theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-11)

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Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, what recent progress has he made in establishing a high-calibre concierge service in the office for investment. \p Chris Bryant: The enhanced Office for Investment (OfI) is working to deliver high calibre concierge support via increased senior-level investment expertise, strengthened partnerships with regional and national leaders, and specific tools to generate investor-led opportunities. The OfI is already helping government to provide a pipeline of opportunities designed with investors in mind, promoted effectively, and delivered with insight from sector experts and triage support for key investor barriers. This includes responsibility for delivering the £600m Strategic Sites Accelerator programme, as outlined in the Industrial Strategy. This comprehensive approach will ensure strategic investment projects are supported while providing critical decision-escalation pathways across government.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-11)

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Sir Julian Lewis:To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what discussions he has had with specialist bodies on the Warm Homes Plan; and when he plans to (a) publish and (b) implement the Plan. \p Martin McCluskey: The previous Minister for Energy Consumers had discussions with industry, local government and devolved governments in the development of the Warm Homes Plan.

As the first step towards the Warm Homes Plan, the government committed an initial £3.4 billion over the next 3 years towards heat decarbonisation and household energy efficiency, with £1 billion of this allocated to 2025/2026.

The department has also launched the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund (WH:SHF) to support social housing providers and tenants in England, and the Warm Homes: Local Grant (WH:LG) to support low-income homeowners and private tenants in England. Further detail on the Warm Homes Plan will be set out in October.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-11)

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John Milne:To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what estimate his Department made of the level of imported emissions from liquefied natural gas for carbon capture, usage and storage in the policy paper entitled Clean Energy Industries Sector Plan, published on 23 June 2025. \p Michael Shanks: Natural gas is used as an input for Power CCUS and CCUS-enabled hydrogen production. However, the Clean Energy Industries Sector Plan (23 June 2025) did not include a specific estimate of imported LNG emissions for CCUS. We are clear that future emissions from the production of natural gas will need to reduce in the UK and across the world and we are working with the US, EU and others to develop a framework to better measure, monitor, and report methane emissions from imported gas.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-11)

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John Milne:To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to page 392 of the report by the Climate Change Committee entitled The Seventh Carbon Budget, published on 26 February 2025, if he will take steps to (a) identify priority sources of imported emissions and (b) define a benchmark for reducing emissions imported into the UK. \p Michael Shanks: The Climate Change Committee’s (CCC) recommendations are independent advice, not government policy. The Government is considering the CCC’s advice and will set the CB7 level by 30th June 2026.

Alongside reporting the UK’s territorial emissions, the Government publishes UK carbon footprint statistics, which includes imported emissions. In July 2025, we announced the Production and Consumption Transformation (PACT) Centre. PACT will conduct independent world class research to expand the evidence base on production and consumption, providing actionable insights on energy and material efficiency solutions, including assessing imported emissions. This will support effective analysis and policy making in this field.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-11)

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John Milne:To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department is undertaking to tackle imported emissions in the supply chain of liquefied natural gas. \p Michael Shanks: Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) provides the UK with a flexible source of gas supply to meet gas demand – helping respond when demand peaks, for example over winter when gas demand rises for home heating.

However, we are aware of the emissions associated with its use and we are working with international partners to explore ways to minimise methane and CO2 emissions across the LNG supply chain. This includes considering enhanced measuring, monitoring, reporting and verification of emissions to improve accountability and progress toward lower-emission LNG production and transport.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-11)

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Pete Wishart:To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, whether the Government plans to respond to the publication entitled Your Right to Decide, published by the Scottish Government on 4 September 2025. \p Kirsty McNeill: The UK Government’s priority is delivering for people in Scotland. The Scottish Government should be focussed on working collaboratively with us on our Plan for Change - to grow the economy, improve our public services, and put more money in people’s pockets. That is what people in Scotland want to see.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-11)

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Kevin Hollinrake:To ask the Right hon. Member for Kenilworth and Southam, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, what guidance the Electoral Commission has issued on whether an elector can vote in three different localities. \p Sir Jeremy Wright: The Electoral Commission's guidance for Electoral Registration Officer's (EROs) sets out that someone may be eligible to register and to vote at more than one address if the ERO finds they meet the residency requirements, alongside the other usual registration conditions.

