theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Adam Jogee:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to help increase trade with countries in sub-Saharan Africa. \p Mr Douglas Alexander: The Department for Business and Trade works across Sub-Saharan Africa offering direct support to UK businesses looking to expand their business in the region. DBT focuses on markets, sectors, and deals where the UK has a competitive edge. The nine new Trade Envoys for Africa, recently announced by the Government, will seek to develop high level relationships with key decision makers to help further increase trade and investment. In addition, the UK is also actively expanding trade with Africa through nine trade agreements, including with 15 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Ben Maguire:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department plans to reform business rates for the beer and pub sector. \p Gareth Thomas: The Department for Business and Trade engages with His Majesty's Treasury (HMT) at Ministerial and official level on a range of issues, including business rates reform and how this will affect the hospitality sector.
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Martin Wrigley:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will publish details of all active export licences. \p Mr Douglas Alexander: The status of an export license is subject to change at any time. Individual licences typically have expiry dates of 2 years (Standard Individual Export Licences) and 5 years (Open Individual Export Licences).

Export licensing information is published in the Annual and Quarterly Reports on Strategic Export Controls. They are available to view on GOV.UK at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/strategic-export-controls-licensing-data. This currently includes information up to 30 September 2024.

The next quarterly publication of official statistics in development covering export licensing decisions between 1 October 2024 to 31 December 2024 will take place in May 2025: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/announcements/strategic-export-controls-licensing-statistics-1-october-to-31-december-2024?cachebust=xx-xxxx-xxxx.
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Michael Wheeler:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an estimate of the proportion of employees receiving Statutory Sick Pay whose period of sickness absence reaches (a) one, (b) four, (c) six, (d) eight, (e) sixteen and (f) twenty-eight weeks. \p Alison McGovern: As Statutory Sick Pay is administered and paid by employers, this information is not held by government. Therefore, we are not able to make an assessment of the proportion of employees who are currently receiving Statutory Sick Pay for specific periods of sickness absence.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Neil Duncan-Jordan:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking through the child poverty strategy to ensure child poverty is lower in 2029 than 2024. \p Alison McGovern: Delivering our manifesto commitment to tackle child poverty is an urgent priority for this Government and the Ministerial Taskforce is considering all children across the United Kingdom in developing a Child Poverty Strategy. The causes of child poverty are deep-rooted and complex, and the Taskforce is exploring all available levers to drive forward short and long-term actions across government to reduce child poverty.

The Strategy will look at levers across four key themes of increasing incomes, reducing essential costs, increasing financial resilience; and better local support especially in the early years. This will build on the reform plans underway across government and work underway in Devolved Governments.

We have already taken steps to support families by tripling investment in breakfast clubs to over £30 million, introducing a Fair Repayment Rate for deductions from Universal Credit, and increasing the National Living Wage to £12.21 an hour from April to boost the pay of three million workers. To further support struggling households, funding of £742 million will be provided to enable the extension of the Household Support Fund from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026 in England, plus additional funding for the Devolved Governments through the Barnett formula to be spent at their discretion.
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Mr Peter Bedford:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether they have made an estimate of the potential impact of abolishing diversity, equity and inclusion roles in their Department on annual staffing costs. \p Andrew Western: The delivery of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) activity and staffing requirements is decided by departments as the employer. DWP is committed to being an inclusive employer and is committed to creating an environment where everyone belongs and can be at their best, and our workforce is representative of the customers and communities that we serve.

DWP has not made an estimate of the potential impact of abolishing diversity, equity and inclusion roles on annual staffing costs. The Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2022-2025 (as well as the 2025-2030 strategy under development) underscores the importance of EDI in supporting the delivery of the Government’s Plan for Change. The strategy highlights the need for a diverse workforce to drive performance and innovation.

