Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what changes have been made to the guidance entitled Additional information on Exemptions, Thresholds, Expectations and Compliance, and Breaches of Spend Controls, updated on 20 January 2025.

Changes were made to the guidance entitled, Additional information on Exemptions, Thresholds, Expectations and Compliance, and Breaches of Spend Controls. These changes were to:

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• Threshold: Expenditure over £100,000 for the duration of the commitment (freehold acquisition cost or total rental expenditure to lease expiry)

Replace with new text showing an increased threshold figure -

• Threshold: Expenditure over £500,000 for the duration of the commitment (freehold acquisition cost or total rental expenditure to lease expiry)

• All transactions of £1m per annum or over will require Ministerial approval

These changes to the guidance were made to reflect changes to Cabinet Office controls which were made at the start of the 2023-24 financial year.