For local, Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) and mayoral elections, some voters may be entitled to vote in more than one area, provided the addresses are in different council, PCC or mayoral areas. This only applies to voters who have permanent residence in more than one location, for example students and those with multiple homes. In each case, voters may be able to demonsrate the extent to which the address is their permanent address. It is an offence for someone to cast more than one vote on their own behalf in a UK Parliamentary general election or referendum.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-09)

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Graeme Downie:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what plans he has for when the next round of formal trade negotiations with Taiwan will take place. \p Mr Douglas Alexander: The UK's longstanding position on Taiwan has not changed. The UK-Taiwan Trade Talks have taken place since 1991 and I look forward to co-chairing these this year. Under the UK and Taiwan Enhanced Trade Partnership we have committed to developing 'pillars' on Investment, Digital Trade and Renewable Energy and Net Zero. We are working with the Taiwanese authorities to develop and deliver these.

UK-Taiwan Trade Talks and the Enhanced Trade Partnership will support our strong unofficial relationship with Taiwan, based on deep and growing ties in a range of areas, including trade and investment.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-09)

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Liz Jarvis:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether the Trade Strategy will establish animal welfare standards that imports will be required to meet. \p Mr Douglas Alexander: I refer the member for Eastleigh to the answer I provided to UIN 20696 on 20th December 2024.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-09)

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Andrew Rosindell:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to support export manufacturing. \p Gareth Thomas: The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is committed to supporting UK businesses, including those in the manufacturing industry, to grow and export. Under the umbrella of the recently announced Business Growth Service, UK businesses can access DBT's wealth of export support via Great.gov.uk. This comprises an online support offer and a wider network of support including the Export Academy, UK Export Finance, the International Markets network and one-to-one support from International Trade Advisers.

As part of our work on a new trade strategy and a small business strategy, we are looking at further proposals to help UK businesses to export more.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-09)

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Tom Morrison:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department has taken to consult with civil society organizations on the potential impact of the proposed UK-Israel free trade agreement on (a) human rights and (b) compliance with international law. \p Mr Douglas Alexander: The Department regularly engages with stakeholders on the Free Trade Agreement programme and I have held several such sessions, including with civil society leaders. The strategic approach to negotiations has been published on gov.uk, including an overview of negotiation objectives and a response to the call for input which ran in early 2022.

The government will continue to stand up for human rights and international law around the world, providing support to open societies and drawing on our full range of tools and levers.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-09)

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Tom Morrison:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he has made an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of allegations of human rights violations by Israel, in the context of free trade negotiations between the UK and Israel. \p Mr Douglas Alexander: The UK is a leading advocate for human rights around the world. We remain committed to the promotion of universal human rights. We will draw on our full range of tools and levers, including our independent global human rights sanctions regime, to hold to account those involved in serious human rights violations and abuses.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-09)

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Tom Morrison:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will make it his policy to suspend trade negotiations with Israel pending the outcomes of ongoing investigations by the International Court of Justice into allegations of human rights violations in that country. \p Mr Douglas Alexander: The government respects the independence of the International Court of Justice, and we are carefully considering the Court's advisory opinion with the seriousness and rigour it deserves.

We are of the clear view that Israel should bring an end to its presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territories as rapidly as possible, but this must be done in a way that creates the conditions for negotiations towards the two-state solution. On 29 July 2024, the Secretary of State announced the Government's intention to deliver negotiations with the Gulf Cooperation Council, India, Israel, South Korea, Switzerland and Turkey.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-09)

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Chris Law:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he has considered suspending the UK-Israel trade and partnership agreement. \p Mr Douglas Alexander: We believe that having strong diplomatic and economic relationships with partners allows us to have frank discussions on important issues. The UK Government continues to work with our allies and partners, including across the region, to find a path towards permanent peace.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-09)

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Andrew Rosindell:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to improve the export licence process. \p Mr Douglas Alexander: The Export Control Joint Unit (ECJU) is implementing a new digital export licensing system, LITE, to provide a modern digital service that streamlines the export licence application process.