The Civil Service Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Expenditure guidance, published in May 2024 under the previous government, states:

Internal Efficiency Measures

18. Internal measures are important to promote efficient and effective EDI practice, which aligns to Government priorities. To ensure EDI spend in the Civil Service is commensurate with agreed organisational priorities the following measures must be considered:

c. Incorporate standalone EDI staffing roles into broader HR: The responsibility for EDI delivery should be embedded into HR professionals’ broader accountabilities. The CS D&I Strategy frames an approach where diversity and inclusion is not an end in itself, but an integral means of delivering better outcomes for our citizens. To deliver this, and move away from tokenistic, albeit well-intentioned actions, to produce truly transformative delivery our HR professionals are required to take ownership of EDI and focus the approach against the key areas of an employee lifecycle that make the biggest impact for all our people: recruitment, talent management, learning & development, leadership, culture and tackling bullying harassment and discrimination when it occurs.
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Andy McDonald:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an estimate of the number of future (a) applicants and (b) recipients for the health element of universal credit in Middlesbrough and Thornaby East constituency as a result of the green paper entitled Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working. \p Sir Stephen Timms: Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published alongside the Spring Statement.

A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.
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Lisa Smart:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has plans to review the application of (a) National Insurance contributions and (b) home responsibilities protection in cases where an individual was contracted out of the Additional State Pension. \p Torsten Bell: Before 6 April 2016, people were able to contract-out of the Additional State Pension. For the years they were contracted-out, they would be entitled to the basic State Pension only. When assessing State Pension eligibility under both the pre-2016 and new State Pension systems, the Department takes into account the impact of past contracting-out.

There are no such plans to review this approach which is in accordance with legislation.
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Vikki Slade:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of enabling carers receiving Carer's allowance who defer drawing state pension to receive the same uplift as those who do not. \p Torsten Bell: Where a person has deferred claiming their State Pension, they cannot accumulate increments that will increase their State Pension amount if they have received certain social security benefits including Carer’s Allowance.

The underlying principle is to prevent a person earning an enhancement to their pension while drawing another benefit that would otherwise have not been payable had they been receiving their State Pension.

The Department encourages people to seek independent financial advice before making a decision not to claim their State Pension when they reach State Pension age and this is set out in GOV.UK at https://www.gov.uk/plan-retirement-income/get-financial-advice
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Jim Shannon:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Pension Credit applications her Department has received in the last 12 months. \p Torsten Bell: On 27 February 2025 we published Pension Credit applications and award statistics. This publication provides application volumes up to 23 February 2025. Pension Credit Applications and Awards - February 2025.

Please note, the figures presented are from DWP’s Pension Credit system which has previously been collected for internal departmental operations use only and has not been quality assured to Official Statistics publication standards.
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Mr Peter Bedford:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans a review into pension adequacy. \p Torsten Bell: The Government remains committed to shaping the pensions system to serve the interests of savers and pensioners to provide security in retirement. The State Pension is at the heart of that commitment, and it provides a sustainable foundation to support people’s individual savings for retirement. The Government has made a commitment to the Triple Lock for the entirety of this Parliament which means spending on people’s State Pensions is forecast to rise by over £31 billion, this will see pensioners’ yearly incomes being up to £1900 higher.

Also crucially, Automatic Enrolment (AE) has succeeded in transforming retirement saving with over 11 million employees having been automatically enrolled into a workplace pension since 2012. However, we know we need to do even more to build on the success of AE in getting people in to saving by ensuring security in retirement for all. This is a key focus of our landmark pensions review.

We must first start by boosting the returns members can get from their savings. The first phase of our review is focused on investment and growth with the twin objectives of increasing investment in the UK and delivering improved returns for savers. In November 2024 we published the interim report of this review with consultations on unlocking the UK pensions market for growth and reforming the Local Government Pension Scheme. These consultations closed in January, and we expect to provide our response in Spring 2025.

We also acknowledge the importance of addressing the broader question of adequacy and how to build on the success of AE to ensure that people are saving enough for retirement. Therefore, the second phase of the review will in due course look at further steps to improve pension outcomes, and pension adequacy for all.
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Mr Peter Bedford:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the Pension Protection Fund levy. \p Torsten Bell: The Board of the Pension Protection Fund is responsible for setting the levy and consults on its levy rules annually. In view of the Pension Protection Fund’s strong financial position, the Board has announced that it expects to be able to significantly reduce the pension protection levy it charges in the coming years without risking its ability to pay its members’ compensation.

