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 Parliamentary Secretary to the Cabinet Office on 6 June 2025 (HC53886), how much was spent on the Prime Minister’s domestic flights in 2025; and whether this includes expenditure on carbon offsetting.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Ministerial travel is undertaken using efficient and cost-effective travel arrangements. Security considerations are also taken into account.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when his Department plans to launch the Contingent Decision route for members of the Partnership Pension scheme.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office awarded the contract to administer the Civil Service Pension Scheme to Capita in November 2023 under the previous government.
The Civil Service Pension Scheme (CSPS) launched the Contingent Decision process for members who opted out of the scheme in July 2025. However, the process for members who switched to the Partnership pension scheme involves additional complexity, requiring the reconciliation of contributions between defined contribution and defined benefit arrangements. Planning is underway to define the process and timeline, and we aim to open the process later in 2026.
Asked by: Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have for specific regulatory provisions to compensate the estates of those who died as a result of being given infected blood products for mental health injuries such as (1) suicide, (2) attempted suicide, and (3) other severe impairments; and what plans they have to acknowledge and compensate the estates of the deceased for additional claims for mental injury beyond the core compensation claims route.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Infected Blood Compensation Scheme currently provides compensation for psychological harm through both the core and supplementary route, depending on the type and severity of harm. Under the supplementary route, the Severe Health Condition award offers additional compensation where someone has been diagnosed with a severe psychiatric disorder that has caused suffering beyond what is recognised and compensated for as part of their core award. The estates of deceased infected people are eligible for the core route, and to apply for the supplementary route.
The Government has recently consulted on the expansion of eligibility for a Severe Health Condition award for infected people who meet the criteria for the Special Category Mechanism (SCM) or equivalent payments. It also proposes that severe mental health issues not covered in the core route or by the existing Severe Health Condition award are compensated for by this new route. The Government has not proposed that estates of deceased infected people, unless they were receiving SCM or equivalent payments at the time of death, are eligible for this award. The Minister for the Cabinet Office hopes to update Parliament soon on the changes the Government intends to make to the compensation scheme, as a result of the public consultation.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether a permanent Director General for the Proprietary and Constitution Group has been appointed; and recruitment process was for that position.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Director General for Propriety and Constitution Group is currently filled on an interim basis, a permanent appointment has not been made. The recruitment campaign is still currently in planning stages and details will be released in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the consequences of people who died as a result of infected blood being paid less under the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme than those who are still alive.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
An infected person’s compensation (while living or as an estate) is calculated in line with five Categories of Award to recognise and compensate for the impacts of the infected blood scandal in different areas of a person’s life - these are an Injury Award, Social Impact Award, Autonomy Award, Care Award and Financial Loss Award. For the first three (Injury, Social Impact and Autonomy) the award amounts are the same whether someone applies to the scheme for compensation whilst they are still alive, or whether a personal representative of their estate makes an application.
Where an infected person has passed away before they have applied to the Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA), the estate will be able to make a claim on the infected person’s behalf. In that claim, financial loss from the point of infection to the point of the infected person’s death will be paid to the estate. This recognises the loss of earnings that a person likely suffered because of their illness. Financial loss is not paid to the estate for any years after the year of that person’s death. This is because the person cannot have had reduced earnings after they passed away. Instead, those who were financially dependent on them at the point of their death will have suffered from the reduced earnings caused by their death.
The Cabinet Office has carried out analysis under the Public Sector Equality Duty for all regulations made to establish the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme. The most recent analysis was published in October.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what information his Department holds on the number and proportion of pubs that are (a) independent, (b) owned by public companies and (c) owned by breweries.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Rt Hon. Gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 10th March is attached.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many job advertisements were published on the Civil Service jobs website in 2025 which were (a) available on public website and (b) only available to Civil Services within the passworded website.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
In 2025, there were 45,566 job adverts published on Civil Service Jobs. Of these, 24,865 (54.6%) were available to the public. The remaining 20,701 (45.4%) were advised internally and/or cross-government, meaning they were available only to existing civil servants.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many participants in the Future Leaders Scheme a) enrolled, b) completed the full programme, c) withdrew before completion and d) were removed by programme administrators in each of the last three years.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The required data is provided in the table below. The 2024-25 intake began delivery in 2025, and will complete in Summer 2026, so completion data is not yet available. Withdrawal and removal information for this year is accurate as at 23 February 2026. Data has been suppressed to prevent the identification of individuals.
| FLS 2021-22 | FLS 2022-23 | FLS 2023-24 | FLS 2024-25 (current intake) |
Enrolled | 428 | 438 | 423 | 398 |
Completed the programme | 422 | 424 | 419 | Ongoing |
Withdrew before completion | <10 | 14 | <10 | <10 |
Removed by scheme administrators | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Completion Percentage | 98.6% | 96.8% | 99% | - |
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 publication entitled Cabinet Office - Second Headquarters: Year in Review 2025, of 9 January 2026, how many headcount staff are assigned to work in the second Headquarters; and how many desks there are.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office Second Headquarters is based in the Government Hub at 1 Atlantic Square, Glasgow.
The Cabinet Office's Second Headquarters serves as a key regional base, accommodating over 700 Cabinet Office staff.
It has been the practice of successive governments not to comment, on grounds of both national security and staff safety, on the physical capacity or staffing numbers for individual buildings of the government estate.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, further to the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, Oral evidence: The work of the Cabinet Office, HC 463, 16 December 2025, Question 353, if he will list the 36 voluntary exit schemes in operation by public body.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
I refer to the Honourable Member to Minister Turley’s answer provided to PQ 82675.