ECJU has an ongoing programme of Continuous Improvement and we routinely identify and implement opportunities to make targeted improvements to the way we operate and manage the export licensing service to help us adapt to the changing demands on the system.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-09)

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Blake Stephenson:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 20 March 2025 to Question 35851 on Stellantis: Luton, if he will publish details of the package of measures to support all workers facing redundancy. \p Sarah Jones: The full package of support for workers facing redundancy was agreed directly between Stellantis and Unite the Union as the recognised trade union; as such Government cannot publish these details as it was not party to the negotiations.

In addition to the support being provided by Stellantis, Government is ensuring workers are fully aware of the options available to them, including through the Jobcentre Plus Rapid Response Service – further information on this service is available here:

https://www.gov.uk/redundancy-your-rights/get-help-finding-a-new-job
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-09)

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Paul Davies:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he has consulted with independent retailers on the development of the New Business Growth Service. \p Gareth Thomas: The new Business Growth Service will regularly review user feedback to ensure it delivers what businesses need to support their growth and productivity. My department is therefore engaging widely with stakeholders, especially entrepreneurs and small business owners, on the design and implementation of the service. This has included a series of roundtables and consultation events across the country and delivered via partners. This process will continue, even after the service launches to continue to refine and improve it.

The Department for Business and Trade engages regularly with retailers of all types, including independent retailers, through key trade associations in the Business Growth Service.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-09)

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Paul Davies:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, when the New Business Growth Service is going to be launched. \p Gareth Thomas: The new Business Growth service will simplify the government’s business support ecosystem to ensure businesses get the support they need with local delivery at its heart and all underpinned by an improved online service. This will help deliver the government’s forthcoming Small Business Strategy, complementing the Industrial Strategy, Trade Strategy and Make Work Pay plans as part of a comprehensive approach to our Growth Mission.

We expect to launch this service in the summer.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-09)

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Melanie Ward:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many people in Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy constituency have received compensation through the Post Office Horizon redress schemes. \p Gareth Thomas: As of 31 March 2025, the total amount of redress paid has increased by more than three and a half times since the beginning of July 2024, with £892 million having now been paid to over 6,200 claimants.

We do not provide information about redress recipients at this geographic level due to confidentiality. Releasing this type of information risks the identification of vulnerable individuals if combined with other information that may become available via other means outside of our control.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-09)

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Dave Doogan:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many Investment Fund for Scotland applications have been (a) received and (b) approved for each of the funds administered by (i) DSL Business Finance, (ii) FSE Group and (iii) Maeven; and what was the average time taken to consider a funding application by (A) DSL Business Finance, (B) FSE Group and (C) Maeven. \p Gareth Thomas: The £150 million Investment Fund for Scotland was launched in November 2023 and provides debt and equity finance to Scottish businesses. Similar funds are available in Wales, Northern Ireland, and three regions of England. As at November 2024, the Investment Fund for Scotland had provided over £10 million of finance to 26 businesses. Updated information will be published by September 2025. The British Business Bank does not publish information on numbers of applications received or hold information on time taken to review applications. All investment decisions are taken by the fund managers who analyse the application and complete due diligence.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-09)

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Dave Doogan:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how much has been allocated from the Investment Fund for Scotland to businesses to date; and what estimate he has made of the amount that will be allocated in each year of the Fund's operation. \p Gareth Thomas: A total of £150 million has been committed to the Investment Fund for Scotland. Three fund managers have been contracted to provide £110 million of this total in debt and equity finance to small businesses. The British Business Bank has retained the remaining £40 million in reserve, which will be allocated during the life of the fund depending on market conditions and fund performance. The funding has initially been split approximately 45% to equity and 55% to debt. The expectation is that the funding will be fully deployed during the first five years.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-09)

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Tracy Gilbert:To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of tariffs applied by the US Government on (a) jobs and (b) exports in (i) Edinburgh North and Leith constituency and (ii) Scotland. \p Mr Douglas Alexander: We know that this will be a concerning time for businesses in Scotland; in 2024, 12.3% of goods exported from Scotland were to the US. That is why the government has been focused on negotiating an economic deal with the US and we remain committed to these discussions.