The Government has announced that it will consider giving the Board of the Pension Protection Fund greater flexibility to adjust the annual pension protection levy it collects from private sector occupational DB pension schemes, when it is not required. We will set out more detail in due course.
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James McMurdock:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to (a) streamline application processes and (b) use technology for digital proof of IDs for pension claims made through the Government Gateway. \p Torsten Bell: For State Pension claims, citizens are invited to claim by letter four months in advance of their State Pension Age. Citizens are provided a unique identifier to use the digital claim service. Where citizens cannot use the digital service, they are directed to a telephony service where identity is validated, and the application is completed on the citizens behalf. There is no need to use the Government Gateway.
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Mr Peter Bedford:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department plans to reform the Pension Protection Fund through the Pension Schemes Bill. \p Torsten Bell: The Pension Protection Fund provides a safety net to members of eligible private sector defined benefit schemes in the event of their employer’s insolvency.

The Government plans to introduce measures in the Pension Schemes Bill that amend the Special Rules for End of Life in the Pension Protection Fund and Financial Assistance Scheme. These measures will extend the definition of terminal illness within both schemes, allowing eligible members to access payments sooner in their illness. We will continue to consider whether there are further opportunities for change in the pensions compensation system.
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Neil Duncan-Jordan:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to her Department's green paper Pathways to work: reforming benefits and support to get Britain working, published on 18 March 2025, what sanctions will be introduced for disabled people who decline to engage in the proposed support conversation. \p Sir Stephen Timms: The support conversation will enable individuals to set out their aspirations, needs and goals, so that they can better understand what early support might be available to them and be signposted towards it.

Given the importance of the support conversation to ensuring individuals understand the help available to them, we are considering making participation a requirement (with exemptions) but we are consulting on how we should design and deliver it so that it is welcomed by individuals and is effective and, if mandated, who should be exempted.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Gideon Amos:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the Child Maintenance Service calculation formula for the (a) use of pre-tax earnings from the previous financial year for determining payments and (b) exemption from maintenance payments for non-resident parents on benefits; and whether she plans to review that formula. \p Andrew Western: Information about the paying parent's gross income is taken directly from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) for the most recent available full tax year. This allows calculations to be made quickly and accurately. Use of historic income ensures a stable calculation, which we know from customer feedback is valued as it enables parents to rely on maintenance for financial planning purposes.

Parents in receipt of benefits (including Jobseeker's Allowance and Universal Credit without earnings) or who have gross weekly income between £7 and £100, are required to pay the flat rate of £7 a week. This rate makes sure that parents contribute financially to their children's upbringing. It also protects the welfare of the paying parent and any children in their household.

The Department is currently reviewing the calculation to make sure it is fit for purpose. This has included updating the underlying research and considering how we ensure the calculation reflects current and future societal trends.
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Colum Eastwood:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has considered pausing the creation of new Carer’s Allowance overpayment debts until after the independent review into Carer’s Allowance overpayments has published its recommendations. \p Sir Stephen Timms: We recognise that overpayments have caused anxiety for some people. This is why it is important to take the time to independently review these circumstances, so we can find out exactly what went wrong and make things right. The review is not a substitute for legal proceedings and the existence of the review does not prejudice any business-as-usual activity by DWP. It would not be appropriate to speculate on the findings of the review or pre-empt any potential outcomes.

We do carefully balance our duty to the taxpayer to recover overpayments with safeguards in place to manage repayments fairly. Carers have a responsibility to ensure they are entitled to benefits and to inform the DWP of any changes in their circumstances that could impact their award. Support remains in place with DWP’s Debt Management Service available to speak to anyone who has had an overpayment about the terms of their repayment.
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Andy McDonald:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people are in receipt of personal independence payments in Middlesbrough and Thornaby East constituency. \p Sir Stephen Timms: In January 2025, there were a total of 11,800 people in receipt of Personal Independence Payment in the Middlesbrough and Thornaby East constituency.

