Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 26 November 2024 to Question 14635 on Prime Minister: Official Gifts, if he will list the gifts and hospitality received by the Prime Minister within the remit of the Ministerial Code regime that was subsequently repaid or returned, broken down by (a) the nature of each gift or hospitality donated, (b) value, (c) donor, (d) date accepted and (e) date returned or reimbursed since 4 July 2024, excluding gifts where the Prime Minister made a payment to the department to purchase the gift.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

Any hospitality or gifts received by Ministers in their ministerial capacity is declared in accordance with the Ministerial Code. The Cabinet Office publishes details of ministers’ hospitality and gifts on a monthly basis. Hospitality and gifts received by ministers in a non-ministerial capacity are published on the parliamentary registers in line with the parliamentary codes of conduct.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of (a) 26 November 2024 to Question 14635 on Prime Minister: Official Gifts and (b) 21 January 2025 to Question 24487 on Members' Interests, where the Register of Members’ Financial Interests lists repaid or returned gifts and hospitality received by the Prime Minister.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

Any hospitality or gifts received by Ministers in their ministerial capacity is declared in accordance with the Ministerial Code. The Cabinet Office publishes details of ministers’ hospitality and gifts on a monthly basis. Hospitality and gifts received by ministers in a non-ministerial capacity are published on the parliamentary registers in line with the parliamentary codes of conduct.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, on what date Sir Alex Chisholm was given permission by the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments to take up a role with Boston Consulting Group.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

Sir Alex Chisholm was provided with his final advice from the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments on 30 October 2024. The advice was published on ACOBA’s page on GOV.UK on 12 March 2025, and is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67b318fe7c070e71525f5801/ACOBA_advice-_Alex_Chisholm-_BCG.pdf

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what (a) restoration, (b) renovation and (c) building works are currently taking place at No. (i) 10, (ii) 11 and (iii) 12 Downing Street.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

A repair project is underway to preserve the integrity of this Grade 1 listed building. This followed a survey in December 2023 which indicated that work must be completed for safety reasons, with the work commencing in January 2024. Repair of exterior window frames will be undertaken at the same time.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps has his Department taken to improve the speed of reviews conducted under the powers of the National Security and Investment Act since 5 July 2024.

Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The Government always seeks to conclude reviews under the National Security and Investment (NSI) Act as swiftly as possible. Reviews under the NSI Act are subject to statutory timelines. The Act is also kept under regular review to ensure it is operating as efficiently as possible.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Prime Minister has responded to correspondence from Baroness Carr following Prime Minister’s Questions on 12 February 2025.

Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The Lord Chancellor issued a response on 19 February 2025.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Security and Intelligence Agencies Financial Statement 2023-24, published on 2 December 2024, what (a) risks and (b) performance issues were identified during the Performance and Risk Reviews conducted in 2023-24 for those agencies; and what steps he is taking to tackle those risks and issues.

Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

As has been the policy of successive governments, the government does not comment on matters relating to the intelligence agencies. The Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament scrutinises the policies, expenditure, administration and operations of the intelligence agencies on behalf of Parliament.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the document entitled The Approvals Process for the Creation of New Arm’s-Length Bodies, published on 15 March 2018, and in the context of the proposed abolition of NHS England, whether his Department will consider the case for creating the National Care Service against the requirement that the creation of a new arms-length body should only be considered as a last resort.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

It is for the relevant Minister to decide if policy within their portfolio should be delivered through the creation of a new public body. Departments seeking to establish an Arm’s Length Bodies must submit three business cases as part of the approval process, as outlined in ‘The Approvals Process for the Creation of New Arm’s-Length Bodies’. Once the the Cabinet Office receives a business case for a proposed new body there is a detailed process to ensure there is sufficient due diligence to establish a clear rationale for a proposed body.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 9 January 2025 to Question 21403 on Cabinet Office: Pay, what the monetary gross paybill is, excluding pension contributions and National Insurance in aggregate for staff in the (a) Women’s Equality Unit, (b) Race Disparity Unit and (c) Disability Unit.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The salaries of the Senior Civil Servants responsible for the Women’s Equality Unit, Race Disparity Unit and Disability Unit and salary cost of their reports was published in January as part of Cabinet Office transparency reporting and can be found under the Organogram for Senior staff.