The government is resolute in our support for industry across the whole of the UK, and ministers and officials will continue to engage with businesses to understand the impact of these tariffs.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-09)

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Mike Wood:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 1 April 2025 to Question 40914 on Prime Minister: Email, what his Department's policy is on how long emails that are (a) received by 10 Downing Street, (b) not explicitly placed on the official record keeping system and (c) stored on the Downing Street exchange server should be retained. \p Ms Abena Oppong-Asare: As under successive administrations, routine emails are held for no longer than 90 days on the email system at which point they are automatically removed from staff mailboxes. This is in line with the Code of Practice on the management of records.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-09)

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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the transparency data entitled Data on responses to correspondence from MPs and Peers, updated on 23 May 2024, for what reason there are different target response times for different Departments. \p Ms Abena Oppong-Asare: As outlined in the Guide to Handling Correspondence, all Government departments and agencies must aim to respond to correspondence within 20 working days. Government departments and agencies can set their own more ambitious deadlines if they want to do so.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-09)

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Kevin Hollinrake:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what Admiralty House is used for; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of using that building for civil servants in his Department. \p Georgia Gould: Admiralty House is a Grade I listed building, and is not an office workspace in the traditional sense. The building contains state rooms, which are used for events, and three flats, which can be allocated at the request of the Prime Minister.

This is the same approach to the use of Admiralty House as taken under the previous Government.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-09)

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Sir John Hayes:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the cost to the public purse was of the a:gender network in each year since its creation. \p Georgia Gould: A:gender was founded in 2003. As a staff network, it is a volunteer collaborative group of Civil Service staff. We do not hold final central records for any funding prior to 2020. Based on the information the Cabinet Office holds, funding was provided from 2020-2021 to 2023-2024. No funding was provided in 2024-25.

Data from the Equality, Diversity and Expenditure (EDI) Review will be published in due course. This will include the overall spend from 2020 onwards for cross CS EDI networks, which will incorporate any a:gender expenditure.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-09)

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Mike Wood:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what guidance his Department has issued to other Departments on methods for monitoring workplace attendance. \p Georgia Gould: As separate employers, it is for each department to determine methods for monitoring workplace attendance of employees. Current Civil Service guidance requires Civil Servants to attend the office or work face-to-face with colleagues at least 60% of the time. Considerations for monitoring workplace attendance, for example advice on GDPR compliance, has been provided to departments.

Additionally, HQ Occupancy data collection enables the Cabinet Office to gain a general understanding of each department’s position to ensure efficient and effective use of the estate. The latest headquarters occupancy data for each Government department is available publicly on gov.uk
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-09)

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Mike Wood:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he has a target to reduce the headcount size of the (a) Cabinet Office and its agencies and (b) Civil Service in 2025. \p Georgia Gould: The Prime Minister has set out his ambition to deliver long-term, impactful changes to reshape the British state and the Government is taking forward a number of measures to deliver greater efficiency and transformation in the Civil Service. Each department will take a decision on its individual size and shape as per the financial settlement it agreed with HMT in the first Phase of the Spending Review that concluded with the Autumn Statement 2024.

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. As part of this, the Prime Minister announced the abolition of the arms-length body NHS England. The Government has also announced the first zero-based review of government spending in 17 years, with departments expected to go line-by-line to find savings and efficiencies, including in bodies and agencies that they sponsor.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-09)

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Joe Robertson:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 27 March 2025 to Question 40570 on Ministers: Aviation and to the Answer of 14 March 2025 to Question 36276 on Military Aircraft: Helicopters, which (a) Ministers and (b) Departments are eligible to procure official helicopter travel under the provisions of the Central Cabinet Office Corporate Travel Agency Contract other than the Ministry of Defence. \p Ms Abena Oppong-Asare: The Central Cabinet Office Corporate Travel Agency Contract contains provisions for the booking of aviation assets for any government department or minister, in accordance with the Ministerial Code. This contract has not been utilised for helicopter travel by this government.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-09)

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Dame Caroline Dinenage:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, for what reason the National Procurement Policy Statement exempts the Ministry of Defence defence and security contracts from the priority on delivering social value. \p Georgia Gould: Defence and security contracts under the previous procurement regime were exempt from social value requirements under Procurement Policy Note (PPN) 06/20. This meant contracts let by Central Government Departments, their Executive Agencies and Non-Departmental Public Bodies in scope of the Public Contracts Regulations (2015) only, excluding those covered by the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011 (DSPCR).

From 24 February 2025, Procurement Policy Note 002: Taking account of social value in the award of contracts which sets out how to take account of social value in the award of central government contracts, will not be mandated for the Ministry of Defence (MOD) in relation to defence and security contracts as defined by section 7 of the Procurement Act 2023 and exempt procurements.

