Mike Wood MP: written questions
528 published records · newest first.
Written questions
Senior Civil Servants: RecruitmentCabinet OfficeTabled 31 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 42577More
Question: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 26 July 2024 to Question 1260 on External by Default Recruitment, what criteria were applied to determine whether a role was urgent or critical during the pre-election period.
Answer: The guidance regarding recruitment of Senior Civil Servants during the pre-election period was published on the gov.uk website here.
Answered 3 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordSenior Civil Servants: RecruitmentCabinet OfficeTabled 31 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 42576More
Question: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 26 July 2024 to Question 1260 on External by Default Recruitment, how many urgent exemptions to external by default recruitment were granted during the pre-election period.
Answer: Details of exemptions to External by Default recruitment are not held centrally. It is the responsibility of all Ministerial departments, Non-Ministerial departments, Executive Agencies and Crown Non-Departmental Public Bodies to hold their own recruitmen...
Answered 3 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordPublic FinanceCabinet OfficeTabled 31 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 42575More
Question: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 26 July 2024 to Question 1283 on Public Finance, whether there have been recent reviews of the process outlined in the Cabinet Manual for access talks.
Answer: The process for access talks remains as set out in the Cabinet Manual; these arrangements have not been formally reviewed since publication.
Answered 7 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordPublic Sector Reform and Innovation FundCabinet OfficeTabled 31 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 42574More
Question: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the headcount is of the team administering the test-and-learn programme; and what proportion of the fund is allocated to cover their costs.
Answer: The Programme will deploy Test and Learns teams into the frontline around the country over the next three years to design and test innovative solutions to our biggest public service challenges in partnership with local places – and ensuring that local lea...
Answered 7 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordGovernment Departments: Trade UnionsCabinet OfficeTabled 31 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 42573More
Question: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 14 January 2025 to Question 22040 on Government departments: trade unions, which unions pay their trade union membership subscriptions via check-off in the Cabinet Office; how many memb
Answer: The Cabinet Office does not deduct trade union subscriptions from staff via payroll.
Answered 7 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordIntelligence Services: FinanceCabinet OfficeTabled 31 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 42572More
Question: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Security and Intelligence Agencies Financial Statement 2023-24, for what reason the administration cost estimate for 2023-24 was higher than the outturn; and what assessment he has made of
Answer: As has been the policy of successive governments, the government does not comment on matters relating to the intelligence agencies. The Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament scrutinises the policies, expenditure, administration and operations ...
Answered 8 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordCabinet Office: EqualityCabinet OfficeTabled 31 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 42571More
Question: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much time his Department allocates to each of the cross Civil Service Equality Diversity and Inclusion networks for staff who work in his Department.
Answer: There is no specific allocation of network time allocated to each of the cross Civil Service Equality Diversity and Inclusion networks, for staff who work in the Cabinet Office.
Answered 7 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordGovernment Departments: Disclosure of InformationCabinet OfficeTabled 31 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 42570More
Question: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the portal for all transparency data announced in July 2023 has been cancelled.
Answer: The portal, announced by the previous Government in July 2023, did not receive funding at the time and this remains the case.This Government has already introduced tangible improvements to transparency data, notably the monthly Register of Ministers’ Gift...
Answered 7 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordCivil Servants: Workplace PensionsCabinet OfficeTabled 31 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 42569More
Question: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 27 November 2024 to Question 13804 on Civil Service: Workplace Pensions, if he will list the non-Civil Service organisations whose employees are eligible for the Civil Service Pension S
Answer: A list of the non-Civil Service organisations whose employees are eligible for the Civil Service Pension Scheme is available in the public domain and can be found on the member section of the Civil Service Pension website.
Answered 7 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordPropriety and Constitution Group: IncentivesCabinet OfficeTabled 31 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 42568More
Question: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 28 January 2025 to Question 25447 on Propriety and Constitution Group, whether civil servants in Propriety and Constitution Group have been awarded bonuses in the last 12 months.
Answer: A total of 97 individuals have been awarded bonuses between April 2024 and March 2025.
Answered 7 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordMission BoardsCabinet OfficeTabled 31 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 42567More
Question: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 27 November 2024 to Question 14952 on Departmental Coordination, whether the mission boards are Cabinet sub-committees.
Answer: Yes, Mission Boards are Cabinet committees. The list of Cabinet committees has been placed in the House of Commons library and published on gov.uk (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-cabinet-committees-system-and-list-of-cabinet-committees).
Answered 7 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordCabinet Office: Boston Consulting GroupCabinet OfficeTabled 31 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 42462More
Question: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 24 March 2025 to Question 38758 on Cabinet Office: Contracts, whether the Chief Operating Officer for the Civil Service was involved in the approval of payments to the Boston Consulting
Answer: The Chief Operating Officer for the Civil Service is not involved with the process for the approval of payments to suppliers. The purchase to pay process is managed between the Cabinet Office Finance team and the respective Contract Manager. At the time o...