https://www.data.gov.uk/dataset/ff76be1f-4f37-4bef-beb7-32b259413be1/organogram-cabinet-office

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 30 January 2025 to Question 25456 on Senior Civil Servants: Training, how many people attended each conference.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

148 people attended the conference on 23 July 2024 and 263 people attended the conference on 10 October 2024.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he plans to lay a new Official Statistics Order to designate the National Data Library’s statistical outputs as official statistics.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon. Member's Parliamentary Question of 24th March is attached.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 13 February 2025 to Question 29026 on Trade Union Officials: Facilities Agreements, what his planned timetable is for publishing facility time data for 2024-25; and what month will be used as a baseline for the data.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

Self-reported public-sector trade union facility time data, collected under the Facility Time Regulations, will be published in line with our standard timelines for this data set and the timelines under the previous administration.

The Trade Union (Facility Time Publication Requirements) Regulations 2017 explain what is included in the published data set as well as the period this data set covers.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 27 November 2024 to Question 13807 on Cabinet Office: Parliamentary Private Secretaries, if he will breakdown the number of staff in each ministerial private office, by named Minister.

Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

There are 38 staff, at multiple grades, who support the 8 Cabinet Office ministers in private office roles.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has agreed a data protection agreement between the Cabinet Office and the Labour Party.

Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

Discussions on a data protection agreement between the Cabinet Office and the Labour Party are in progress.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reasons the National Security Technology and Innovation Exchange has been closed.

Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)

The functions of National Security Technology and Innovation Exchange will be taken forward within other national security teams, building on the capabilities, practices and networks successfully established since it was formed in 2021.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the report by the Local News Commission entitled Regenerating Local News in the UK, published in March 2025, whether the recommendations of this report will be included in the Local Media Strategy.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

Sustainability of the local media sector across the country is an area of particular concern for this Government. We are developing a Local Media Strategy, in recognition of the importance of this vital sector. Our vision is a thriving local media that can continue to play an invaluable role as a key channel of trustworthy information at local level, reporting on the issues that matter to communities, reflecting their contributions and perspectives, and helping to foster a self-confident nation in which everyone feels that their contribution is part of an inclusive national story.

Officials have met with the Public Interest News Foundation, founders of the Local News Commission, as part of our continued engagement with key external stakeholders. Government welcomes the publication of the Commission’s report and will consider its recommendations as part of our wider work on the Strategy. Our work is also being informed by the range of studies conducted into the state of local journalism in the UK in recent years.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 12 February 2025 to Question 28586 on HMS Achilles, for what reason the Committee chose to recommend to the Sovereign the name of HMS Achilles.

Answered by Luke Pollard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

The name HMS Achilles was considered in light of the forthcoming VE and VJ Day anniversaries and given its WWII battle honours at the River Plate and Okinawa. The name also has a very fine heritage outside of WWII, having been borne by six ships previously and having earned battle honours including Trafalgar.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish the contract between OCS and his Department.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

On 22 August 2023, following contract award, the OCS (formerly Atalian Servest Limited) Contract was published on Contracts Finder. It can be accessed using the link below.

https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/notice/d27d862b-a997-44e4-a8d4-49eb871cb512?origin=SearchResults&p=1

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will provide details of (a) gifts, (b) donations, (c) donations in kind and (d) hospitality that Ministers in the Department including Downing Street, have accepted that have since been paid back to the original donor by the relevant Minister under the (i) Ministerial and (ii) Parliamentary reporting regimes.

Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

All gifts and hospitality that are received in a ministerial capacity are declared on the Register of Ministers’ Gifts and Hospitality in line with ministers’ obligations under the Ministerial Code.

The Parliamentary codes of conduct are a matter for Parliament and questions should be directed to the individual member concerned or the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the (a) Office for National Statistics, (b) National Audit Office, (c) Northern Ireland Civil Service, (d) Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, (e) GCHQ, (f) MI5, (g) SIS and (h) Crown Commercial Service pay subscription fees to Stonewall.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

As the sponsoring department for the following bodies, the Cabinet Office can confirm that the Office for National Statistics, the Public Health Service Ombudsman, and the Crown Commercial Service do not pay subscription fees to Stonewall.