However, MOD delivery teams will have the flexibility to include Social Value criteria in defence and security or exempt contracts if relevant to the subject matter of the contract, proportionate, fair and non-discriminatory. This will be considered by individual MOD Delivery Teams on a case-by-case basis. All other MOD contracts that are in scope of the Procurement Act 2023 and not classified as a defence and security contract will be required to comply with the National procurement Policy Statement and PPN 002.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-09)

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Charlie Dewhirst:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the difference is between (a) government diversity networks and (b) trade union diversity networks in government. \p Georgia Gould: Government Equality, Diversity and Inclusion networks are internal, volunteer staff networks that work to improve internal culture and workforce representation.

Trade unions are separate distinct organisations, who may have their own separate diversity networks for their members.
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Tom Rutland:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that high quality candidates are (a) recruited to and (b) retained within the civil service. \p Georgia Gould: We are committed to ensuring we attract, develop and retain talented people from a diverse range of backgrounds to create a modern Civil Service that delivers high quality public services.

Recruiting and retaining talented individuals is vital to support the delivery of the Plan for Change. As my Rt Hon Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster outlined in his Reform speech, there is a clear need to overhaul the recruitment processes to reduce bureaucracy and support external candidates.

Actions to address this include embedding a test-and-learn approach to recruitment, reviewing the current selection processes to ensure they are appropriate and support all candidates and working with departments to utilise secondments to recruit and retain key skills.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-09)

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Lee Anderson:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what diversity, equality and inclusion targets his Department has for staff recruitment. \p Georgia Gould: The Cabinet Office has not set diversity, equality and inclusion targets for staff recruitment, but the Civil Service is committed to representing the diversity of the UK population.
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Charlie Dewhirst:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department's press release entitled Mass cancellation of government credit cards in crackdown on wasteful spend, published on 18 March 2025, how many Government Procurement Cards are held by each (a) Ministerial and (b) senior official private office in his Department. \p Georgia Gould: The Cabinet Office has one cardholder in Ministerial Private Offices and six cardholders in senior official private offices.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-09)

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Charlie Dewhirst:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 14 March 2025 to Question 37425 on Office for National Statistics: Industrial Disputes, what the disputed issues are. \p Georgia Gould: The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon. Member's Parliamentary Question of 26th March is attached.

Letter from the National Statistician (pdf, 101.8KB)
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Mike Wood:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 26 November 2024 to Question 14113 on the Permanent Secretary Remuneration Committee, whether Permanent Secretaries on the Committee are bound by its decisions on remuneration, and what mechanisms are in place to manage potential conflicts of interest. \p Georgia Gould: The role of the Permanent Secretary Remuneration Committee (PSRC) is to provide an annual independent assessment about the performance of individual Permanent Secretaries and make recommendations to the Prime Minister on pay awards for Permanent Secretaries. The Cabinet Secretary and other Permanent Secretary members of the Committee are bound by the Prime Minister’s decisions on pay.

To prevent any conflicts of interest, the non-civil servant members of the Committee make proposals on the performance of the Cabinet Secretary and other Permanent Secretary Committee members.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-09)

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Mike Wood:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 13 February 2025 to Question 29029 on FCDO: Speeches, what guidance his Department has issued on whether substantive and scripted Ministerial speeches in government buildings which are not ministerial residences can include party political content where such speeches are being broadcast live using government resources. \p Georgia Gould: As outlined in the Ministerial Code, Government property should not generally be used for work that is in its essential nature about constituency or party political activities. The Permanent Secretary at the FCDO has explained that the essential nature of the speech in question was not party political. In line with the Government Communication Service Propriety & Ethics guidance, party political messaging should be removed before publication on gov.uk and was in this case.
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Mike Wood:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department's guidance entitled Civil Service Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Expenditure Guidance, published on 14 May 2024, whether any exemptions have been approved since 30 May 2024. \p Georgia Gould: One exemption has been approved by the Permanent Secretary to the Cabinet Office.

