Nick Timothy

The Cabinet Office publishes data annually on civil servants’ median pay by department and grade. The relevant data for the years between 2010 and 2024 are available via the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/civil-service-statistics

There are currently no ongoing industrial disputes with Cabinet Office employees within the Cabinet Office or any of its arms length bodies. There are, however, ongoing disputes between PCS and G4S Security Company (G4S) and International Services System - Facilities Management Services (ISS) who provide facilities management services to the Cabinet Office.

The hard work of security guards and other staff keeps the government running. As is longstanding practice under successive administrations, the Government does not provide a running commentary on ongoing disputes.

There has been no change in the Cabinet Office’s management of artwork or heritage assets since the previous administration.

As separate entities, the responsibility for creating policy and guidance for artwork sits with each individual Arm’s Length Body, rather than with the Department.

The Government Property Agency does not have a national policy on this topic and will follow any policy and/or guidance provided by relevant client departments.

The Government Art Collection website lists the artworks on display in Downing Street https://artcollection.dcms.gov.uk/?s=&display=artworkonly&search_place=Downing+Street. There are currently no Government Art Collection pieces in the Prime Minister’s official residence.

There have been no changes to displayed artworks owned by the Cabinet Office since July 4, 2024.

I refer the Rt Hon Member and Hon Member to the answer given by the then Prime Minister on 7 February 2017, Official Report, PQ 62542.

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) and its Arm’s Length Bodies collectively comprises of 9,921 FTE (as of March 2024). There are currently no ongoing industrial disputes with DBT employees within DBT or any of its Arm’s Length Bodies.

There are, however, ongoing disputes between PCS and G4S Security Company (G4S) and International Services System - Facilities Management Services (ISS) who provide facilities management services at some DBT offices and who are contracted by Government Property Agency. These staff are employees of either G4S or ISS, they are not normally employees of the department itself.

Details of Senior Officials’ and Ministers’ meetings with external organisations and individuals are published quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK.

Special Advisers are required to comply with the Special Adviser Code of Conduct at all times and are required to make declarations on meetings with senior media figures in line with published transparency guidance.

Where a Special Adviser accompanies their Minister to an official meeting with a senior media figure, the Special Adviser’s attendance does not need to be separately recorded as the Minister will be the main attendee.

Where an ‘informal’ lobbying approach is granted time or resource by Government, it should result in a diarised engagement and therefore be recorded.

The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) does not undertake planning approvals. Planning approvals must be sought from the Planning Inspectorate, to whom ONR provides regulatory advice where nuclear sites are involved.

Great Britain has a secure and diverse energy system, which has delivered reliable energy supplies this winter and over recent years, despite challenging global conditions. This includes the UK’s homegrown energy from renewables and nuclear.

The UK imports gas through pipelines with Norway and mainland Europe and from the global market via Liquefied Natural Gas ports, and have ten operational electricity interconnectors with Europe. Our mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower provide energy security in the long term and help protect billpayers from global markets.

The Government recognises that Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) could play an important role helping the UK achieve energy security and clean power while securing thousands of good, skilled jobs.

The Department has supported development of SMRs through the Advanced Nuclear Fund and the Future Nuclear Enabling Fund. Separately, Great British Nuclear is running an SMR technology selection process and is on track to make final decisions in spring.

In addition, we recently launched a regulatory taskforce to streamline regulatory processes and published the draft EN-7 National Policy Statement, setting out a refreshed planning framework for new nuclear reactors, including SMRs.

Details of Ministers' and Permanent Secretaries' meetings with external individuals and organisations are published quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK.

Yes. Under the low carbon dispatchable CfD, there will be a cap on the volume of electricity generation subsidised across the year. The cap is set with reference to maximum seasonal load factors (with Winter higher than Summer, to reflect system requirements). All generation by Drax Power Station will count towards the cap on subsidised generation. This includes generation that results from actions taken by NESO to balance the electricity system, such as through the Balancing Mechanism and balancing services markets.

The National Electricity System Operator (NESO) is investigating the future power consumption of data centres, as well as grid constraints, lead times for developers, and how to improve connection processes.

Under the terms of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), the UK Government and EU agreed to give serious consideration to linking our respective carbon pricing schemes and to cooperate on carbon pricing. As part of our reset with the EU the Government continues to explore all options to improve trade and investment.

