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 May 2025 to Question 52340 on Government Departments: Equality, in which departments have decisions on EDI spending controls been delegated to their Permanent Secretary.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The following Departments have formally informed the Cabinet Office that their Minister has delegated the decision to approve external Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) expenditure to the Permanent Secretary:
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
HM Treasury
Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government
Department for Business and Trade
Cabinet Office
Home Office
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Department for Transport
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 Department's guidance entitled Public Bodies Handbook – Part 2: The Approvals Process for the Creation of New Arm’s-Length Bodies, whether his Department's public bodies team assessed the National Wealth Fund against the requirement that the creation of a new arm's length body should only be considered as a last resort; whether the Treasury provided evidence that alternative delivery models were considered; and which of the tests in Chapter Two of that guidance the National Wealth Fund met.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The UK Infrastructure Bank has become the National Wealth Fund with an expanded remit, therefore it is not a new ALB. It is captured by the government’s ongoing review of all ALBs, announced on 7 April. This review is part of the government’s plan to streamline the state by closing, merging or repatriating public bodies into departments unless their separate existence can be strongly justified.
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 3 April 2025 to Question 41435 on Arms Length Bodies, what the total number of Arms Length Bodies was on 4 July 2024; and what the total number was on 20 May 2025.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office publishes an annual ALB Landscape Analysis around a year in arrears. The most recently published ALB Landscape Analysis was published on 17 December 2024 and is available here. The list of every Arm's Length Body that has existed between July 2024 and March 2025 is due to be published in 2026.
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 May 2025 to Question 48562 on Arms Length Bodies, what the sponsoring department is; and in what policy area Project Seahorse is exploring delivery options.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
‘Project Seahorse' is considering delivery options for decarbonisation. If taken forward, it would be sponsored by The Department of Energy, Security and Net Zero.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he plans to lay a new Official Statistics Order to designate the Border Security Command’s statistical outputs as official statistics.
Answered by Georgia Gould - 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 May is attached.
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 19 May 2025 to Question 51160 on Office for National Statistics: Industrial Disputes, what the average daily occupation is for (a) Newport, (b) Titchfield, (c) London, (d) Manchester, (e) Edinburgh and (f) Darlington, in the most recent period for which figures are available, expressed as the average over a five day period of (i) proportion of desks occupied and (ii) proportion of assigned workforce to that office location attending that office.
Answered by Georgia Gould - 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 May is attached.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether new staff members of the (a) National Wealth Fund and (b) Great British Energy will be eligible to join the Civil Service Pension Scheme; and whether existing civil servants who transfer to those new bodies will have their Civil Service pension membership continued under their new employment.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office, as Scheme Manager for the Civil Service Pension Scheme (CSPS), considers all requests to join the CSPS as part of an employer’s application process. Neither Great British Energy nor National Wealth Fund have submitted an application to join the CSPS, but any such application would be considered by the Cabinet Office in the normal 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 13 May 2025 to Question 45016 on Civil Service, if he will issue a Ministerial Correction to the Answer to attach the requested information.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The answer to Question 45016 has now been corrected to include an attachment with the requested information.
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 policy paper entitled UK-EU Summit: Common Understanding, published on 19 May 2025, if he will list the policy areas that dynamic alignment will apply to.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The UK has taken a sovereign decision to agree to dynamic alignment of some laws. By regulating consistently with the EU in specific areas, we will unlock further market access for UK firms with one of our largest trading partners, thereby improving growth for British people. Where we are making new commitments to introduce new laws Parliament will play a role in scrutinising the legislation that implements those commitments.
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 policy paper entitled UK-EU Summit: Common Understanding, published on 19 May 2025, in which areas the European Court of Justice would have oversight that is not permitted by existing treaties in (a) Great Britain and (b) Northern Ireland.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Common Understanding between the UK and the EU sets out the results of exploratory discussions ahead and a new agenda for cooperation. The UK and the EU have agreed to take forward these commitments swiftly through technical negotiations.
The Common Understanding does not provide for oversight of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) within Great Britain or Northern Ireland. Instead it provides that the CJEU will have a limited role in assisting an independent arbitration tribunal responsible for deciding a dispute between the UK and the EU, and only where there is dynamic alignment of laws under any future SPS agreement, ETS linking agreement or an electricity agreement.
The Windsor Framework continues to apply in Northern Ireland with a role for the CJEU within that framework.