Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether trade union facility time can be used for publicising union’s political views on official matters.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Facility time is provided to undertake trade union duties and activities. A non-exhaustive list of trade union duties and activities can be found within the ACAS Code of Practice.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if she will list each industrial dispute live within her Department, including the nature of the dispute and level of industrial action.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office currently has one registered formal trade dispute regarding pay, raised by Unite the Union on behalf of its members who work in the Government Car Service. Unite the Union has not yet balloted its members for industrial action.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether Civil Service Fast Stream staff are being required to work in (a) Darlington, (b) Glasgow or (c) Manchester, as part of their tenure in the Fast Stream.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
There is no requirement to work in a specific location for a Fast Stream programme. Fast Streamers are deployed across the UK based on departmental requirements.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government why the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology was closed; and on what basis they determined which departments should be assigned its responsibilities.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Prime Minister has made a number of changes to the Machinery of Government to rewire the state and drive economic growth across the country, including transforming how the Government is structured to approach science, innovation and technology, including AI.
The UK stands at a critical juncture where unprecedented global changes demand that we secure our position as a world leader in AI, science and technology. In this context, we cannot see science and technology as an isolated issue, limited to one department, but instead as a major priority that cuts across the whole of government and is vital to the UK’s future economic prosperity.
Recognising this, the functions of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) have been redistributed to align with the Government’s core economic and social agenda.
Asked by: Baroness Deech (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they made of alternative delivery models, including direct commissioning from UK universities and specialist training providers, before awarding new Civil Service learning and development contracts to KPMG and EY.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The National School of Government and Public Services will provide world-class learning and development for civil servants, supporting public sector excellence and preparing our people for the future. Our new in-house delivery model will move away from reliance on professional services firms, ensuring learning is designed and delivered by civil servants for civil servants, working with the best external training providers, including universities.
In the meantime, the EY and KPMG contracts include the option of commissioning UK universities and specialist training providers to deliver training to the Civil Service.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the AI Security Institute has access to frontier artificial intelligence models for pre-release safety testing.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The UK's AI Security Institute (AISI) has built trusted, voluntary relationships with the world's leading AI labs. This collaboration lets us keep pace with a fast-moving technology and adapt as it evolves, and has allowed AISI to secure privileged access that has identified dozens of vulnerabilities that developers fixed before public release. AISI is in daily conversation with industry partners and works closely with allies and partners around the world on the risks posed by increasingly capable AI systems.
Asked by: Lord Gilbert of Panteg (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Statement by the Minister of State in the Cabinet Office (Minister without Portfolio) on 19 March (HCWS1422), what changes they plan to make to the budget, timetable, business case, and scope of the Manchester Digital Campus programme in light of the establishment of Number 10 North.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
There are currently no plans to establish the No10 North office within the Manchester Digital Campus. Consequently, the outline business case will not be reviewed on this basis.
The Manchester Digital Campus programme continues to progress as set out in the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority Major Projects Annual Report 2025 to 2026.
Asked by: Baroness Finn (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent on 9 July (HL1331), whether the Prime Minister identifies as working class.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Prime Minister is focused on delivering for working people across the country, no matter where they live or their background.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what approval process is currently in place for the outsourcing of civil service training to take place prior to the re-establishment of the School of Government in 2028; what alternative delivery mechanisms have been explored; what competitive tendering has been undertaken; what outcomes are expected from such training, including in terms of project management, artificial intelligence capability, and working with devolved civil service hubs; and who has been employed to undertake a detailed evaluation of the delivery of this training.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Civil Service values its people, invests in their growth, and is serious about building the capability to meet the challenges of the future. This autumn, the National School of Government and Public Services will formally open its doors to civil servants. The learning the school provides will boost public sector productivity and accelerate the pace of progress towards delivering the excellent, digitally-enabled public services to be expected from a modern state.
The Cabinet Office’s Investment Committee decision to proceed with direct awards instead of competitive tendering was driven by the need to ensure short-term service continuity. The direct awards give short-term contracts to the incumbent suppliers (EY and KPMG) and allow the Civil Service to continue to access quality assured, value for money training services in the period up to April 2028.
The training provided through these contracts is designed to help modernise the Civil Service and to deliver the Government’s policy platform, ensuring equitable access for regional civil service hubs. The strategic priorities for learning currently include digital, data and innovation (including AI) and leadership and management. Better leadership and management skills are essential to improve performance and increase productivity, and to lead the changes that come with digital transformation.
We maintain rigorous oversight of service efficacy through quarterly reviews of performance data, including service level agreements, learner feedback, and operational metrics, collected by the Cabinet Office from our incumbent suppliers and shared across the Civil Service to ensure training consistently meets our requirements.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Twycross on 16 September (HL3026), when they last reviewed their decision to ask the Infected Blood Delivery Authority to decide the rate of compensation payments.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
As recommended by the Infected Blood Inquiry, the Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA) has operational independence from the Government. IBCA’s Board takes decisions on the organisation’s progress and performance, and publishes recordings and minutes of its meetings.
Whilst the roll out of the Scheme is an operational decision for IBCA as an independent body, I fully support its commitment to moving forward as swiftly as possible. As the Minister, I will assist in any way I can to speed up the payments.