Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, further to the No10 press release, Whitehall officials to be posted into mayors' offices as PM marks first month of No10 North, of 21 August 2026, what the estimated cost is of the mayoral secondment programme; from which budget it will be allocated and whether additional civil service staff will be hired.

Departments will cover the cost to support the capacity and capability building of MSAs as they go through the process of institution building. It is not expected that additional civil servants will be hired by departments to fill roles for individuals participating in this secondment programme.