Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what contracts their Department has with Palantir.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Details of central government contracts above £12,000 for procurements commenced before 24 February 2025 are published on Contracts Finder. Contracts procured under the Procurement Act 2023, which came into force on 24 February 2025, are published on the Central Digital Platform Find a Tender service.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when he plans to publish the Resilience Strategy.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Government will set out its resilience strategy in due course.
Asked by: Graeme Downie (Labour - Dunfermline and Dollar)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people with Hepatitis B had received an interim payment of compensation from the Infected Blood Compensation Authority by 30 June 2025.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The delivery of the Infected Blood Interim Compensation Payments is the responsibility of the four existing Infected Blood Support Schemes (IBSS). Interim Payments have been made to people infected with HIV and/or Hepatitis C as a result of infected blood and their bereaved partners. People infected with Hepatitis B are not eligible to apply to IBSS and are therefore not eligible for interim payments.
However, the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme, which is being delivered by the Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA), has broader eligibility criteria than the current Infected Blood Support Schemes. People who are or were infected with a chronic case of Hepatitis B are eligible for compensation under the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme, including compensation for past financial loss and care costs.
Asked by: Graeme Downie (Labour - Dunfermline and Dollar)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people with Hepatitis B were waiting for an interim payment of compensation from the Infected Blood Compensation Authority on 30 June 2025.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The delivery of the Infected Blood Interim Compensation Payments is the responsibility of the four existing Infected Blood Support Schemes (IBSS). Interim Payments have been made to people infected with HIV and/or Hepatitis C as a result of infected blood and their bereaved partners. People infected with Hepatitis B are not eligible to apply to IBSS and are therefore not eligible for interim payments.
However, the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme, which is being delivered by the Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA), has broader eligibility criteria than the current Infected Blood Support Schemes. People who are or were infected with a chronic case of Hepatitis B are eligible for compensation under the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme, including compensation for past financial loss and care costs.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many (a) unauthorised and (b) sickness absences there were in the civil service in each of the last five years.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Sickness absence data for the Civil Service is published annually, and is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/sickness-absence.
Individual departments are responsible for managing their workforces, including any instances of unauthorised absence. This information is not held centrally by the Cabinet Office.
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 was the average span of managerial control across the Cabinet Office by grade in 2024–25; and how many line management posts they expect will be removed to achieve the £5 million saving identified through organisational restructure by 2028–29.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The average span of control of line managers by grade in FY 2024/25 has been presented in the table below.
Line Manager Grade | Average Span of Control |
Perm Sec | 12.5 |
SCS3 | 7.6 |
SCS2 | 5.3 |
SCS1 | 4.5 |
Grade 6 | 3.5 |
Grade 7 | 2.0 |
SEO | 3.1 |
HEO | 3.3 |
EO | 6.2 |
In line with the 2025 Spending Review, we are restructuring the Cabinet Office into a more strategic, specialised, and smaller department. Our focus is on identifying budgetary savings rather than meeting a specific headcount target.
So far, 540 employees have been approved to leave through the Voluntary Exit Scheme.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department's press release entitled Conclusion of His Majesty The King’s free Portrait Scheme, published on 28 November 2024, what the percentage take-up rate was for (a) UK Government departments and (b) arm's-length bodies separately.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
His Majesty The King’s free Portrait Scheme was a voluntary programme offering a free, framed portrait of The King to any eligible public institution that requested one.
Following the conclusion of the scheme, a breakdown of the take up was published on gov.uk.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an estimate of the potential impact of reducing GREAT campaign funding on economic growth.
Answered by Ellie Reeves - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
I refer the hon. member to the PQs 63750 and 64200.
In 2025/26, GREAT has allocated its budget to maximise the economic returns that the programme can deliver with the available resources. This includes delivering targeted campaigns and events in high-priority markets to continue to drive international trade, investment, tourism and student recruitment for all nations and regions of the UK.
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 12 May 2025 to Question 49382 on 9 Downing Street: Repairs and Maintenance, whether the relevant narrative entry in the transparency data will show which OCS invoice relates to the refurbishment of the Downing Street media room.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Government Property Agency is awaiting OCS' submission of an application for payment for the costs for the 9DS Media Suite.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse for Senior Civil Service pay in the (a) 2024-25 and (b) 2025-26 financial years.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The latest paybill information for the Senior Civil Service can be found in the 2025/26 annual report by the Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB).