Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 15 September 2025, to Question 69770, if he will publish information on meetings held with officials.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) already publishes quarterly transparency data on the external meetings held by the department's permanent under secretaries, directors general, and finance and commercial directors. Publishing comprehensive lists of all the external meetings held by every member of FCDO staff based in the UK and overseas could only be done at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Commissioner for Public Appointment annual report 2024-25, published in December 2025, Appendix: direct appointments, what the business case was for appointing a non-executive director for three years; and whether she has had correspondence with the Commissioner.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The departmental board provides important strategic oversight and challenge. We had an existing non-executive director vacancy and made this appointment to bring in highly valuable delivery expertise. The direct appointment process was followed in full in line with the guidance, including consultation via correspondence with 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, pursuant to the Answer of 19 January 2026 to Question 103787 on Governments Departments: Advertising, if he will provide a breakdown of spending by (a) programme and (b) campaign.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Please see below for the category breakdown of the figure provided in Question 103787:
Digital - £144,968,019
Out of Home - £21,566,434
Press - £6,200,349
Radio - £10,760,710
Television - £31,404,544
This spend is across a number of government departments and a campaign breakdown is not readily available to 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, pursuant to the Answer of 19 January 2026 to Question 105247 on Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, who took the decision to recall the papers.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The redactions to the information were agreed at the appropriate level by Cabinet Office officials, following engagement with The National Archives. Papers were not recalled from The National Archives, which is where the closed extracts remain.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether her Department has received representations from Inter Mediate on sanctions on the Syrian government.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer given on 3 June 2025 to the question 52690.
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 2025 to Question 92996 on Cabinet Office: ICT, if he will publish the NISTA evaluation from March 2025.
Answered by Chris Ward - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
NISTA published its 2024-2025 annual report in August 2025, which included details on Project Falcon. The detailed gateway reports are shared with the SRO, Accounting Officers, HMT and CO to support delivery of the programme but are not routinely published.
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 January 2026 to Question 104797 on WPP Media: Contracts, what the latest estimated value is of each individual Lot of the RM6364 framework between 2026 and 2030; and whether the total framework for government Media and Creative Services remains £2,340,000,000 including VAT.
Answered by Chris Ward - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
For the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) framework RM6364 Media and Creative Services, the estimated maximum values for each of the eight lots over the 2026-2030 period are available at the following links:
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/003578-2026
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/000238-2026?origin=Dashboard
The total estimated framework value remains £2,340,000,000 including VAT (calculated at the rate of 20%).
It should be noted that these are maximum estimated values; actual spend on each lot will be determined by individual public sector bodies based on their specific requirements over the life of the framework.
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, with reference to the answer of 20 May 20213, Official Report, House of Lords, Column WA22, on Government Departments: Fax Machines, whether his Department has operational fax machines or faxing facilities.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not have any operational fax machines or faxing facilities.
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, pursuant to the answer of 16 December 2025 to Question 98794 on Mission Boards, who the internal and external members are of the Health Mission Board.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Mission boards have been reformed to become delivery-focused forums benefitting from external and industry expertise, led by the relevant Secretary of State.
The 10-Year Health Plan, published in July 2025, is delivering our Health Mission. Ministers and external stakeholders are involved in a variety of forums to take forward the various elements of the 10-Year Health Plan.
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 4 September 2025, to Question 70489 on Government Communication Service: Marketing, and with reference to paragraph 211 of the Cabinet Office Guide to Parliamentary Work, for what reason the information was released under the Freedom of Information Act but not disclosed to Parliament.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Influencers have proven to be effective in reaching audiences that traditional marketing channels find hard to reach.
Influencer work is supported primarily via the agencies OmniGov and Pablo Unlimited via the Campaign Solutions 2 framework, detailed at the following link:
https://www.crowncommercial.gov.uk/agreements/RM6125
While there were no immediate plans to release the guidance at the time of Question 70489, increased public interest in this topic has now led us to conclude that the public interest favours its release.
I can confirm that the Guidance for Influencer Marketing will be placed in the House Library.