Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the policy of the Government Property Agency is on (a) retaining or (b) removing gender neutral toilets from the Government Estate, in the context of building regulations on toilets for new and refurbished buildings which came into effect in October 2024.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
This policy is currently being reviewed following the launch of ‘Approved Document T: Toilet Accommodation’, including close consultation with MCLHG, the Health and Safety Executive and the Building Safety Regulator.
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 19 November 2024 to Question 12231 on 10 Downing Street: Art Works, if he will list each of the other (a) works of art and (b) portraits that have been removed for restoration.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
No further works of art or portraits have been removed for restoration.
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 8 January 2025 to Question 18205 on Former Prime Ministers: Convictions, and with reference to paragraph 1.6 of the Ministerial Code, if the Prime Minister will take steps to correct the record of his oral contribution of 4 December 2024, Official Report, column 291.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
I refer the Rt Hon Member to my answer of 8 January 2025, Official Report, PQ 18205. The Prime Minister stands by the relevance of raising to the attention of the House that two former Conservative Prime Ministers were fined by the police for breaking the COVID rules that they put in place for others.
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 issued guidance on whether breaching the Business Appointment Rules is grounds for consideration by the Forfeiture Committee for the revocation of an honour.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Honours, by their very nature, are a form of recognition for creditable actions or service by an individual. The Forfeiture Committee considers cases put to it when the holder of an honour may be deemed to have brought the honours system into disrepute. This might include being found guilty of a criminal offence, behaviour which results in censure by a regulatory or a professional body, or any other behaviour that is deemed to bring the honours system into disrepute.
The Cabinet Office provides wide-ranging guidance relating to the handling of potential forfeiture cases to all government departments. Each case is considered individually.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what criteria was used to allocate locations for test-and-learn pilots; and how much funding will be allocated to each local authority.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The pilots were selected due to their potential impact and alignment with a new way of working (Test, Learn and Grow). No funding has been allocated in this initial phase but there is in kind resource from the Government complementing local teams. The Cabinet Office and MHCLG will be working across government and with local partners to co-design the detailed approach to the allocation of the Public Service Reform and Innovation Fund for next financial year. We will partner with the Local Government Association (LGA) on this process.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department's guidance entitled The Approvals Process for the Creation of New Arm’s-Length Bodies, published on 15 March 2018, which of the three tests in Chapter 2 the Regulatory Innovation Office meets.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Regulatory Innovation Office is not an arm’s length body. On 8 October 2024, the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology announced that the Regulatory Innovation Office would be set up as an office within the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
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 26 November 2024 to Question 14636, on Prime Minister: Tiktok, what meetings Downing Street special advisers have had with (a) senior media executives and (b) other executives from Tiktok that are not due to be routinely published on gov.uk transparency returns.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
In line with longstanding process, relevant meetings are declared in the Special Advisor transparency publications.
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 28 November 2024 to Question 15191 on Prime Minister: Anacta, where on gov.uk his Department publishes details of special advisers' meetings.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
As was the case under the previous administration, details of Cabinet Office special advisers’ meetings with senior media figures are published quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/special-advisers-transparency-publications
Data for the period of July to September 2024 will be published shortly.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the potential cost to the public purse of the proposed increase in employer National Insurance contributions on the Duchy of Lancaster.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Information about the Duchy of Lancaster's accounts will be published by the Duchy in the usual way.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the cost to the public purse was of repainting the Downing Street media room.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Information will be published in due course in the Cabinet Office’s dataset detailing expenditure above £25,000, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cabinet-office-spend-data.