This information can be found on Stat-Xplore in the ‘PIP Cases with Entitlement from 2019’ dataset’.
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Iqbal Mohamed:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department plans to take to support vulnerable claimants through upcoming changes to the Personal Independence Payment assessment process. \p Sir Stephen Timms: There will be no immediate changes. Our intention is that the new eligibility requirement in Personal Independence Payment in which people must score a minimum of four points in one daily living activity in to be eligible for the daily living component, will apply to new claims and award reviews from November 2026, subject to parliamentary approval.

We recognise that as a department we come into contact with some claimants who have complex needs or are vulnerable. The department already has processes in place to support and safeguard people who use our services, and we will continue to provide this support as changes are taken forward. We want to go further so that there is a clear and transparent process in place to ensure vulnerable individuals are adequately supported. In the Green Paper Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working published on 18 March we have committed to undertaking a thorough review of our current approach to safeguarding, with the aim of developing and implementing a new departmental wide approach.
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Chris Bloore:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people claiming the health top-up on Universal Credit are aged between 18 and 21 years old. \p Sir Stephen Timms: Quarterly statistics for the number of People on Universal Credit with a health condition or disability restricting their ability to work in Great Britain are published on Stat-Xplore. The latest release provides figures up to December 2024 which can be broken down by ‘Age (in bands and single year)’ and ‘Stage of UC Health’ (selecting ‘Limited capability for work and work-related activity’).

Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest and, if needed, can access guidance on how to extract the information required.
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Ian Roome:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what her planned timetable is for restarting mandatory reassessments of incapacity benefits. \p Sir Stephen Timms: We will turn on WCA reassessments at scale as we build up capacity to do so.

We will initially prioritise reassessments for people who are most likely to have had a change in their circumstances including those who have short-term prognoses, for which we can reasonably anticipate a change in health condition has occurred (e.g., those with risks from pregnancy complications or those who have recovered following cancer treatment).

Over time, we will then prioritise available reassessment capacity for other cohorts who are likely to change award.
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Neil Duncan-Jordan:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential impact of the proposed changes to disability benefits on public health inequalities. \p Sir Stephen Timms: Good quality employment is an important determinant of health. The Marmot Review in 2010 concluded that to reduce health inequalities and improve the health of the nation we needed action on 6 policy objectives. One of those was the creation of fair employment and good work for us all. Unemployment is associated with an increased risk of mortality, long-term illness, cardiovascular disease, poor mental health, suicide, and health-harming behaviours.

Our current health and disability benefits system does not encourage and enable disabled people and people with health conditions to engage with the labour market or thrive in employment. Without change, this will harm people’s living standards, wellbeing and life chances, as well as harming our economy, including by restricting our ability to reach the goal of an 80% employment rate.
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Neil Duncan-Jordan:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the cost to the public purse of providing (a) back to work support for disabled people, (b) ongoing in-work support for those disabled people once in employment and (c) incentives to employers to hire disabled people who have been out of work for more than one year. \p Sir Stephen Timms: As part of the plans set out in the Pathways to Work Green Paper we will be investing significant additional funding in employment support, rising to £1bn a year by 2029/30. To maximise its impact we need the input of stakeholders and disabled people themselves and we will use a ‘collaboration committee’ to develop our thinking further.
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Neil Duncan-Jordan:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an estimate of the number of new jobs that will be created as a result of the Pathways to Work Green Paper. \p Sir Stephen Timms: The proposals in the Green Paper to fix the broken welfare system and help more people into work are important to this Government’s number one mission to grow the economy and drive up living standards across the country.

Pathways to Work is one of the largest ever investment in employment, health and skills support for disabled people and those with health conditions. To maximise its impact we need the input of stakeholders and disabled people themselves and we will use a ‘collaboration committee’ to develop our thinking further.
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Euan Stainbank:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of funding for the Access to Work Scheme. \p Sir Stephen Timms: In 2023/24, expenditure on all Access to Work provision was £257.8m. In real terms, this is a 33% increase when compared to the previous year. Payments were made to 61,630 people. The Scheme is highly personalised and each grant that is awarded is tailored to the individual, taking into account their specific circumstances. These grants provide funding for workplace adjustments that go beyond what would normally be expected from an employer through their duty to provide reasonable adjustments as outlined in the Equality Act 2010.

