Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he plans to publish a response to the report by the National Audit Office entitled Investigation into the administration of the Civil Service Pension Scheme, published on 16 June 2025, HC 951.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The government does not plan to publish a formal, separate response to the National Audit Office (NAO) report, Investigation into the administration of the Civil Service Pension Scheme, HC 951, published on 16 June 2025. The government has acknowledged and accepted the findings of the report. The report is also being reviewed by the Public Accounts Committee who will provide their recommendations in due course.
It should be noted that the government has taken significant steps to improve both the oversight and enforcement of performance standards in the Civil Service Pension Scheme administration, primarily through the new contract with Capita and enhanced internal controls. Capita has been contracted to assume full administrative responsibilities from 1 December 2025.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent on 23 July (HL9313), whether they can identify the reasons as to why London’s economy is 28.5 per cent more productive on average than the rest of the United Kingdom.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
Please see the letter below from the National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority.
The Lord Birt
House of Lords
London
SW1A 0PW
4 September 2025
Dear Lord Birt,
As Acting National Statistician, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent on 23 July (HL9313), whether the reasons as to why London’s economy is 28.5 per cent more productive on average than the rest of the United Kingdom can be identified (HL9939).
London is home to a high proportion of knowledge-intensive sectors such as financial services, insurance, and professional, scientific, and technical industries, all of which drive higher levels of productivity. There is evidence that London, like other major cities, benefits from an agglomeration effect, whereby the close proximity of a diverse mix of businesses, highly skilled labour, and major institutions fuels knowledge spillovers, collaboration, and innovation which enhance overall economic output. 1
London-based firms also consistently outperform their regional peers, even within the same industries, with firms benefitting from access to a large highly skilled labour market and a well-developed infrastructure and also from high competition between firms driving business dynamism.
This same pattern is found globally, with the largest cities typically having higher productivity levels compared with other areas due to these agglomeration impacts.
Yours sincerely,
Emma Rourke
1 https://whatworksgrowth.org/insights/understanding-agglomeration/
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an assessment with Cabinet colleagues of the potential impact of the merger of Anglo American and Teck on national security.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Government has powers under the National Security and Investment (NSI) Act 2021 to review and, where required, intervene in investments that may pose a risk to national security.
The NSI Act both facilitates investment into sensitive sectors with appropriate safeguards where needed, and provides powers to act in the interests of national security where necessary and proportionate.
Given national security and commercial considerations, the Government will not generally comment on specific acquisitions or the potential applicability of the NSI Act 2021.
Acquisitions considered under the NSI Act are reviewed on a case-by-case basis and the Government will not hesitate to use its powers where necessary.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to page 27 of the National Security Strategy 2025, CP 1338, published on 24 June 2025, what recent progress he has made on establishing a new network of national biosecurity centres.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Network of Biosecurity Centres will strengthen and formalise the strong existing collaborations between the UK Health Security Agency, the Animal and Plant Health Agency and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory. It will ensure we are better prepared for a crisis, can respond more effectively when an incident does happen, and deliver a more holistic, One Health and National Security approach to biological research.
The Network will support the Centres’ development and operation, with investment in the laboratory facilities of more than £1bn over the next four years to ensure we have the capabilities we need. Initial steps will include agreeing collaboration priorities, such as operation standards and skills development.
The Cabinet Office oversees implementation of the UK Biological Security Strategy. That includes ensuring we have the capabilities across government to protect the public from a spectrum of biological risks, no matter how they occur and no matter who or what they affect. Funding to tackle specific biological risks is based on the UK ‘Lead Government Department (LGD)’ model. Designated LGDs are responsible for leading work to identify serious risks, and ensuring that the right planning, response and recovery arrangements are in place - including the prioritisation of departmental spending to ensure the right capabilities are in place to mitigate risks, within allocated budgets.
The UK Biological Security Strategy is clear that a thriving life sciences sector is key to our biological security. The government has committed £380 million to engineering biology and £2bn to life sciences over the spending review period.
At the publication of the UK Biological Security Strategy in June 2023, we committed to update Parliament annually on the progress made to implement the Strategy. The government published its first UK Biosecurity Strategy Implementation report in July 2025, which sets out the range of short term commitments delivered. The report is available here.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to page 87 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, published on 8 July 2025, what progress he has made on establishing the Home Defence Programme.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Home Defence Programme was established in August 2024 to build the UK’s resilience to any potential escalation to conflict. It is an evolving and enduring programme of work which provides defence, security and resilience planning, focused on aligning military and civil effort in the event of a period of crisis and international hostilities affecting the UK, informed by and reflecting the recommendations from government strategies, including the Strategic Defence Review, National Security Strategy and Resilience Action Plan.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether their Department has run any (a) recruitment and (b) internship schemes aimed to increase the number of people from underrepresented groups in the workforce in the last year.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
As set out in the Civil Service People Plan 2024 - 2027, we are committed to ensuring we attract, develop and retain talented people from a diverse range of backgrounds to create a modern Civil Service, now and for the future.
