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 25 November 2025 to Question 91376 on Government Hospitality: Wines, how much his Department spent with Berry Bros for invoices under £25,000 since 4 July 2024.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
I refer the Hon Member to the answer of 25 November 2025, Official Report, PQ 91376.
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 25 November 2025 to Question 91381 on Tom Kibasi, what the length of his secondment to Downing Street was.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Tom Kibasi was hired on secondment for a period of 2 months.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, further to his Department's publication entitled Public-sector trade union facility time data, updated on 27 November 2025, how many and what proportion of public bodies required to submit facility time data did not submit data, including data by (a) civil service, (b) education, (c) local authorities, (d) NHS, (e) police and (f) other bodies in (i) 2023-24 and (ii) 2024-25.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
A list of the Public Bodies which are required to submit facility time data can be found in Schedule 1 of The Trade Union (Facility Time Publication Requirements) Regulations 2017.
The public-sector trade union facility time data for the year 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 has been published on .gov.uk.
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 9 December 2025 to Question 95640 on Senior Civil Servants: Redundancy Pay, what was the legal basis for the previous Cabinet Secretary being given an exit payment.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Employment Rights Act 1996 defines contracts and employee rights for pay, leave, dismissal and other employment rights.
The model Permanent Secretary contract mentioned in the answer of 9 December 2025, states the terms and conditions and is used for Permanent Secretary level appointments including the Cabinet Secretary.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by the Prime Minister on 12 November (HC Deb col 148), whether (1) the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, or (2) his special advisers, had any involvement in media briefings.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
No.
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 26 November 2025 to Question 92016 on Civil Service: Management, for what reason the Terms of Reference are not subject to external publication.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Corporate governance in central government departments: code of good practice (2017) does not require publication of board and committee Terms of Reference.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of delaying by one year the transfer of the responsibility to make support scheme payments from the Infected Blood Support Schemes (IBSS) to the Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA) on infected people who have not yet received any support payments due to ineligibility for the England IBSS, but who are eligible under new IBCA regulations.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The eligibility criteria for infected people for the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme, established by the Government, are different from the eligibility criteria for the Infected Blood Support Schemes (IBSS). Only those who are receiving support scheme payments from the IBSS will be eligible to continue receiving these payments as part of their wider compensation paid by the Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA), if they choose to do so.
The delay of the transfer will therefore not impact the compensation available to infected people who were never registered with IBSS. IBCA opened its service to the first claims from infected people who were not registered with IBSS in November.
Asked by: Caroline Johnson (Conservative - Sleaford and North Hykeham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what proportion of (a) named day questions and (b) ordinary written questions were responded to by her Department within the required timescale in (i) May 2025, (ii) June 2025, (iii) July 2025, (iv) August 2025, (v) September 2025, (vi) October 2025 and (vii) November 2025.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government recognises the importance of the effective and timely handling of written parliamentary questions (PQs).
The House of Commons Procedure Committee monitors departmental PQ performance and publishes a report of the government’s consolidated PQ data following the end of each session.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, to ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office further to the Answer of 4 November 2025, to Question 85708, on Honours: Forfeiture, if he will publish the criteria for removal from the Roll of the Peerage.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
There are no set criteria for removal from the Roll of the Peerage.
Asked by: David Chadwick (Liberal Democrat - Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what progress the Government has made on delivering a UK Single Trade Window.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government is committed to minimising administrative burdens and frictions experienced by businesses trading internationally. While delivery of the single trade window (STW) was paused at the end of 2024, it remains the Government’s intention to deliver an STW, and we will use the pause to further engage with key border stakeholders to better understand their needs.