Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that people entitled to a civil service pension are paid on time and without fault.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Civil Service Pension Scheme (CSPS) is one of the largest in the UK, currently paying pensions to approximately 730,000 members every month. The scheme administrator processes an average of 6,000 retirements each month.
The Cabinet Office, as the Scheme Manager, holds the administrator (MyCSP) accountable for meeting contractual performance levels to ensure members are paid on time. Over the last 6 months, MyCSP achieved 100% of its key service level agreements for retirement processing. We continue to monitor performance closely and work to ensure that any errors are identified and addressed as quickly as possible.
The government has taken significant steps to improve both oversight and enforcement. A new administration contract has been awarded to Capita, which goes live on 1st December 2025. This new contract includes significantly tighter and more rigorous contractual performance indicators, enhanced service levels, reduced processing times, and a new financial penalty scale to ensure accountability and improve the member experience.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Cabinet Office still operates a Hybrid Development Working Group.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Civil Service has a number of cross-government groups to address common issues, find solutions to complex policy challenges and support the sharing of best practice.
The Cross-Government Group on Working Flexibly meets on an adhoc basis and focuses on effective and positive ways of working in a hybrid world, as well as supporting the implementation of related legislation changes across departments.
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 place the desk note on Direct Ministerial Appointments in the House of Commons Library.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
On 30 October the government published for the first time guidance for departments on the process for ministers making Direct Ministerial Appointments. This replaced earlier internal desk note guidance for departments, which had been rewritten to provide greater clarity for a wider audience, including setting out publicly where Direct Ministerial Appointments sit within the various routes into government.
On 3 November the Cabinet Secretary, during his evidence session before the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, agreed to send - and subsequently sent - a copy of the previous internal departmental desk note to the Committee. A copy of this now superseded desk note guidance will be placed in the House of Commons Library.
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 paragraph 60 of the Decision Note from the Commissioner for Public Appointments on the Appointment of the Chair of the Independent Football Regulator, published on 6 November 2025, what is the timetable for his Department to (a) consult on and (b) implement the recommendations.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Commissioner for Public Appointments provides independent assurance that public appointments are made in accordance with the Principles of Public Appointments and the Governance Code on Public Appointments.
Following the Commissioner’s investigation into the appointment of the Chair of the Independent Football Regulator, the Government welcomes his findings against which we are reviewing the robustness of the current guidance with a view to learning the lessons from the report.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to ensure the 2025 Government Communications Service (GCS) audit includes all GCS staff; and how many GCS staff there are in (a) Downing Street and (b) his Department.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government Communication Service (GCS) conducts an annual data collection, requiring government organisations to submit accurate and timely returns through departmental single points of contact. It should be noted that some organisations may have undergone significant changes since the data was collected in July 2025.
At the time of the collection:
(a) Downing Street: The Number 10 Civil Service Communications team consisted of 44.8 FTE.
(b) Cabinet Office: Core Cabinet Office comms roles consisted of 40.43 FTE (of which 22 are roles within Press Office and Cabinet Office Digital Communications) with 141.52 FTE in the Central GCS team (also based within the Cabinet Office).
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 20 October 2025 to Question 81328 on Prime Minister: Information Officers, whether the Special Adviser has provided information on financial interests in Strand Partners.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
I refer the Hon Member to the answer of 20 October 2025, Official Report, PQ 81328.
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 10 October 2025 to Question 71232 on 10 Downing Street: Renewable Energy, who the energy provider is; and what the tariff is.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The electricity supply at Number 10 is on zero carbon tariff supplied under the Crown Commercial Services. The gas is under a standard tariff supplied under the Crown Commercial Services. The heat is supplied under the Whitehall District Heat System.
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 guidance issued to departments referenced in the letter from the Paymaster General to the Institute for Government of 14 October 2025.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
There are no plans to publish this guidance.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Independent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests has been asked to investigate the appointment of the Independent Football Regulator Chair.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
It is the role of the independent Commissioner for Public Appointments to provide independent assurance that public appointments are made in accordance with the Government’s Principles of Public Appointments and Governance Code.
The report of the Commissioner for Public Appointments’ inquiry into the process of appointing the Chair of the Independent Football Regulator was published on 6 November 2025 and can be found here.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 17 November 2025 to Question 88938 on Prime Minister: Climate Change Convention, how many miles have been carbon offset in each of the last 12 months.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Prime Ministerial flights are carbon offset where that is possible.