Civil Service recruitment must follow the rules set out in legislation within the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act (CRaGA) 2010 which outlines the requirements to ensure that civil servants are recruited on merit, via fair and open competition.
Going Forward into Employment (GFiE) accredits life chance recruitment pathways across government. GFiE pathways recruit people from a wide range of backgrounds into the Civil Service, including people from low socio-economic backgrounds, prison leavers, veterans, carers and care leavers.
People recruited by GFiE develop skills, gain experience and build a career, contributing to the Opportunity Mission and to the wider economy.
The Cabinet Office participates in the Great Place to Work for Veterans scheme which offers a guaranteed interview if a veteran meets the minimum criteria for the role. The department also welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction for specific offences.
In the last year, the Cabinet Office has participated in internship schemes aimed to increase the number of people from underrepresented groups in the workforce. These were:
Fast Stream Summer Internship Programme (Cabinet Office runs on behalf of the whole Civil Service)
Care Leavers Programme (Run by Department for Education)
Career ready workplace scheme (Run by Cabinet Office Glasgow colleagues)
Cabinet Office/Barnardos internship partnership (Run by Cabinet Office Glasgow colleagues)
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many unique visitors with (a) a UK IP address and (b) IP addresses from elsewhere have accessed the prepare.campaign.gov.uk website since the sub-domain was first set up.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Prepare website brings together advice and useful material from a range of sources into one place to help individuals, households and communities prepare for emergencies. The civil service hours were not recorded. The cost of creating the content for the campaign site was £60,000.
Of the unique users recorded between 22nd May 2024 and 13th October 2025, 327,555 were from the UK (92%) and 29,756 were from outside the UK (8%). These figures only include users who accepted GOV.UK cookies.
To date, no paid-for-marketing activity has taken place to promote prepare.campaign.gov.uk. The Government’s Resilience Action Plan has committed to do more to provide households with preparedness information. In September, the Prepare website was included in the message sent out to UK mobile phones as part of the Government’s test of the Emergency Alerts system.
We continue to work with our local and national partners, including organisations from the voluntary, community and faith sectors, to raise awareness of advice on the Prepare website and to seek feedback to inform updates to the content.
The Government is currently considering what further public communications activities might support improvements to public preparedness for emergencies. We published the first annual UK Public Survey of Risk Perception, Resilience and Preparedness in July 2025. The results will be used to inform the development of future public preparedness communications and to monitor trends.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many civil service hours were incurred in creating prepare.campaign.gov.uk; and what the cost was.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Prepare website brings together advice and useful material from a range of sources into one place to help individuals, households and communities prepare for emergencies. The civil service hours were not recorded. The cost of creating the content for the campaign site was £60,000.
Of the unique users recorded between 22nd May 2024 and 13th October 2025, 327,555 were from the UK (92%) and 29,756 were from outside the UK (8%). These figures only include users who accepted GOV.UK cookies.
To date, no paid-for-marketing activity has taken place to promote prepare.campaign.gov.uk. The Government’s Resilience Action Plan has committed to do more to provide households with preparedness information. In September, the Prepare website was included in the message sent out to UK mobile phones as part of the Government’s test of the Emergency Alerts system.
We continue to work with our local and national partners, including organisations from the voluntary, community and faith sectors, to raise awareness of advice on the Prepare website and to seek feedback to inform updates to the content.
The Government is currently considering what further public communications activities might support improvements to public preparedness for emergencies. We published the first annual UK Public Survey of Risk Perception, Resilience and Preparedness in July 2025. The results will be used to inform the development of future public preparedness communications and to monitor trends.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to paragraph 2.43 of the Spring Statement 2025, CP 1298, published on 26 March 2025, how many civil servants have left through the employee exit scheme.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Information on the number of civil servants that have left under employee exit schemes is not held centrally.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to page 90 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, published on 8 July 2025, what progress has he made on codifying civilian assistance to military authorities in crisis and conflict.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Developing plans for civilian assistance to the military in a time of conflict is a key component of the Cabinet Offices Home Defence Programme (HDP). Working with the MoD and across Whitehall departments, the HDP will set a baseline understanding of the requirements of support that defence would need and how positions and roles may need to be backfilled in a conflict scenario. This work is ongoing.