Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to paragraph 1.24 of the Review Body on Senior Salaries publication Forty-seventh annual report on senior salaries published in May 2025, what steps the Government is taking to reduce excessive (a) bureaucracy and (b) process in the Civil Service.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
This Government is committed to creating a productive and agile state. This includes reducing bureaucracy and simplifying processes through adoption of digital technology and AI tools, improving Ministerial oversight and accountability in arms-length bodies, streamlining approval processes, creating a cost-conscious culture that relentlessly roots out waste, drives efficiency, and protects taxpayers’ money, and establishing a more productive, higher-skilled civil service with stronger accountability for performance.
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, what progress his Department has made on the roll-out of Fracture Liaison Services.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Fracture Liaison Services are commissioned by integrated care boards, which are well-placed to make decisions according to local need.
Our 10-Year Health Plan committed to rolling out Fracture Liaison Services across every part of the country by 2030.
The Department is working closely with NHS England to consider a range of options to ensure better quality and access to these important preventative services.
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 2 July 2025 to Question 62087 on Lobbying, whether his Department plans to formally respond to the report.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Government continues to keep transparency around lobbying under review, and we will factor into consideration the recommendations from PACAC's report as any policy reforms are considered. However, the report was conducted and published under the previous administration, and framed in the context of policy restraints imposed by that administration, therefore the Government will not be providing a full report response.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, what guidance has been posted on the Government Legal Service intranet since July 2024.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Government Legal Service no longer exists and has been replaced by the Government Legal Profession (GLP).
The GLP produces guidance to assist government lawyers as they work closely with ministers, policy makers and other professionals.
Lawyers across government have an important role in helping the Government deliver its manifesto and run effective public services.
Since July 2024, the following guidance has been published on the GLP intranet:
17/10/2024
Working with Legislation - Westlaw Edge UK
11/2024
Attorney General’s Guidance on Legal Risk
02/2025
Knowledge Sharing Across the GLP
Legal Professional Privilege
Being an Effective Government lawyer
12/02/2025
Legal Professional Privilege Guidance - Sharing Advice Across the GLP
20/05/2025
New legal awareness slides on producing Statutory Instruments
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 11 June 2025 to Question 56739 on Strategic Defence Review, whether the embargoed defence review document was classified as (a) market-sensitive and (b) in scope of the UK Market Abuse Regulation.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The Strategic Defence Review (SDR) contains only strategic recommendations to Government. It does not contain any specific new contract details for any company. As the Government has now confirmed a number of times, at no point did stakeholders receive any commercially sensitive information ahead of publication. The SDR was not classified as market sensitive or in scope of the UK Market Abuse Regulation.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to Ministry of Defence: Ministers’ Hospitality - May 2025, published on 26 June 2025, for what reason the Rt Hon Member for Liverpool Garston received lunches offered by Babcock on (a) 26 May, (b) 27 May and (c) 30 May 2025.
Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
To maximise the value of my time on overseas visits, I will sometimes join working lunches with industry to discuss their live export campaigns and priorities. The dates referenced cover a period where I was in New Zealand and Australia to further Defence priorities in the region.
I attended a working lunch with Babcock at their office in Auckland on 26 May to discuss a live export campaign to New Zealand.
I did not attend a lunch with Babcock on 27 May. This was a reporting error in my transparency returns.
I attended a working lunch with Babcock at their office in Perth, Australia on 30 May, to discuss their partnership with the Australian Submarine Delivery Agency.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has provided funding for intersectional climate action since July 2024.
Answered by Catherine West - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We have provided funding to the Global Alliance for Green and Gender Action and to the Equality Fund - both expanding support to grassroots women's rights organisations with Equality Fund grants focussed on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 19 June 2025, on House of Lords Appointments, HCWS718, whether the Prime Minister has a target size for the number of sitting peers in the House of Lords.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
As appointments are for life, the second chamber has become too big. The Government’s manifesto therefore included a commitment to introduce a retirement age for members of the House of Lords.
The Government intends to propose the establishment of a dedicated select committee in the House of Lords to look at how best to implement the manifesto commitments on a retirement age and participation requirement, following the passage of the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many and what proportion of the attendees at the Plan for Change launch event on 5 December 2024 were invited by the Government.
Answered by Ellie Reeves - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
All invitations were sent by the Government.
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 1 July 2025 to Question 62990 on House of Lords Appointments Commission, what the Government’s policy is on the number of Non-Party Political Life Peers proposed by HOLAC who will be created each individual year of this Parliament.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Prime Minister will continue to invite nominations from HOLAC, and future appointments will be announced in the usual way.