is delivered in the most impactful and cost effective way.
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 31 March 2025 to Question 40911 on Government Departments: Social Media, if he will make it his policy to update the guidance for (a) special advisers and (b) senior officials to define senior media executives as those from (i) X, (ii) Meta and (iii) Tiktok.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
I refer the honourable member to the answer provided on 31 March in response to Question 40911.
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 31 March 2025 to Question 39120 on 10 Downing Street: Repairs and Maintenance, what the budget is for the works; whether the works (a) required planning permission and (b) are structural; and what the nature of the repair works is other than to the external window frames.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
A repair project is underway to preserve the integrity of this Grade 1 listed building. Maintenance of the roof will be carried out alongside repair of exterior window frames. This followed a survey in December 2023 which indicated that work must be completed for safety reasons, with the work commencing in January 2024. The repairs are not structural and did not require planning permission. The cost of these works will be published in due course in Cabinet Office transparency returns.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has issued guidance on (a) the (i) determination and (ii) authorisation of ex officio membership of pay review bodies, (b) whether people can sit on multiple pay review bodies and (c) other relevant matters on ex officio membership of pay review bodies.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office does not hold any guidance in relation to those appointed to a pay review body as an ex-officio member. The Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB) is the only pay review body with ex-officio members. All members of pay review bodies are public appointments, who adhere to the governance code sent out by the Commissioner for Public Appointments.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many staff were signed off absent due to stress in his Department in the most recent week for which data is available.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Information about sickness absence in the Cabinet Office is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-sickness-absence-2024/civil-service-sickness-absence-2024-report#by-organisation