All other bodies asked about are not sponsored by the Cabinet Office, and are therefore a matter for their individual sponsoring departments.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether appointments to Great British Railways will be included in the Public Bodies Order in Council; and whether the Chair will be classified as a Significant Appointment.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

After the Railways Bill is scrutinised by Parliament, and as part of the design of Great British Railways, we will consider whether to propose an amendment to the Public Bodies Order in Council. We expect that the GBR Chair will be classed as a significant appointment.

Parliament will have an opportunity to scrutinise GBR’s duties when the bill is taken through Parliament later this session.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what his planned timeline is for the appointment of a new Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The House of Commons leads on the recruitment of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, which is ongoing. We expect that further information will be made available shortly.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, Pursuant to the answer of 30 July 2024, to Question 1261, on Senior Civil Servants, if he will publish a breakdown by (a) department and (b) job title of senior civil service jobs (i) offered and (ii) appointed since 30 July 2024, including indicating where a Civil Service recruitment principles exception was applied.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

Information on Senior Civil Service appointments is not collated centrally. Departments can run campaigns outside of the central recruitment services through their own Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) or processes, or make appointments from existing reserve lists. Therefore, we are unable to provide a full response.

Appointments by exception at SCS2 or above must be approved by the Civil Service Commission, details of which are published on the commission’s website.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he plans to issue new guidance on the proportion of the civil service jobs advertised to the public.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

In May 2022 the then Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster wrote to cabinet ministers outlining all Senior Civil Service (SCS) jobs must be advertised externally to the public unless an exemption is approved. This continues to be the policy.

As under the previous Government, for appointments below SCS level, departments have the authority to determine how they recruit in line with the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. Again, this continues to be the policy.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether staff are permitted to hold more than one government pass with different (a) names, (b) photographs and (c) genders.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

Civil Servants are only allowed to hold 1 Government Pass (Common Civil Service Pass or GovPass) at any time.

In 2020, under the previous administration, an exemption was introduced, which allows for individuals to apply for a second pass to reflect their identity if it is deemed that current arrangements are unsupportive. This arrangement was intended to support gender fluid members of staff or those who are transitioning.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 31 October 2024 to Question 10987 on Public Sector: Pay, if she will list which non-statutory office holders are paid through the Cabinet Office’s HR and payroll department.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

This information is not held centrally.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether information about each Department's (a) spending control data and (b) exemptions is held centrally.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

A Prime-Ministerial directive, issued in 2010, mandated all departments to publish details of all spend approvals from the Advertising, Marketing and Communications, Commercial, Contingent Labour, Digital and Technology, and National Property controls on a quarterly basis. The Cabinet Office’s publications are at this link https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/cabinet-office-spend-data .

HMT Treasury delegates authority to departments to enter into commitments and spend within predefined limits without specific prior approval. Agreements of any exemptions a body holds from the Spend Controls should be recorded in the department’s delegation letter and in the Framework Document, or similar relationship-defining document, between the body and its sponsor department.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many pricing reviews of contracts managed by his Department the Crown Commercial Service has undertaken due to changes to employer’s National Insurance contributions in April 2025; and if he will make an estimate of the number of pricing reviews that will be required for this reason.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

Most Crown Commercial Service (CCS) commercial agreements use the public sector contract which does not permit increases in the framework rates for employer national insurance contributions as these are classed as General Change in Law. Where the framework contract allows for framework rates to be reviewed, any request by a supplier to do so would be considered by CCS on a case-by-case basis.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when 10 Downing Street cleaners are due to strike; and whether temporary cover will be organised for the Prime Minister’s (a) offices and (b) residence during the strike action.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The PCS trade union is in dispute with ISS and G4S. As is longstanding practice, the Government does not provide an ongoing commentary on industrial disputes.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to tackle regional disparities in access to community-based eating disorder treatments in (a) rural areas and (b) general.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England is working with the integrated care boards with the aim of increasing the capacity of eating disorder services, to provide community and day treatment services. By improving care in the community, the National Health Service aims to improve outcomes and recovery, reduce rates of relapse, prevent children’s eating disorders continuing into adulthood and, if admission is required as a very last resort, reduce the length of time that people have to stay in hospital.

