Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the answer of 23 April 2026 to Question 124842 on Independent Adviser on Ministerial Standards, whether the (a) Cabinet Office and (b) Independent Adviser received evidence from journalists included in the APCO Worldwide and Labour Together dossier.

The Prime Minister asked civil servants in the Cabinet Office Propriety and Ethics team to establish the facts in relation to allegations concerning the former Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State jointly in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the Cabinet Office.

As has been the case under successive administrations, this process is confidential. Once the facts had been established, the Prime Minister then requested advice from the Independent Adviser on Ministerial Standards. The Independent Adviser’s subsequent advice to the Prime Minister is published on gov.uk.

As is set out in the Independent Adviser’s terms of reference, “Information provided to the Independent Adviser for the purposes of their functions is provided in confidence” (paragraph 4.2).