Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to improve Departmental compliance with Open Government Partnership data requirements on property condition reporting.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
There are no specific data requirements under the UK’s membership of the international Open Government Partnership (OGP) relating to property condition reporting.
The Government Property Data Standard (GPDS), specified by the government’s functional lead for property, the Office of Government Property (OGP), within the Cabinet Office, does include a defined building condition metric. The Government Property Data Standard is mandated for use across all central government departments. The standard currently includes requirements for reporting on building condition metrics using a four-tier rating system.
Departments are expected to report against this standard as part of business-as-usual property data returns. Plans are underway to improve the quality of this data and work towards making condition data publicly available in due course.
Asked by: Lord Agnew of Oulton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to page 43 of their policy paper Spending Review 2025: Departmental Efficiency Plans, published on 11 June, what percentage of the Cabinet Office’s commercial contracts by value are due for renewal or renegotiation by 2028–29; and what proportion of the £3 million efficiency savings relating to procurement has already been contractually secured.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
21% by value of the Cabinet Office’s live contracts are intended for renewal between 1 April 2026 and 31st March 2029.
The Cabinet Office published our technical efficiency delivery plan along with all other departments as part of the Spending Review 2025. This included a commitment to delivering £1m in annual efficiencies related to procurement in 2027/28, increasing to £3m in 2028/29. We are in active negotiations to begin delivery of the efficiencies.
Asked by: Baroness Pidding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that companies under investigation by a public inquiry are subject to enhanced scrutiny or restrictions in future public procurement processes.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Procurement Act 2023 enables and, where appropriate, requires the exclusion of suppliers where they pose particular risks to public procurement. The exclusions regime provides a framework within which contracting authorities must consider a supplier’s recent past behaviour and circumstances (or their presence on the debarment list) to determine whether it should be allowed to compete for or be awarded a public contract. Contracting authorities can take account of any criticism of suppliers in public inquiry findings when considering whether an exclusion ground applies as part of this process.
Asked by: Baroness Pidding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to introduce new safeguards to prevent companies involved in a statutory inquiry from securing public sector contracts.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Procurement Act 2023 enables and, where appropriate, requires the exclusion of suppliers where they pose particular risks to public procurement. The exclusions regime provides a framework within which contracting authorities must consider a supplier’s recent past behaviour and circumstances (or their presence on the debarment list) to determine whether it should be allowed to compete for or be awarded a public contract. Contracting authorities can take account of any criticism of suppliers in public inquiry findings when considering whether an exclusion ground applies as part of this process.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether there is a Crown Commercial Service communications and marketing framework which covers branded goods.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
In April, the government announced that spending taxpayer money on new unnecessary branded merchandise will be banned and will only be permitted when essential for delivering the government’s agenda, for example, in overseas trade and diplomacy, to promote growth. Government departments can continue to use existing branded merchandise.
Branded goods are presently available through the Crown Commercial Service’s (CCS) Campaign Solutions 2 Framework (RM6125), which was established under the previous administration in September 2021.
CCS is in the process of establishing a new framework, RM6364 Media and Creative Services, which will replace Campaign Solutions 2. The new framework will not cover branded goods.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what proportion of civil servants have been subject to formal performance management in the last three years.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Departments have delegated responsibility for managing poor performance.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has undertaken a cross-Government security risk assessment of sensitive data contracts awarded to Palantir Technologies Inc.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
It is long-standing policy that the Government does not disclose the specifics of its security arrangements, including with suppliers.
The UK takes national security extremely seriously and has taken robust action to ensure the security of sensitive government data. As set out in the recent National Procurement Policy Statement, the Government mitigates supply chain and national security risks by ensuring appropriate data and security controls are in place. All contracting authorities are encouraged to follow the Government Security Group’s guidance on Tackling Security Risk in Government Supply Chains, which details best practices for procurement, commercial, and security practitioners when selecting and onboarding suppliers.
We also encourage organisations to adhere to the National Cyber Security Centre and the National Protective Security Authority’s supply chain security guidance when selecting technology suppliers, which outlines the required security standards and procurement considerations.
The National Security Unit for Procurement (NSUP) has been established to support Ministers in assessing suppliers on national security grounds in line with the Procurement Act 2023. NSUP works closely with government departments to oversee implementation of these measures and enhance supplier security assessments across the procurement process.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many and what proportion of civil servants work from home for more than 80% of their contracted hours.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
This information is not held centrally. Decisions on terms and conditions of employment, including flexible working arrangements, are made by the employing department. Heads of departments have agreed that 60% minimum office attendance for most staff continues to be the best balance of working for the Civil Service.
Data on Civil Service Headquarters (HQ) occupancy is collected and published quarterly on GOV.UK for all HQ buildings of Whitehall Departments, Office for Scotland, Office for Wales and Northern Ireland Office. Data for the latest period for which data is available can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-hq-occupancy-data
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the average daily rate of pay is for consultants working across Whitehall Departments.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
This information is not held by the Cabinet Office.
Pay for consultants is managed by each department individually, as they are accountable for their own consultancy pay details. Average rates may differ due to the type of consultancy and commercial structure around individual customer contracts. The Government is committed to stopping all non-essential expenditure on consultants, and reducing the reliance on contingent labour.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many civil servants have been dismissed for (a) incompetence and (b) misconduct in each year since 2015.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Departments have delegated responsibility for decisions relating to dismissal of an employee.
Civil Service statistics on the composition of the Civil Service workforce, including data on those leaving the Civil Service due to dismissals, are available on GOV.UK.