NHS England has commissioned the Royal College of Psychiatrists to deliver a national, all-age eating disorders audit. This aims to drive improvement in the identification and appropriate management of eating disorders, and the quality and consistency of services for all ages in England. This will help ensure that services across the country, including in rural areas, are safe, effective, patient centred, timely, efficient, and equitable.

In addition, NHS England is currently refreshing the guidance on children and young people's eating disorders to highlight the importance of awareness and the early recognition of eating disorders within schools, colleges, primary care, and broader children and young peoples’ mental health services.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he plans to use recruitment consultants for staffing test-and-learn teams.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The Test, Learn and Grow Programme will use existing government recruitment channels to staff the programme for the three years of the initiative. This includes the use of loans for existing Civil Servants, and fixed term appointments for external candidates. The programme will also leverage an inward secondment programme for public service delivery experts working near the frontline to help drive public service reform in their field. This scheme will be flexible in terms of duration and location, and specifically for those with experience relevant to the public service reform project. We do not plan to use recruitment consultants for these staffing needs.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to expand intensive (a) community and (b) day treatments for eating disorders across NHS Integrated Care Systems.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England is working with the integrated care boards with the aim of increasing the capacity of eating disorder services, to provide community and day treatment services. By improving care in the community, the National Health Service aims to improve outcomes and recovery, reduce rates of relapse, prevent children’s eating disorders continuing into adulthood and, if admission is required as a very last resort, reduce the length of time that people have to stay in hospital.

NHS England has commissioned the Royal College of Psychiatrists to deliver a national, all-age eating disorders audit. This aims to drive improvement in the identification and appropriate management of eating disorders, and the quality and consistency of services for all ages in England. This will help ensure that services across the country, including in rural areas, are safe, effective, patient centred, timely, efficient, and equitable.

In addition, NHS England is currently refreshing the guidance on children and young people's eating disorders to highlight the importance of awareness and the early recognition of eating disorders within schools, colleges, primary care, and broader children and young peoples’ mental health services.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he has issued guidance to (a) the civil service and (b) arm’s length bodies on paying back severance payments if civil servants made redundant rejoin the (a) civil service, (b) NHS and (c) wider public sector.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

Whilst the NHS and some wider public sector organisations will have their own arrangements, any individual who leaves under the terms of the Civil Service Compensation Scheme, and later returns to the same organisation, or another one that uses the Civil Service Compensation Scheme, within six months, must pay back a proportionate amount of their compensation.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 19 September 2024 to Question 4697 on Civil Servants: Incentives, at what point in the year Cabinet Office civil servants are typically given such incentive payments of shopping vouchers; whether such vouchers can be used for paying utility bills; and how much his Department has spent on Love2Shop Gift Cards since 5 July 2024.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

In-year vouchers can be given at any point in the year. The vouchers cannot be directly redeemed for utility bills, but have a wide range of retail outlets where they can be spent. The Cabinet Office does not use Love2Shop vouchers.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 29 November 2024 to Question 15471 on Office for Equality and Opportunity: Gender and Sexuality, whether the Civil Service People Group formally recognises any (a) genders, (b) sexual orientations and (c) gender identities.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

Data collection on gender identities, genders or sexual orientation is delegated to departments.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Answer of 17 February 2025 to Question HL4631 on Cabinet Office: Standards, if he will publish that template.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

His Majesty's Government can confirm that:

As was the case under the previous administration, the template is intended solely for internal departmental use and will not be released publicly.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether (a) Permanent Secretaries and (b) Second Permanent Secretaries are employed on fixed term contracts.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The majority of Permanent Secretaries (First and Second) are permanent civil servants, on permanent contracts. Exceptionally, fixed term contracts may be offered to external candidates, for example in the case of specialist roles.