Details of external EDI expenditure will be reported in due course, as per the EDI Expenditure Guidance requirements.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-09)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-04-09 conversation_33

Charlie Dewhirst:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department's Civil Service HQ occupancy data transparency data, last updated on 28 February 2025, which changes in reporting methodology lead to a revision of the figures. \p Ms Abena Oppong-Asare: The revision of figures applied to the Home Office occupancy stats only. This was because of a change in reporting by the Home Office.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-09)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-04-09 conversation_34

Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 28 January 2025 to Question 25671 on Delivery Unit, on what dates each of the stocktakes have taken place. \p Ellie Reeves: I refer the honourable gentlemen to the answer given to PQ25671.
wrans/answers2025-04-09 conversation_35
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-09)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-04-09 conversation_35

Joe Robertson:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what data his Department holds on the average duration that civil service employees remain under performance management before a resolution is reached. \p Georgia Gould: Performance management is managed by individual departments, meaning this information is not held centrally. In March, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster announced that the Government will be strengthening performance processes for the SCS.
wrans/answers2025-04-09 conversation_36
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-09)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-04-09 conversation_36

Mike Wood:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether Ministers are required to declare trade union meetings in transparency returns. \p Georgia Gould: Meetings with external organisations and individuals are declared quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK. Published declarations include official meetings with trade unions, subject to any exemptions listed in the Guidance.

Updated guidance on ministers' meetings was published to GOV.UK on 30 January 2025 at the following address: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ministers-overseas-travel-and-meetings-publication-guidance/ministers-overseas-travel-and-meetings-publication-guidance.
wrans/answers2025-04-09 conversation_37
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-09)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-04-09 conversation_37

Charlie Dewhirst:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 2 December 2024 to Question 14067 on Civil Servants: Freedom of Expression, whether the (a) the Civil Service People Group and (b) Office for Equality and Opportunity are taking steps to help prevent the bullying of civil servants who express gender-critical views. \p Georgia Gould: ​​​​The Civil Service is committed to creating a safe and supportive work environment for all its employees and will not tolerate any form of harassment, unacceptable behaviour or abuse by any party, towards any employee.

Departments have their own policies and guidance on dealing with any such behaviour.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-09)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-04-09 conversation_38

Charlie Dewhirst:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the press release entitled Mass cancellation of government credit cards in crackdown on wasteful spend, published on 18 March 2025, how many Government Procurement Cards were held by 10 Downing Street as of January 2025; and what is the timetable for reducing the number. \p Georgia Gould: As of January 2025, 10 Downing Street held 45 Government Procurement Cards. In the Cabinet Office instructions were issued to the bank on 18 March 2025 to freeze the cards. The number of cards held by No. 10 remains under review.
wrans/answers2025-04-09 conversation_39
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-09)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-04-09 conversation_39

Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many lecterns are (a) held by Downing Street and (b) on loan from Downing Street to other public bodies. \p Ms Abena Oppong-Asare: Downing Street holds 7 lecterns, all of which were inherited from previous governments.
wrans/answers2025-04-09 conversation_40
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-09)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-04-09 conversation_40

Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether officials in Downing Street use the Signal app. \p Ms Abena Oppong-Asare: Ministers and officials use a range of communication methods and there are longstanding appropriate arrangements and guidance in place for the management of electronic communications.
wrans/answers2025-04-09 conversation_41
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-09)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-04-09 conversation_41

Mike Wood:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 27 November 2024 to Question 14973 on Civil Service: Equality, if he will list each exemption reported by Departments since 14 May 2024. \p Georgia Gould: Any reported exemptions will be published in due course.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-09)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-04-09 conversation_42

Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 13 February 2025 to Question 29019 on Civil Servants: Recruitment, what is the process by which a Minister can request a department (a) appoint and (b) consider appointing a specific individual to the Civil Service without open and fair competition below SCS2 level. \p Georgia Gould: The Civil Service Recruitment principles outline the process by which grades below SCS can be appointed without fair and open competition. This includes guidance about the involvement of Ministers in the recruitment process.