The UK has had its own standalone Emissions Trading Scheme since 2021. Under the terms of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), the UK Government and EU agreed to give serious consideration to linking our respective carbon pricing schemes and to cooperate on carbon pricing. As part of our reset with the EU the Government continues to explore all options to improve trade and investment.

The Department has no plans to make an assessment of the potential impact of increasing the UK carbon price to £147/tCO2 by 2030. The Department previously published an impact assessment in July 2023 of the impact of the moving to the current United Kingdom Emissions Trading Scheme (UK ETS) using the analysis at that time : https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/64b91b522059dc00125d267b/developing-uk-ets-main-impact-assessment.pdf

The Department produces its own traded carbon values for modelling purposes which are used to estimate the financial cost of purchasing allowances in the UK ETS under different scenarios. This figure of £147/tCO2 is higher than in any of the scenarios in those projections. The Department’s most recent projections can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/traded-carbon-values-used-for-modelling-purposes-2024/traded-carbon-values-used-for-modelling-purposes-2024

The Government expects overall grid demand to rise by 2030 as we electrify transport, heating, industry, and other sectors. The Government has committed to funding energy efficiency improvements in existing building stock which will make heating homes cheaper and more efficient.

The Government’s plan to deliver Clean Power by 2030 will deliver economic growth across the country supporting thousands of jobs and businesses. A full regional capacity breakdowns for solar, onshore wind and batteries is included in the ‘Clean Power 2030 Action Plan: A new era of clean electricity – connections reform annex’. Nuclear capacity included in the ‘Clean Power Capacity Range’ is expected to be delivered through some combination of Sizewell B, Heysham 2, Torness, and Hinkley Point C Reactor Unit 1.

The procurement of nuclear fuel, including uranium is a commercial matter for reactors operators. However, the Government does and will continue to work closely with operators and wider industry to ensure a secure and resilient supply for the UK fleet now and in the future.

There is a diverse and resilient global uranium supply and uranium deposits which are spread across the globe. The World Nuclear Association notes that the world’s known uranium resources increased by at least one-quarter in the last decade due to increased mineral exploration.

We do not import civil separated plutonium to the UK. Historically, spent fuel has been imported from other countries for reprocessing, however the imports took place prior to 2010, and reprocessing stopped in the United Kingdom in 2022.

ONR publishes annual figures on the UK's separated plutonium inventory, including material held in the UK on behalf of overseas customers. The most recently published data can be found at the following link: https://www.onr.org.uk/publications/regulatory-reports/safeguards/annual-civil-plutonium-figures/2023-annual-figures-for-holdings-of-civil-unirradiated-plutonium/.

There are no plans to increase the quantity of plutonium in the UK. The domestic inventory of plutonium has arisen from historic reprocessing of spent fuel from the UK and overseas energy utilities under commercial agreements. Reprocessing stopped in the UK in 2022.

The procurement of nuclear fuel, including uranium and enrichment services, is a commercial matter for reactors operators. The Government works closely with these operators to ensure there is a secure and resilient supply for the UK fleet. Uranium enrichment facilities in the UK operate as service providers, enriching uranium that is provided to them by customers. The stockpiles of Uranium held by these companies are a commercial matter and therefore disclosure of these amounts would be at the discretion of these entities.

Ministers regularly engage with a variety of stakeholders.

Details of Ministers' and Permanent Secretaries' meetings with external individuals and organisations are published quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK.

Reforming the planning system is key to unlocking our country’s economic growth, to deliver the critical infrastructure that we need. The Government has announced a £46 million package of investment into the planning system to support capacity and capability. The Government will deliver workforce reform, enhanced training, and reformed career development packages. Resourcing in key organisations, including the Planning Inspectorate and Government consenting teams are currently being reviewed to determine the required support.

Data centres are normally connected to the transmission and distribution grid rather than off-grid connection as this gives them resilience to planned and forced outages of an individual power source. Consequently, my Department has not made any assessment of off-grid infrastructure requirements.

The suitability of any site for a data centre depends on a number of factors including grid capacity, state of grid infrastructure and availability of data connectivity. Future AI Growth Zones will be selected taking into account these factors.