The Access to Work Scheme aims to balance the level of funding required to ensure individuals are able to purchase support needed to help them get into, and stay in, sustainable paid employment, alongside the need to safeguard public money and provide a value for money service.
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Mr Peter Bedford:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of Virgin Media v NTL Pension Trustees Ltd on the pension market. \p Torsten Bell: While we recognise that the judgment could result in uncertainty for schemes and members, the impact on individual schemes and their members will vary.

We are actively considering our next steps.
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Steve Darling:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to her Department's Pathways to work: reforming benefits and support to get Britain working green paper, published on 18 March, when accessible versions will be published. \p Sir Stephen Timms: Further accessible formats will be published on GOV.UK in due course. The consultation will close 12 weeks after the point at which all accessible versions of this Green Paper are available, to ensure that all stakeholders have sufficient time to engage and we hear from as many people as possible.

We have published this Green Paper ahead of all accessible versions to put detailed information about the matters subject to consultation in the public domain at the earliest opportunity; the production of accessible versions requires some additional time.
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Dan Aldridge:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to (a) reduce waiting times on her Department's helplines and (b) prevent calls from being cut off after long waiting periods. \p Andrew Western: (a) Reduce waiting times on Department's helplines

DWP reviews forecasted telephony demand and plans resourcing accordingly to keep wait times down. Wait time performance is frequently reviewed and where DWP’s telephony is delivered by an outsourced provider we use the Key Performance Indicator of percentage of calls answered. All DWP customer telephone lines are Freephone numbers.

The Department is investing in a new capability that aims to better route customers to the right offer at the right time. This will help to reduce waiting times by supporting customers to utilise digital alternatives where appropriate and enables telephony agents to speak to our customers that really need to speak to someone. If a customer indicates they may be at risk of physical or mental harm e.g. suicide, terminal illness, homelessness, and clinical mental health, they will be routed to a telephony agent in as short a journey as possible.

The Department offers a wide range of reasonable adjustments for customers, including production of communications in a range of alternative formats. We are currently testing further digital solutions for British Sign Language interpreter connectivity within our jobcentre environment.

(b) Prevent calls from being cut off after long waiting periods

Regarding disconnections, while mobile phone contracts may disconnect after a certain time period, we do not intentionally cut off customers after long wait times. We do not have anything configured in our Contact Centre platform to automatically cut customers off after any time threshold, or period of waiting.

We do, however, inform customers when they are in a queue and we know their call won't be answered before the line closes, and request that they call back.
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Mr Peter Bedford:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether they have made an estimate of the potential impact of abolishing diversity, equity and inclusion roles in their Department on annual staffing costs. \p Georgia Gould: The Civil Service Equality Diversity and Inclusion Expenditure Guidance was issued on the 14th May 2024. The Cabinet Office complies with the guidance.

The Cabinet Office has not undertaken an estimate of the impact of abolishing diversity, equity and inclusion roles in the department on annual staff costs.
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Joe Robertson:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the National Procurement Policy Statement, published on 13 February 2025, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of (a) that Statement and (b) the Employment Rights Bill on public sector procurement timelines. \p Georgia Gould: The National Procurement Policy Statement (NPPS) sets out our vision for public procurement unlocking the full potential of the £400 billion spent annually on public procurement to drive sustainable economic growth and maximise social value to support mission delivery. We are clear that we want public contracts to deliver value for money in procurement through stronger expectations around commercial capability and contract management. The NPPS asks contracting authorities to ensure they have the appropriate procurement and contract management skills and capability necessary to deliver public contracts and encourages the use of collaborative procurement frameworks, where appropriate, to deliver value for money. To support this, a new online register of commercial agreements will increase visibility of frameworks and fees, curbing excessive profits.

The Cabinet Office undertook a programme of stakeholder engagement to inform the development of the NPPS. This included an online survey which received over 436 responses and a series of roundtables with key stakeholders from contracting authorities, small businesses and civil society. We have also met with the Federation of Small Businesses, Enterprise Nation and a large number of SMEs across various sectors to discuss how the government can continue to break down barriers to procurement opportunities through the new procurement regime, supporting jobs and growth across the country. Contracting authorities are best placed to determine how the strategic priorities set out in the NPPS can be incorporated into their overall procurement strategies and individual public contracts.

