Steve Barclay

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster appoints Non-Executive Board Members to the Cabinet Office Board and most Non-Executive Directors to the Boards of its Arm’s Length Bodies in compliance with the Governance Code on Public Appointments. Non-Executives are not employees, therefore contracts of employment are not issued. Non-Executives receive terms of agreement for their roles instead.

The Cabinet Office has been fully compliant with the terms of agreement between its Non-Executive Board Members since 5 July 2024.

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster appoints Non-Executive Board Members to the Cabinet Office Board and most Non-Executive Directors to the Boards of its Arm’s Length Bodies in compliance with the Governance Code on Public Appointments. Non-Executives are not employees and therefore contracts of employment are not issued, Non-Executives receive terms of agreement for their roles instead.

Since 5 July 2024, seven Cabinet Office Non-Executive Board Members have been provided with one month’s written notice for the termination of their appointments before the end of the fixed period as set out in their terms of agreement.

It is normal practice for incoming Ministers to make decisions on their own departmental boards, including the skills and experience that membership brings.

The Civil Service advertises all SCS vacancies on the principle of External by Default.

External by Default means that vacancies will be open to external candidates outside the Civil Service, as well as existing civil servants, unless an exception applies. Use of exemptions for any post must be approved by the Departmental Minister or Permanent Secretary in Non-Ministerial Departments.

This policy applies to all Ministerial departments, Non-Ministerial departments, Executive Agencies and Crown Non-Departmental Public Bodies.

This policy was applicable on 30 May 2024 and 23 July 2024.

On the 30 May 2024, in accordance with the General Election Guidance 2024, any appointments that required approval by the Prime Minister, and other Civil Service and public appointments likely to prove sensitive (including those where Ministers have delegated decisions to officials or other authorities) were frozen until after the election, except in exceptional circumstances (General Election Guidance, Section H, para 1-4).

Where an appointment was required to be made, because the role was urgent or critical, and including where necessary sensitive SCS positions, the role could be filled on a temporary basis by exception. The principle of external by default for all SCS recruitment was maintained during the pre-election period. Any temporary appointments were subject to approval via the exemption process (Civil Service Recruitment Framework 2022). During the pre-election period, approval for urgent exemptions to external by default could be made by Permanent Secretaries where Ministerial availability was limited.

Responsibility for adhering to pre-election guidance in relation to recruitment sat with the hiring department.

The information held by the Cabinet Office relating to the Senior Civil Service shows there have been 43 offers made and 41 candidates posted/taken up duty since 30th May 2024. Recruitment data from some departments is collected on a biannual basis by the Cabinet Office.

Please see the full breakdown of the data held centrally on the below table.

The Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme providing grants towards Vat paid on reports and maintenance is a demand-led programme and operates with a total budget of up to £42m per year, funded jointly by DCMS and HMT reserve. In the financial year 23/24 a total of £29,161,870 was granted to listed places of worship.

Departmental settlements have been set following the Budget announcement on October 30. Individual programmes, such as the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme, will now be assessed during the departmental Business Planning process.

The level of crop production is always subject to factors such as weather conditions and prevailing prices. Beyond such normal factors, the Government does not expect the inheritance tax changes to have a material impact on crop production.

We have robust domestic production, which alongside stable trade routes and diverse supply chains ensures the country continues to benefit from high food security. With the largest ever investment in sustainable food production, through our Environmental Land Management schemes, we are securing long term food security.

In 2021, the statistical estimates for the proportion of farmers in England who have financial and legal responsibility for an agricultural holding is shown below:

Sourced from the Defra June Survey of Agriculture

Defra made no assessment of the effect of changes in the mix of waste sent for incineration on the carbon emissions of each unit of electricity generated by energy recovery facilities when the Rt Hon member for North East Cambridgeshire was Secretary of State. Defra is currently undertaking a composition analysis study of residual waste treated at energy recovery facilities. This will enable us to better understand the overall composition of residual waste treated at energy recovery facilities and, in due course, can form the basis for a better understanding of the fossil carbon portion of waste sent to incineration.

As of July 2024, the Environment Agency confirmed 35 abandoned waste sites in England. An abandoned site occurs if the waste management permit holder dies, or the company is wound up.

Information on these sites was not published when he was Secretary of State due to data protection and ongoing investigations. This remains the case.

In 2022, the Waste from Households recycling rate in England was 43.4%. Figures for 2023/24 are provisionally scheduled for publication by January 2025. We have a long-term target to halve residual waste by 2042 and we are committed to achieving a municipal recycling rate of at least 65% by 2035.

The Government has published information about reforms to agricultural property relief at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/what-are-the-changes-to-agricultural-property-relief.

Almost three-quarters of estates claiming agricultural property relief (or those claiming agricultural property relief and business property relief together) in 2026-27 are expected to be unaffected by these reforms.

Historic data published by HMRC shows that in 2021-22, 73% of estates making agricultural property relief claims did so on total amounts worth less than £1m.

HMRC is commissioned by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) at each fiscal event to produce Inheritance Tax receipts forecasts. More information behind this process is published on the OBR website: https://obr.uk/forecasts-in-depth/tax-by-tax-spend-by-spend/inheritance-tax/.

HMRC analysis suggests that in 2026-27, 500 estates claiming agricultural property relief will receive a lower financial benefit as a result of the Government’s reforms, out of a projected total of 1,800 estates making agricultural property relief claims in that year. This means that around three-quarters of estates making agricultural property relief claims will be unaffected by this measure.

HMRC receives information in relation to the agricultural value of agricultural land, buildings, and other assets as part of claims for agricultural property relief. This information relates to the agricultural property owned by the individual who may not own all of the relevant farm