When appointed to a Permanent Secretary role, Permanent Secretaries (First and Second) are appointed on fixed term tenures, typically for five years. Where appropriate, and with the Prime Minister and relevant Minister’s approval, tenure may be extended.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department's guidance entitled Public Bodies Handbook – Part 2: The Approvals Process for the Creation of New Arm’s-Length Bodies, whether his Department's public bodies team assessed Great British Railways against the requirement that the creation of a new arm's length body should only be considered as a last resort; whether the Department for Transport provided evidence that alternative delivery models were considered; and which of the three tests in Chapter 2 of that guidance Great British Railways met.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The Department for Transport is currently working through the approval process to establish Great British Railways as an Arm’s Length Body. The completion of business cases as part of this process considers viable delivery mechanisms and the three tests.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Government plans to lay a new Official Statistics Order to designate the Fair Work Agency’s statistical outputs as official statistics.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 31st March is attached.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 6 January 2025 to Question 20702 on Foreign Investment in UK: National Security, if he will publish mitigation measures taken as a result of final orders issued in the last year with the 2024-2025 NSI annual report.

Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The Government publishes notices of final orders made on GOV.UK - this includes cases that are blocked, unwound, or cleared subject to conditions. The notices include a high level summary of what mitigation measures are imposed on the parties.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to ensure that local government is accountable for its decisions.

Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Councils are democratic institutions accountable to the communities they serve. We are strengthening that accountability through clearer expectations, stronger local scrutiny, and a renewed focus on outcomes.

Together, these measures are building a more trusting and equal partnership-based relationship between central and local government.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what reason the guidance entitled Property business arrangements involving hybrid partnerships (Spotlight 63) was published on 4 October 2023; whether her Department prepared an impact assessment for that guidance; and whether she is taking steps to ensure that HMRC complies with its charter in the context of affected (a) landlords and (b) tenants.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

HMRC tackles avoidance schemes by directly challenging promoters and by informing and educating taxpayers. This includes for example, targeted educational campaigns for taxpayers, spotlight publications which provide an early warning to taxpayers of marketed avoidance arrangements, and publication of details on tax avoidance schemes and those that promote them.

HMRC takes the Charter very seriously. The HMRC charter, published on GOV.UK, defines the service and standard of behaviour that taxpayers should expect.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether UK Defence Innovation will be an arm’s length body.

Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

No. UK Defence Innovation will report to the National Armaments Director in the Ministry of Defence, as part of the new operating model being established through Defence Reform.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 27 November 2024 to Question 14354 on Civil Servants: Pay, what the budget for civil service pay is (a) including and (b) excluding National insurance employer contributions in (i) 2024-25 and (ii) 2025-26.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

Departments are responsible for pay, terms and conditions of civil servants, within the parameters set out in the Civil Service Pay Remit Guidance, this includes setting budgets for annual increases for its own workforce.

Salary data for the Civil Service is published annually as part of Civil Service Statistics, an Accredited Official Statistics release. Civil Service Statistics 2025 is due to be published on 30 July 2025.

For 2025/26, departmental pay awards have not yet been made and the 2025/26 Pay Remit Guidance will be published in due course.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what guidance his Department has issued on delivering efficiency savings through reducing spending on external public relations.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The Government regularly evaluates the effectiveness of all communication activities to ensure they are delivering and providing the best value for money for taxpayers. An example of this is the recent comprehensive communications Spending Review that delivered savings of £85 million in 2024-25 and up to £96 million in 2025-26.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how often the NHS has made use of Private and Voluntary ambulances in the last five years; whether the NHS is planning to reduce or increase their use; and what is the estimated impact of their use on costs to his Department.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The requested information is not held. National Health Service ambulance trusts may procure support from private ambulance services during periods of peak demand to supplement the NHS’ ambulance fleet. Ambulance availability is therefore monitored on a daily basis by each NHS ambulance trust.

With regard to expenditure on private ambulance services, NHS England does not collect this data, as decisions to engage private emergency ambulance support are made at the frontline operational level.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what powers the Financial Conduct Authority has to regulate sports spread bets; and whether those powers have changed since the implementation of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.

Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

Under the Financial Services and Markets Act (FSMA) 2000, HM Treasury is responsible for determining the perimeter of financial services regulation, with the approval of Parliament. This is chiefly achieved by specifying the financial services activities that can only be carried out by firms authorised by either the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) or the Prudential Regulation Authority.