An Impact Assessment in relation to the Procurement Act was published in May 2022 and can be found at: https://bills.parliament.uk/publications/46429/documents/1767.

The Department for Business and Trade leads on the Employment Rights Bill. Guidance will be issued as appropriate in due course. Impact assessments undertaken for the Employment Rights Bill can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/employment-rights-bill-impact-assessments
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Joe Robertson:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the National Procurement Policy Statement, published on 13 February 2025, what steps he is taking to monitor the potential impact of the (a) National Procurement Policy Statement and (b) Employment Rights Bill on small-to-medium-sized business participation in public procurement. \p Georgia Gould: The National Procurement Policy Statement supports Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSEs), giving them greater opportunities to win public contracts by instructing contracting authorities to maximise their spend with these organisations. As part of this I have met with the Federation of Small Businesses, Enterprise Nation and a large number of SMEs across various sectors to discuss how the government can continue to break down barriers to procurement opportunities through the new procurement regime, supporting jobs and growth across the country.

To support implementation of the NPPS in central government, we have announced new rules requiring all government departments and their executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies to set three-year targets for direct spend with SMEs from 1 April 2025, and from 1 April 2026 for VCSEs, and publish progress annually. This will drive greater transparency and accountability for increasing numbers of SMEs and VCSEs delivering public contracts, supporting local economic growth and innovation and creating jobs in local communities up and down the country.

To support implementation of the Procurement Act, the Government has provided a programme of free training to procurement teams on its provisions and flexibilities. Additionally, the Government hosted a series of supplier webinars and published instructional videos and user-manuals, aimed specifically for suppliers, to help them understand the key changes including how to use the new central digital platform - working with trade associations and other business representative organisations to help distribute the materials.

The Department for Business and Trade leads on the Employment Rights Bill. Impact assessments undertaken for the Employment Rights Bill can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/employment-rights-bill-impact-assessments.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the (a) Government Property Agency and (b) Crown Commercial Service plan to recognise any diversity and inclusion (a) days and (b) weeks in 2025. \p Georgia Gould: As in previous years, the Government Property Agency and the Crown Commercial Service engage with staff networks and other relevant stakeholders on any plans for diversity and inclusion days.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what guidance his Department has issued on (a) the rules surrounding the communication of market sensitive information to the media and the public and (b) how the Market Abuse Regulation applies to government departments. \p Georgia Gould: As part of their work, officials may handle commercial or market sensitive information, which may be in scope of the UK Market Abuse Regulation, in which case they should familiarise themselves with their obligations under the law.

As the relevant authority, the Financial Conduct Authority publish best practice guidance for government departments, industry regulators and public bodies to help them comply with the relevant obligations under the UK Market Abuse Regulations: https://www.fca.org.uk/markets/best-practice-note-identifying-controlling-and-disclosing-inside-information.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Bobby Dean:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, for what reason the National Security Council Economic Subcommittee has been abolished. \p Ms Abena Oppong-Asare: The National Security (Economic Security) committee existed under the previous administration. The Cabinet Committee list and membership is decided by the Prime Minister. GOV.UK is updated regularly with the list of Cabinet Committees, their terms of reference, and membership.

Since July 2024 the National Security Council itself considers economic security, as part of its broader strategic approach to national security including foreign policy, resilience, international relations, economic security, trade, development, defence and global issues.

