Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the Cabinet Office policy is on the backup and retention of messages on official mobile devices.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Civil Servants and ministers are required to follow the Non-Corporate Communications Channels (NCCCs) Guidance when using WhatsApp or similar messaging systems on their mobile device. This can be found on gov.uk.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the comments of the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on LBC on 22 March 2026, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the theft of the Prime Minister’s former Chief of Staff’s mobile phone on national security.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Government takes matters of national security very seriously, including cyber security, and has robust procedures in place to prevent the loss of sensitive information. However, the Government does not routinely comment on the specifics on matters relating to national security.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the comments of the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on LBC on 22 March 2026, on what date the Prime Minister’s former Chief of Staff reported the theft of his mobile phone to the Cabinet Secretary.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The former Chief of Staff’s phone was stolen, and he reported it at the time to the police and relevant teams in No10. This was before the Humble Address that was passed in February. The Government is committed to complying with the Humble Address in full, while continuing to support the Metropolitan Police with their investigation. I refer the Hon Member to the statement provided by the Metropolitan Police on 25 March and publication of the transcript confirming that the theft was reported.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the comments of the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on LBC on 22 March 2026, whether his Department has been notified of a crime reference number for the theft of the Prime Minister’s former Chief of Staff’s mobile phone.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The former Chief of Staff’s phone was stolen, and he reported it at the time to the police and relevant teams in No10. This was before the Humble Address that was passed in February. The Government is committed to complying with the Humble Address in full, while continuing to support the Metropolitan Police with their investigation. I refer the Hon Member to the statement provided by the Metropolitan Police on 25 March and publication of the transcript confirming that the theft was reported.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what his Department's policy is on staff reporting the (a) loss and (b) theft of mobile devices; and whether that policy was followed for the theft of the Prime Minister's former Chief of Staff's mobile phone.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The former Chief of Staff’s phone was stolen, and he reported it at the time to the police and relevant teams in No10. This was before the Humble Address that was passed in February. The Government is committed to complying with the Humble Address in full, while continuing to support the Metropolitan Police with their investigation. I refer the Hon Member to the statement provided by the Metropolitan Police on 25 March and publication of the transcript confirming that the theft was reported.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Prime Minister’s former Chief of Staff reported the theft of his mobile phone to the Cabinet Secretary.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The former Chief of Staff’s phone was stolen, and he reported it at the time to the police and relevant teams in No10. This was before the Humble Address that was passed in February. The Government is committed to complying with the Humble Address in full, while continuing to support the Metropolitan Police with their investigation. I refer the Hon Member to the statement provided by the Metropolitan Police on 25 March and publication of the transcript confirming that the theft was reported.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what ethical advice his Department sought on provision of legal support to the Rt Hon. Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip in relation to the Privileges Committee inquiry into that Member's conduct.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
As set out by Alex Chisholm, the Permanent Secretary and Accounting Officer of the Cabinet Office at the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee meeting on 26 January 2023, the contract award followed the proper procurement process and received full scrutiny from all relevant officials.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many convictions of voter personation in general elections there have been in the 21st Century.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The forthcoming Elections Bill will have a package of measures to tackle different types of electoral fraud – including personation in polling stations, postal voting personation and interference, proxy voting fraud, intimidation and undue influence.
Voter fraud is a crime that we cannot allow room for, so the Government is stamping out any potential for it to take place in elections, in line with our manifesto pledge.
The Electoral Commission publishes electoral fraud data on its website: https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/who-we-are-and-what-we-do/our-views-and-research/our-research/electoral-fraud-data.
Personation in polling stations is very difficult to identify and prove: by definition, it is a crime of deception. The 2015 Tower Hamlets election court judgment found that personation was one of the interlinked types of corrupt and illegal practices that took place.
By contrast, as the Electoral Commission has previously noted: ‘Since the introduction of photo ID in Northern Ireland there have been no reported cases of personation. Voters’ confidence that elections are well-run in Northern Ireland is consistently higher than in Great Britain, and there are virtually no allegations of electoral fraud at polling stations’ (December 2015).
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate his Department has made of the number of workers who are ineligible for Statutory Sick Pay in (a) Leeds East constituency, (b) Leeds (c) Yorkshire and the Humber and (d) nationwide.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have therefore asked the Authority to respond.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish the estimates provided to the Government of the number of new covid-19 infections on each day since 1 May 2020.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have therefore asked the Authority to respond.