Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Government has made an assessment of the potential merits of abolishing the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
There are no plans of this kind.
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 18 June 2025 to Question 59753 on Civil Servants: Media and Public Speaking, whether guidance has been provided on Permanent Secretaries giving press conferences with Ministers.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Government Communication Service (GCS) Propriety & Ethics Guidance applies to all civil servants.
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 28 May 2025 to Question 52687 on Pay: Publicity, which (a) publications, (b) channels and (c) sites paid-for advertising was undertaken on.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
a). Publications: No paid advertising for this campaign ran in print publications.
b). Channels: These were:
o Online digital display advertising
o Digital online video (YouTube)
o Social media (Snapchat, Meta - Facebook/Instagram, Reddit)
o Radio
o Out of home: train card panels in national rail/bus interiors, beermats in 1000 pubs and digital screens in gyms
o Paid search (Google)
o Use of six digital influencers (Instagram/TikTok)
c). Sites: Online digital display advertising is bought programmatically by audience, not by site, and it is thus not possible to provide details of the sites that users saw such advertising appearing on. In addition, advertising appeared on the social media and search sites listed in answer to part b) above.
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 28 May 2025 to Question 52687 on Pay: Publicity, which digital influencers were commissioned for the campaign; and how much was paid to each.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
As part of the National Minimum and Living Wage Campaign, the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) selected six digital influencers who could reach the campaign’s target audiences through their social media channels.
We are unable to provide details of how much was paid to each person due to confidentiality provisions in the individual agreements. This used 3% of the total budget of the campaign.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 2 June 2025 to Question 52906 on Department of Health and Social Care: Permanent Secretaries, whether she has been employed under the terms of the model permanent secretary contract; for how long the fixed term period is; and whether she is classified as a (a) temporary or (b) permanent civil servant.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Cabinet Office FOI disclosure FOI2025/05753 of 12 June 2025, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of cancelling the (a) Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and (b) Help Us Help You: Cancer the communications campaigns on health outcomes.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to install customer experience machines in his Department to measure staff morale.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to para 3.152 of the Review Body on Senior Salaries, Forty-seventh annual report on senior salaries, published in May 2025, CP 1329, what the past-service deficit payment is on the Alpha employer contribution rate.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The employer contribution rate is determined by the Civil Service Pension Scheme Valuation, which takes place every four years, with current rates being set following the 2020 valuation.
Details of the past service deficit are available on pages 22-25 of the 2020 Civil Service Pension Scheme Valuation available at https://www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk/media/qgbfvy5h/civil-service-gb-valuation-report_18_9_23_accessible.pdf
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to para 3.61 of the Review Body on Senior Salaries, Forty-seventh annual report on senior salaries, published in May 2025, CP 1329, whether he plans to tackle the pay differentials for civil servants at the same grade working in the same building who are employed by the (a) UK, (b) Welsh and (c) Scottish governments.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Government has recently accepted the recommendation from the Senior Salaries Review Body for a fundamental review of the Senior Civil Service pay and reward frameworks.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the (a) legal and (b) operational feasibility of local councils (i) establishing or (ii) co-funding neighbourhood policing constabularies under the Police Act 1996 in partnership with Police and Crime Commissioners.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government remains firmly committed to ensuring strong neighbourhood policing across England and Wales. The 43 territorial police forces across England and Wales are responsible for neighbourhoods policing in their areas.
To reinforce neighbourhood policing teams, we are providing £200 million to police forces in the 2025/26 financial year to kickstart the recruitment of 13,000 additional neighbourhood policing personnel across England and Wales. Essex Police has been allocated £4,495,599 from the £200 million fund for 2025/26. Based on their funding allocation, the projected growth for neighbourhood officers in Essex Police over 2025/26 will be 74 (FTE) police officers.
The Government has also announced that by July, every community will have named, contactable officers dedicated to addressing local issues as part of the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee.