Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 26 June 2025 to Question 62083 on House of Lords Appointments Commission, on what date the public appointments process opened; whether it has been extended; and whether any people who applied have been informed that they have not been appointed.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
I refer the Hon Member to the answer to Question 66291, which sets out when the campaign was launched and subsequently closed to applications.
The Government announced on 19 August 2025 that, as a result of the campaign, Professor Adeeba Malik CBE DL had been appointed as an independent member of the House of Lords Appointments Commission with effect from 1 September 2025. All candidates who applied as part of this campaign have been notified of the outcome accordingly.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 14 July 2025 to Question 66291 on House of Lords Appointments Commission, for what reason members of the Commission have not been appointed.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
I refer the Hon Member to the answer to Question 66291, which sets out when the campaign was launched and subsequently closed to applications.
The Government announced on 19 August 2025 that, as a result of the campaign, Professor Adeeba Malik CBE DL had been appointed as an independent member of the House of Lords Appointments Commission with effect from 1 September 2025. All candidates who applied as part of this campaign have been notified of the outcome accordingly.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish a list of each ongoing (a) statutory and (b) non-statutory public inquiry, including the year it was established.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The table below sets out the list of open statutory and non-statutory inquiries and the year in which they were established. This includes inquiries that have published but not yet closed. The table does not include public inquiries which have been announced but have not yet been formally established, namely inquiries into events at Orgreave, the death of Patrick Finucane and the Independent Commission on Grooming Gangs.
Year established | Inquiry | Statutory or non-statutory |
2025 | Nottingham Inquiry | Statutory |
2025 | Independent inquiry into Manston short-term holding facility / Manston Inquiry | Non-statutory |
2025 | Southport Inquiry | Statutory |
2023 | Jalal Uddin Inquiry | Statutory |
2023 | Cranston Inquiry | Non-statutory |
2023 | Andrew Malkinson Inquiry | Non-statutory |
2023 | Thirlwall Inquiry | Statutory |
2023 | Inquiry into the preventability of the Omagh bombing | Statutory |
2022 | Independent inquiry relating to Afghanistan | Statutory |
2022 | Dawn Sturgess Inquiry | Statutory |
2022 | Fuller Inquiry | Non-statutory |
2022 | Angiolini Inquiry | Non-statutory |
2022 | UK Covid-19 Inquiry | Statutory |
2021 | Lampard Inquiry | Statutory |
2020 | Post Office Horizon IT inquiry | Statutory |
2017 | Infected Blood Inquiry | Statutory |
2015 | Undercover Policing Inquiry | Statutory |
2004 | Robert Hamill Inquiry | Statutory |
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Liberal Democrat - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the Honours System in terms of (a) fairness, (b) equity and (c) and value.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Cabinet Office Honours team is working to make the honours system truly representative of UK society, in line with the Prime Minister’s priorities for the honours system. As part of this work, we have recently established a new independent Diversity and Outreach Committee which will assist the committee process in delivering an honours system which is properly diverse and reflective of UK society.
In addition to ongoing work, every five years, a report to Parliament is published on the Operation of the UK Honours System. This report sets out progress and key developments to our work to improve the integrity and fairness in, and access to, the Honours System. The most recent report was published in May 2023 and can be viewed here. The next report is due to be published in 2028.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will undertake a public consultation on the proposed duty of candour.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government has committed to implement a ‘Hillsborough Law’ which will place a legal duty of candour on public servants and authorities, and criminal sanctions for those who do not comply.
We remain fully committed to bringing in this legislation and we will continue to work with families and stakeholders.
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 his Department's policy paper, Infected Blood Inquiry Additional Report Government Response, published on 30 July 2025, what is the estimated cost of delivering those recommendations.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The policy decisions that the Government announced on 21 July, and included in the Government Response on 30 July, are currently estimated to cost around £1 billion in further compensation payments. However, the total cost could change depending on what is agreed following consultation with the infected blood community.
The Government has said it will pay what it takes to fund the scheme, and we will update the forecast costs at Autumn Budget 2025.
Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department plans to implement the recommendations of the Infected Blood Inquiry Report.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
As I set out in my Oral Statement to the House on 21 July, the Government will be bringing forward a further set of regulations as soon as Parliamentary time allows to implement the recommendations we have already accepted.
The Government will be consulting the infected blood community on the remainder of the recommendations before making any further changes to the Scheme.
The Government would like to provide the community with sufficient time to consider and share their views on the Government’s proposals in response to the Inquiry’s recommendations. The consultation is expected to open in October. Any changes will require further regulations. We expect this second, more substantial set of regulations, to be brought before Parliament in 2026.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, for what reason the Cabinet Secretary has delegated his attendance to the Main Honours Committee.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service is responsible for the operation of the honours system, but as is customary, delegates this responsibility to another senior Permanent Secretary.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of the differing compensation payments for deceased infected blood scandal victims based on whether they contracted HIV or Hepatitis C.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The impact of a Hepatitis infection can range from very mild to very severe, including liver failure and death as a direct result of the infection. In its second interim report, the Infected Blood Inquiry recommended that the compensation scheme should reflect the different impacts of infection by developing severity bandings.
The Expert Group provided the Government with clinical advice on the distinctions between these impacts. This meant the Government could set severity bands for Hepatitis infections based on clear clinical markers.
As set out in the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme Regulations 2025, where someone’s experience of Hepatitis, whether it is historic or in the present day, has been more severe, they will receive more compensation. In its Additional Report, published 9 July, the Inquiry stated that “that tiers are relevant to Hepatitis in a way in which they are not in cases of HIV.”
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of the differing compensation payments for infected blood scandal victims based on whether they contracted HIV or Hepatitis C.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The impact of a Hepatitis infection can range from very mild to very severe, including liver failure and death as a direct result of the infection. In its second interim report, the Infected Blood Inquiry recommended that the compensation scheme should reflect the different impacts of infection by developing severity bandings.
The Expert Group provided the Government with clinical advice on the distinctions between these impacts. This meant the Government could set severity bands for Hepatitis infections based on clear clinical markers.
As set out in the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme Regulations 2025, where someone’s experience of Hepatitis, whether it is historic or in the present day, has been more severe, they will receive more compensation. In its Additional Report, published 9 July, the Inquiry stated that “that tiers are relevant to Hepatitis in a way in which they are not in cases of HIV.”