The process and approach remains consistent with that applied by the previous administration.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-09)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-04-09 conversation_43

Charlie Dewhirst:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 4 March 2025 to Question 34459 on Government Departments: Official Cars, whether the decision on whether specific departmental officials may have use of a car from the Government Car Service is made by (a) the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster’s Private Office, (b) the Cabinet Secretary’s Private Office, (c) the Permanent Secretary’s Private Office, (d) the Cabinet Office Chief Operating Officer’s private office and (e) the Prime Minister’s Private office. \p Ms Abena Oppong-Asare: I refer the Hon. Member to the answer to Question 34459. The arrangements relating to officials' use of vehicles from the Government Car Service are set out in the Civil Service Management Code. In particular, section 8.2.7 states the conditions under which Permanent Secretaries may use official cars, and states that Permanent Secretaries may determine whether, exceptionally, other senior staff are allowed to use official cars on the same conditions. Departmental Private Offices will administer the allocation; ministerial private offices would not be involved in any such decisions other than in determining if a car is available.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-09)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-04-09 conversation_44

Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to paragraph 1.5 of the Ministerial Code, published on 6 November 2024, whether civil service workplace standards are used to interpret these requirements; and whether the Prime Minister is responsible for determining what constitutes (a) bullying and (b) harassment. \p Ms Abena Oppong-Asare: The Ministerial Code sets out the standards of behaviour which the Prime Minister expects of ministers. As set out at paragraph 2.1, the Prime Minister is the ultimate judge of those standards of behaviour and of the appropriate consequences for any breach of those standards.
wrans/answers2025-04-09 conversation_45
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-09)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-04-09 conversation_45

Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many civil servants exits will be funded by the £150 million government employee exit schemes; and whether this will include civil service compensation scheme payments for (a) voluntary and (b) compulsory exits. \p Georgia Gould: The Cabinet Office and HM Treasury are working together to determine how best this investment can be used by departments to support their individual exit schemes, the terms of which will vary from organisation to organisation.
wrans/answers2025-04-09 conversation_46
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-09)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-04-09 conversation_46

Charlie Dewhirst:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 13 December 2024 to Question 18212 on Prime Minister: Special Advisers, when he plans to publish a list of special advisers and their salaries. \p Ms Abena Oppong-Asare: Information on Special Adviser numbers and costs will be published in the Annual Report on Special Advisers as per the requirements of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010, as was the case under the previous Administration.
wrans/answers2025-04-09 conversation_47
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-09)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-04-09 conversation_47

Charlie Dewhirst:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, on what dates the Prime Minister’s Office has held conference calls with public affairs companies; and if he will list each organisation that attended each one. \p Ms Abena Oppong-Asare: I refer the Hon Member to my answer of 17 March 2025, Official Report, PQ 37798.
wrans/answers2025-04-09 conversation_48
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-09)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-04-09 conversation_48

Mike Wood:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Prime Minister has used the RAF 32 Squadron’s Dassault Falcon 900LX executive jets for travel inside the UK. \p Ms Abena Oppong-Asare: It has been the practice of successive administrations not to publish granular information relating to the official movements of protected individuals and those accompanying them within the United Kingdom.
wrans/answers2025-04-09 conversation_49
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-09)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-04-09 conversation_49

Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will provide details of (a) gifts, (b) donations, (c) donations in kind and (d) hospitality that Ministers in the Department including Downing Street, have accepted that have since been paid back to the original donor by the relevant Minister under the (i) Ministerial and (ii) Parliamentary reporting regimes. \p Ms Abena Oppong-Asare: All gifts and hospitality that are received in a ministerial capacity are declared on the Register of Ministers’ Gifts and Hospitality in line with ministers’ obligations under the Ministerial Code.

The Parliamentary codes of conduct are a matter for Parliament and questions should be directed to the individual member concerned or the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.
wrans/answers2025-04-09 conversation_50
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-09)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-04-09 conversation_50

Joe Robertson:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 12 February 2025 to Question 28295 on Wood-burning Stoves: Health Hazards, what the (a) terms of reference and (b) timetable is of his Department’s review of options for reducing emissions from domestic burning. \p Emma Hardy: The Government is committed to taking action to clean up our air and protecting the public from the harm of pollution. Domestic solid fuel burning accounted for 20% of PM2.5 emissions in 2023, with indoor wood burning accounting for 11% of total PM2.5. The Government concluded a rapid review of the existing Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP23) and published a statement of the rapid review’s key findings on 30 January 2025. Later in 2025 we will publish a revised Environmental Improvement Plan, to protect and restore our natural environment. It will be a clearer, prioritised plan for achieving environmental outcomes, including improving air quality through action on PM2.5.