It specifies these activities primarily through the Regulated Activities Order (RAO), a piece of subordinate legislation made under powers in FSMA 2000. HM Treasury can bring an activity into the regulatory perimeter by amending the RAO, subject to Parliamentary approval.

The FCA does not itself have the power to bring any activity into the regulatory perimeter or decide what activities are regulated. This has not changed since the implementation of FSMA 2000.

The FCA CEO raised non-financial spread betting in the annual perimeter meeting in July 2023, and noted that the FCA has clarified that non-financial betting products are not financial instruments and not within the FCA’s regulatory perimeter. The minutes are published online at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hm-treasury-and-financial-conduct-authority-regulatory-perimeter-meeting-july-2023/hm-treasury-and-financial-conduct-authority-regulatory-perimeter-meeting-july-2023

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 18 March 2025 to Question 37318 on Animal Experiments: Animal Welfare, how many animals were bred for use in procedures licensed under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 but deemed surplus and disposed of without being used for scientific purposes in the last full calendar year for which data is available.

Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)

The most recent statistics in this category were published in 2017, when 1.81 million non-genetically altered (non-GA) animals were bred for scientific procedures but were killed or died without being used in regulated procedures. These statistics can be found here:

Additional statistics on breeding and genotyping of animals for scientific procedures, Great Britain, 2017

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, for what reason his Department intends to establish Great British Energy as an arm’s length body.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

It is our intention that Great British Energy will be a publicly owned energy company and an Arm’s Length Body in line with Cabinet Office guidance. Setting up GBE in this way will ensure the right balance between operational independence and accountability to Parliament.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has issued guidance to Ministers on whether they may undertake personal visits whilst on official Ministerial visits overseas.

Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

Guidance on overseas visits by Ministers is found in Chapter 10 of the Ministerial Code.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the transparency data entitled Data on responses to correspondence from MPs and Peers, updated on 23 May 2024, for what reason there are different target response times for different Departments.

Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

As outlined in the Guide to Handling Correspondence, all Government departments and agencies must aim to respond to correspondence within 20 working days. Government departments and agencies can set their own more ambitious deadlines if they want to do so.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many civil servants exits will be funded by the £150 million government employee exit schemes; and whether this will include civil service compensation scheme payments for (a) voluntary and (b) compulsory exits.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The Cabinet Office and HM Treasury are working together to determine how best this investment can be used by departments to support their individual exit schemes, the terms of which will vary from organisation to organisation.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether officials in Downing Street use the Signal app.

Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

Ministers and officials use a range of communication methods and there are longstanding appropriate arrangements and guidance in place for the management of electronic communications.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many lecterns are (a) held by Downing Street and (b) on loan from Downing Street to other public bodies.

Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

Downing Street holds 7 lecterns, all of which were inherited from previous governments.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 13 February 2025 to Question 29019 on Civil Servants: Recruitment, what is the process by which a Minister can request a department (a) appoint and (b) consider appointing a specific individual to the Civil Service without open and fair competition below SCS2 level.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The Civil Service Recruitment principles outline the process by which grades below SCS can be appointed without fair and open competition. This includes guidance about the involvement of Ministers in the recruitment process.

The process and approach remains consistent with that applied by the previous administration.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to paragraph 1.5 of the Ministerial Code, published on 6 November 2024, whether civil service workplace standards are used to interpret these requirements; and whether the Prime Minister is responsible for determining what constitutes (a) bullying and (b) harassment.

Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The Ministerial Code sets out the standards of behaviour which the Prime Minister expects of ministers. As set out at paragraph 2.1, the Prime Minister is the ultimate judge of those standards of behaviour and of the appropriate consequences for any breach of those standards.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 28 January 2025 to Question 25671 on Delivery Unit, on what dates each of the stocktakes have taken place.

Answered by Ellie Reeves - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)

I refer the honourable gentlemen to the answer given to PQ25671.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will publish the minutes of meetings that she has had with each trade union since 5 July 2025.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

The department assumes that there is an error in the question, and the right hon. Member for Basildon and Billericay means 5 July 2024. The details of all my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education’s external meetings are routinely published on GOV.UK.