Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, for what reason his Department has not agreed to the Second Permanent Secretary of the Cabinet Office, Sue Gray, from serving as a witness in the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee’s investigation into the lobbying and access affair involving Greensill Capital in July 2021.

It is the Government’s longstanding position, as set out in the Osmotherly Rules, that officials do not attend Committees in their own capacity, but as representatives of their Ministers. It is therefore open for Ministers to decide to attend instead. In this instance, successive Cabinet Office Ministers declined the invitation for Ms Gray to appear before the Committee and in so doing offered to attend instead to answer any questions the Committee might have had on this subject.