Economic security is a priority for this Government, and we have taken a number of steps to coordinate economic security policy through the NSC and by embedding economic security into the Government’s Industrial Strategy to support long-term stability. Economic Security is a core concern of the Growth Mission Board and our work with international partners.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Joe Robertson:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what guidance he has issued on publishing (a) details of individual helicopter flights under £25,000 in value on gov.uk and (b) the total annual spend on helicopter flights by (i) each Department and (ii) all Departments. \p Ms Abena Oppong-Asare: As was the case under the previous administration, data on ministers’ travel is published on a quarterly basis. This can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cabinet-office-ministerial-gifts-hospitality-overseas-travel-and-meetings-july-to-september-2024.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 27 January 2025 to Question 25448 on 48 Group, whether Minsters are permitted to attend meetings of the 48 Group. \p Georgia Gould: I refer the Hon. member to the answer to UIN 22184 of 14 January.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 16 October 2024 to Question 7344 on Civil Servants: Pay, what the estimated salary cost for 2025 was projected to be in (a) March 2025 and (b) June 2024. \p Georgia Gould: The Cabinet Office does not routinely produce salary cost projections for future years across the Civil Service. Pay and reward matters are delegated to individual departments for grades below the Senior Civil Service.

The Prime Minister has announced that the Government is committed to cutting bureaucracy across the state, in order to focus government on the priorities of working people and shift money to the frontline.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Kevin Hollinrake:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the population is of each local authority that has received exceptional financial support for the 2025-26 financial year. \p Georgia Gould: The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 18th March is attached.

Letter from the National Statistician (pdf, 117.1KB)
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many business units are in his Department; what the names are of those business units; what their allocated full-time equivalent headcounts were for each month in 2024-25; and what their actual headcounts were for each month in 2024-25. \p Georgia Gould: The information you requested can be found from the quarterly transparency publication on Cabinet Office structure which can be found via the following link: Organogram of Staff Roles & Salaries - data.gov.uk
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department's press release on making the state more like a start up, published on 9 December 2024, what his target is for the number of secondments; and over what time period. \p Georgia Gould: Secondments into the Civil Service from other sectors are encouraged as a means of bringing in individuals from outside the Civil Service to contribute to the work of Government by sharing critical capabilities and innovative thinking for a set period of time. All departments, functions, and professions have been encouraged to embed secondments as a key part of their resourcing strategies.

The Test, Learn and Grow Programme, will use an inward secondment programme for public service delivery experts working near the frontline to help drive public service reform in their field. The scheme will be flexible in terms of duration and location, and specifically for those with experience relevant to the public service reform project. We do not have a specific target for the number of secondments over the course of the programme.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Joe Robertson:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many procurement contracts awarded by his Department have been terminated due to non-performance since 5 July 2024. \p Georgia Gould: Cabinet Office has previously not kept a central record of contracts terminated due to non-performance.

When contracts awarded under the Procurement Act 2023 (which came into force 24 February 2025) come to an end, the Contracting Authority must publish a Contract Termination Notice on Find A Tender – the central digital platform for all UK public sector contract notices. No Termination Notices have yet been published for contracts awarded under the Procurement Act 2023.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Joe Robertson:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many public contracts awarded by his Department have been awarded to companies with offshore tax arrangements since 5 July 2024. \p Georgia Gould: From 1 April 2013, suppliers bidding for contracts over £5million must provide details about its tax returns, including whether tax returns submitted on or after 1 October 2012 have given rise to a criminal conviction for tax related offences which is unspent, or to a civil penalty for fraud or evasion.

The Cabinet Office does not keep records of the tax status of successful suppliers.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Joe Robertson:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 5 March 2025 to Question 34447 on Military Aircraft: Helicopters, which suppliers supply helicopter services under the Ministerial Air Transport administered contract. \p Ms Abena Oppong-Asare: I refer the honourable member to the answer given on 18 March 2025 in response to question 36675.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 16 December 2024 to Question 19065 on Migration, what estimate the Office for National Statistics has made of levels of net migration in each year between 2024-25 and 2029-30; and how those estimates are calculated. \p Georgia Gould: The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 19th March is attached.

Letter from the National Statistician (pdf, 115.4KB)
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 13 January 2025 to Question 21066, how many full time equivalent staff work in each of those established business units. \p Georgia Gould: The information you requested can be found from the quarterly transparency publication on Cabinet Office structure which can be found via the following link: Organogram of Staff Roles & Salaries - data.gov.uk
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-25)

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Ruth Cadbury:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the number of people aged 66 and over who were in paid employment as of 1 January 2025. \p Georgia Gould: The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 17th March is attached.

Letter from the National Statistician (pdf, 126.5KB)