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 2 December 2025 to Question 93002 on Devolution, and with reference to his Department's joint press release entitled UK Minister vows to work with devolved nations to deliver growth in first visit to Northern Ireland, published on 3 October 2024, for what reason the press release referred to the devolved nations.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Reminders on terminology have been issued to relevant teams and departments.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether civil servants who act as coaches within the Internal Coaching Service are permitted to provide coaching sessions during their contracted working hours.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Civil servants who act as coaches within the Internal Coaching Service are permitted to provide coaching sessions during their contracted working hours. Participation in the coaching service often forms an additional work objective, and coaches are responsible for discussing their participation with their line managers.
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 the Civil Service Recruitment Framework.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Civil Service Recruitment Framework exists to ensure vacancies are consistently accessible to the widest possible pool of talent. There are no plans to publish this internal-facing framework to the public domain, as it constitutes HR-to-HR guidance designed for departments to integrate into their respective policies and processes.
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 1 December 2025, to Question 93384 on Permanent Secretaries: Redundancy Pay, if he will publish that list.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
I refer to my answer for 93384. Payments are published in departmental Annual Reports and Accounts for the financial years in which they were made. These are available on GOV.UK
Asked by: Euan Stainbank (Labour - Falkirk)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps Civil Service Pensions is taking to improve the process for the provision of the death in service benefit pay-out to bereaved families.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Scheme Manager and the Scheme Administrator work in close partnership to ensure that all death in service cases are treated as a matter of the highest priority.
To improve the provision of benefits to bereaved families, the new Civil Service Pensions Scheme Contract has been strategically designed with enhanced performance metrics and more rigorous key performance measures. These improved indicators allow the Scheme Manager to exert greater leverage over the Administrator, ensuring that service delivery meets strict standards and that any delays are met with robust financial penalties.
Furthermore, the Cabinet Office has implemented a standardised contract management policy to provide consistent, high-level oversight. This ensures that the administration of death in service benefits is not only closely monitored but held to a level of accountability that directly supports a more efficient and responsive process for claimants.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what information his Department holds on what leadership and promotion schemes run by the Civil Service are restricted to people (a) from ethnic minorities and (b) with other protected characteristics.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Promotion in the Civil Service is through fair and open competition and is overseen by the Civil Service Commission.
The Cabinet Office is responsible for centrally managed leadership development programmes for staff at G7 to DD (the Accelerated Development Schemes). Recruitment to these programmes is guided by the same principles. Participation in the Accelerated Development Schemes is not restricted to ethnicity or other protected characteristics.
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 1 December 2025 to Question 93375 on Government Departments: Facilities Agreements, whether his department holds information on which departments have given agreement to allow paid time to be used for trade union activities.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office does not hold any central records on which departments have given agreement to allow paid time to be used for trade union activities.
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 the Public Appointments Data Report 2024-25, published on 2 December 2025, and with reference to previous reports, for what reason the Public Appointments Data Report 2024-25 does not include information on political activity.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Public Appointments Data Report 2024-25 did not include information on the political activity of public appointees due to the transition to the public appointments digital service in 2023. This data is now being collected and will be considered for inclusion in future reports.
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 The Public Appointments Data Report 2024-25, published on 2 December 2025, whether Ministers requested that the socio-economic background of the applicants for public appointments to be monitored.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The government is committed to ensuring that public appointments are more representative of our nations and regions, including socio-economic background.
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.