Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether a Data Protection Impact Assessment has been undertaken on the Gov.UK One Login system.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
A Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) has been undertaken for GOV.UK One Login. We continually develop our DPIA to take into account the new identity verification journeys, such as the no photo ID route.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he plans to publish an updated Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Yes, we are currently developing a new strategy. A further update will be provided in due course.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 14 May 2025 to Question 50224, on Pay: Publicity, what the total cost is for Millions get a pay rise campaign; whether it was approved under communications spending controls; and what the cost was for the beer mats.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The 2025 National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage campaign is running until 31 May 2025 and is budgeted to cost up to £650,000. This was approved under Cabinet Office’s advertising, marketing and communications spending controls. The cost to advertise in pubs using beer mats was £35,580, which was approved at Official level.
The 2024 campaign saw an increase in reach to eligible workers. However, recognition remained low, reinforcing the need for bolder, more engaging formats for the 2025 campaign, which expected to deliver an estimated 3.2 million impressions.
It offered a unique opportunity to engage audiences in a social, high-dwell environment where financial conversations naturally occur. This setting encourages discussion and word-of-mouth sharing about rate changes and offers an effective nudge for audiences to "check their pay."
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 14 May 2025 to Question 50224 on Pay: Publicity, which advertising channels were used to promote the Millions got a pay rise campaign.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The advertising channels used for the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage campaign include radio, community radio, paid search, online video, paid social, programmatic digital display, digital influencer activity, and out-of-home advertising such as bus and train advertising panels, gym advertising panels and hospitality environments. Our channels are planned and carefully considered to ensure we can reach the right audiences, including using the learnings from previous campaigns.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many properties owned by central Government are unoccupied according to information held by (a) the Government Property Agency and (b) the Electronic Property Information Mapping Service; and what the address is of each of these properties.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office, through the Office of Government Property (OGP), does not centrally collect data on whether individual properties owned by central government departments are entirely unoccupied.
InSite, the system that replaced the legacy ePIMS (Electronic Property Information Mapping Service), allows departments to record floor space as vacant, but this does not confirm whether an entire property is unoccupied. InSite does not hold a central record of wholly unoccupied properties or their addresses. Figures on vacant space across the government estate, aggregated from departmental submissions, are published annually in the State of the Estate report. This includes total square metre figures by department, but not individual property-level occupancy or address data.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he plans to establish a Social Value Council.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Government is determined to ensure the £385 billion of public money spent on public procurement annually delivers economic growth, supports small businesses, champions innovation, creates good jobs and skills opportunities across the country, and maximises social value.
To build on progress made to date and the Government’s new National Procurement Policy Statement, we will consult with stakeholders on further reforms to public procurement to drive economic growth.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 6 May 2025 to Question 48180 on 10 Downing Street: Flags, whether (a) Downing Street and (b) the Government Property Agency own a NATO flag.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Yes. NATO is the cornerstone of our security and our commitment to the alliance is unshakeable. As a founding signatory, the UK plays a leading role, having contributed to every NATO mission. By increasing defence spending to 2.5% of GDP, we will continue to strengthen our capabilities and contribution to NATO. To mark NATO Day, the NATO Flag was flown above the FCDO and above the MoD Main Building on 4th April 2025.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has received payments from the Labour Party since 4 July 2024.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office has received three payments from the Labour Party since 4 July 2024. Each of these payments was for use of Government Car Service.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 14 May 2025 to Question 50224 on Pay: Publicity, if he will place a copy of the business case for the Millions got a pay rise campaign in the Library.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
My department’s final stage impact assessment (IA) in respect of The National Minimum Wage (Amendment) Regulations 2025, was laid in draft before Parliament on 4 February and is available on GOV.UK. It provides the high-level rationale for the campaign, which is to increase awareness and understanding of the changes to the rates that came into effect on 1 April 2025. The campaign supports the policy objectives by minimising compliance costs and ensuring that the benefits are realised, including a direct pay rise for over 3 million workers.
The Impact Assessment can be viewed here: The National Minimum Wage (Amendment) Regulations 2025 - Impact Assessment
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 14 May 2025 to Question 50224 on Pay: Publicity, how his Department distributed the 500,000 beer mats to pubs.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
For the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage awareness campaign, 500,000 beer mats were distributed to 1,000 pubs across the country. Distribution targeted areas with high concentrations of minimum and living wage workers, identified through HMRC underpayment complaint data and ONS data on pay. Our distribution partners delivered directly to selected venues in these priority locations to maximise campaign effectiveness and reaching those directly eligible for the increase in the wage and those who could share this important information with friends and family members.