Answered 7 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordCabinet Office: Artificial IntelligenceCabinet OfficeTabled 28 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 42239More
Question: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether officials in his Department are allowed to use DeepSeek.
Answer: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 24 March 2025 in response to question UIN 38348.
Answered 7 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordEuropean Court of JusticeCabinet OfficeTabled 28 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 42238More
Question: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 30 January 2025 to Question 26195 on European Court of Justice, what discussions he has had with the European Commission on the jurisdiction of European Court of Justice rulings in the
Answer: There has been no change in the jurisdiction of European Court of Justice rulings in the UK. I have regular exchanges with my EU counterparts on our obligations under the Withdrawal Agreement and the Trade and Cooperation Agreement.
Answered 8 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordHonoursCabinet OfficeTabled 28 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 42237More
Question: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has a strategy for identifying people for the future award of honours and dignities.
Answer: The Cabinet Office Honours team is working with other government departments to make the honours system representative of UK society, this is in line with the Prime Minister’s priorities for the honours system.
Answered 7 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordMinisters: Corporate Hospitality and Official GiftsCabinet OfficeTabled 27 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 41868More
Question: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department's guidance entitled Ministers' Gifts and Hospitality: Publication Guidance, published on 30 January 2025, if he will add large social media companies including (a) X, (b) Meta an
Answer: The Cabinet Office publishes a monthly register of all gifts and hospitality received by ministers in a ministerial capacity. This includes gifts and hospitality received by social media companies. The Government keeps the guidance on Ministers' Gifts and...
Answered 7 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordPermanent Secretary Remuneration CommitteeCabinet OfficeTabled 26 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 41439More
Question: 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
Answer: 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 Secretari...
Answered 9 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordGovernment Departments: Conditions of EmploymentCabinet OfficeTabled 26 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 41438More
Question: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 10 January 2025 to Question 21347 on Conditions of Employment, whether his Department has issued guidance on non-contingent labour contract which explains that direction on their use.
Answer: The Cabinet Office does not have guidance on non-contingent labour contracts as this is not a generally used term.
Answered 2 Jun 2025
Original Parliament recordHonoursCabinet OfficeTabled 26 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 41437More
Question: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 21 February 2025, to Question 30682, on Honours, for what reasons the three Honours campaigns were closed and then later re-opened; and how many of the subsequently-successful candidate
Answer: In reference to my response to question 14712, the three campaigns were closed and reopened to allow for the widest range of applications. All three campaigns are still in progress, so there are at present no successful candidates.
Answered 3 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordGovernment Departments: CommunicationCabinet OfficeTabled 26 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 41436More
Question: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what information the Government Communications Service holds on spending on (a) external marketing, (b) external public relations and (c) other forms of external communications by (i) his and (ii) other Departme
Answer: All departments and ALBs are responsible for their own business planning process. During this process, they will decide their allocation of advertising, marketing, and communications (AMC) spending. If their spend breaches the advertising, marketing and c...
Answered 3 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordArms Length BodiesCabinet OfficeTabled 26 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 41435More
Question: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 8 January 2025 to Question 19414 on Non-departmental public bodies, how many arm's length bodies other than non-departmental public bodies the Government has (a) announced it will open,
Answer: As said in my previous answer of 8 January 2025, the Cabinet Office maintains records and oversight of formally established Arm’s Length Bodies. No ALBs have been formally established since 4 July 2024. Individual departments are responsible for any propo...
Answered 3 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordGovernment Departments: Freedom of InformationCabinet OfficeTabled 26 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 41434More
Question: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will take steps to (a) speed up the handling of Freedom of Information requests across Government and (b) reduce the number of refusals to those requests.
Answer: FOI compliance statistics for all government departments are published on a quarterly basis on GOV.UK at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics. Between July-September 2024, across all departments, 90% of requests were respond...
Answered 31 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordPrime Minister: RecruitmentCabinet OfficeTabled 26 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 41433More
Question: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 27 November 2024, to Question 6057, on Prime Minister's Office: Vacancies, what proportion of external recruitment competitions in 10 Downing Street resulted in the selection of a succe
Answer: Due to the small number of individuals in scope, release of this information would disclose personal data of the Civil Servants involved.
Answered 2 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordSpecial Advisers: Industrial DisputesCabinet OfficeTabled 26 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 41432More
Question: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 13 February 2025 to Question 29023 on Special Advisers: Industrial Disputes, whether he has issued guidance to special advisers on whether they may undertake industrial action with spec
Answer: The Cabinet Office has not issued any such guidance.
Answered 3 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordBaroness GustafssonCabinet OfficeTabled 26 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 41431More
Question: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many days’ notice the House of Lords Appointments Commission was given to clear and undertake due diligence in relation to the appointment of Baroness Gustafsson of Chesterton.
Answer: The House of Lords Appointment Commission vets all nominations for life peerages to ensure the highest standards of propriety. The process for vetting nominations of those who are intended to serve as Ministers is the same as the process for all other nom...
Answered 2 Apr 2025
Original Parliament record
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