Asked by: Baroness Shawcross-Wolfson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to the speech by the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister on 20 January, what plans they have to make changes to Civil Services human resources processes to reform performance management.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The delivery objectives of all Senior Civil Servants should be linked to the objectives of the department and minister they serve. The framework is regularly reviewed and updated in alignment with Government priorities.
Asked by: Andrew George (Liberal Democrat - St Ives)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what discussions he has had with (a) local authorities and (b) Local Resilience Forums on supporting telecommunications resilience during power outages.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
From conversations with local MPs and organisations involved in the response to Storm Goretti, I understand their concerns around telecommunications resilience, particularly in rural areas.
I have asked my officials in the Cabinet Office and my ministerial colleagues in the relevant departments to look very carefully at the lessons being drawn from Storm Goretti and consider what further measures are needed.
Local Resilience Forums have access to the Resilient Voice System, a central government provided capability for use during significant disruption to the telecommunications network.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Liberal Democrat - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to help improve cross-government coordination to counter hostile state narratives promoted through domestic voices.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Defending Democracy Taskforce has a mandate to drive forward a whole-government response to the full range of threats to our democracy, including foreign information operations.
This response includes the Counter Political Interference and Espionage Action Plan, which I announced in the House in November.
Coordinated by the Cabinet Office with the support of Departments across Whitehall, this plan is designed to disrupt the ecosystem of proxy organisations and individuals used by foreign states to facilitate interference.
Asked by: Baroness Finn (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by the Minister for the Cabinet Office on 14 January 2026 (HC104152), what is the constitutional basis for the National Security Adviser to (1) act as management, and (2) issue directions on behalf of the Prime Minister, given the statutory prohibitions under Section 8(5)(c) of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 on exercising any power under any Act or any power under His Majesty's prerogative.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Code of Conduct for Special Advisers states that special advisers 'convey to officials ministers’ views, instructions and priorities' and that they may 'hold meetings with officials to discuss the advice being put to ministers'. In line with the Code, the National Security Adviser does not line manage civil servants.
Asked by: Alex Burghart (Conservative - Brentwood and Ongar)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 21 January 2026 to Question 105241 on Public Sector: Reform, what the nature is of the commercial confidentiality.
Answered by Chris Ward - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The transparency obligations under the Procurement Act only apply to the overarching contractual agreement between the Contracting Authority and the Supplier. It does not cover Statements of Work subsequently agreed under the contract.
This is in line with common practice across government procurement.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 27 November 2025 to Question 92996 on Cabinet Office: ICT, if he will publish the NISTA evaluation from March 2025.
Answered by Chris Ward - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
NISTA published its 2024-2025 annual report in August 2025, which included details on Project Falcon. The detailed gateway reports are shared with the SRO, Accounting Officers, HMT and CO to support delivery of the programme but are not routinely published.
Asked by: Baroness Finn (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether individuals whose parents were middle class when the applicant was aged 14 seeking to apply to the Civil Service Summer Internship Scheme in 2026 will self-certify as working class to sidestep the new working-class requirements; and whether there will be any audit of self-certified declarations of the socio-economic background of summer interns to verify whether applicants are falsely claiming to be working class.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Cabinet Office uses self-certification for the socio-economic data of applicants and we expect the highest levels of integrity from all Civil Servants. This is the same approach taken under the programme's predecessor - the Summer Diversity Internship Programme - from 2010 to 2023.
Any candidate who is found to have misrepresented their circumstances in their application will face a disciplinary investigation.
We will be assessing the impact of our changes at the end of this year's programme as part of our test and learn approach.
Asked by: Baroness Shawcross-Wolfson (Conservative - 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 19 January (HL13271), when they expect to publish the Civil Service strategic workforce plan; and whether they will detail its objectives.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Civil Service is committed to publishing a Civil Service Strategic Workforce Plan in the first part of this year once departments have finalised their workforce plans as per the financial settlements that were agreed with HMT in the Spending Review and the priorities set by Ministers, including those set out in the Autumn Budget.
The Civil Service Strategic Workforce Plan will set out how the Civil Service workforce will meet the Government’s policies of reducing back office costs by 16% by 2030, halving consultancy spend and targeting spending on front line services.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 19 January 2026 to Question 104797 on WPP Media: Contracts, what the latest estimated value is of each individual Lot of the RM6364 framework between 2026 and 2030; and whether the total framework for government Media and Creative Services remains £2,340,000,000 including VAT.
Answered by Chris Ward - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
For the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) framework RM6364 Media and Creative Services, the estimated maximum values for each of the eight lots over the 2026-2030 period are available at the following links:
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/003578-2026
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/000238-2026?origin=Dashboard
The total estimated framework value remains £2,340,000,000 including VAT (calculated at the rate of 20%).
It should be noted that these are maximum estimated values; actual spend on each lot will be determined by individual public sector bodies based on their specific requirements over the life of the framework.
Feb. 04 2026
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