Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the number of cases in which retired civil servants have been ordered to repay pension benefits due to administrative errors made by civil service pension providers; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact of those cases on those retired civil servants.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The administration of the Civil Service Pension Scheme is the responsibility of the Cabinet Office. However, the government has a duty to recover overpaid public money to ensure the scheme remains fair and sustainable for all taxpayers.
The Civil Service Pension Scheme pays out 732,000 pensions per month, and processes in excess of 1,000,000 member transactions each month. There have been, on average, 40 cases a year where human or administrative error led to a member being overpaid since 2014. While many overpayments in the scheme occur due to the late notification of a member's death, these specific cases do not relate to processing mistakes. Under current contracts, if the scheme cannot recover these funds from the member, it seeks recovery from the pension administrator.
We recognise that being asked to repay funds can be stressful. To manage the impact on retired civil servants, the scheme administrator works individually with those affected to create manageable recovery plans. These plans focus on the member's specific ability to pay, often spreading repayments over a long period to ensure that no undue financial hardship is caused.
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 15 May 2025 to Question 50576, on Cabinet Office: Recruitment, what is a level move.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
In the Civil Service a level move is when a civil servant moves from one role to another at the same grade as their current one. This can be from one government department to another or within the same department.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what is the timetable for Departments to implement the Civil Service diversity network guidance in their own departmental diversity networks; and whether the diversity policies adopted by individual departments are centrally monitored or held by the Cabinet Office.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Responsibility for, and management of, departmental diversity networks, is delegated to individual departments as the employer. This includes the decision to adopt or align with the Staff Network Policy. The Cabinet Office has not set a timetable for departments. Departmental policies are not monitored or held centrally by the Cabinet Office.
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.
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, 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: Baroness Finn (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Cabinet Office report Public Appointments Data Report 2024–25, published on 2 December, whether the forthcoming annual report of the Public Appointments Commissioner will include political activity statistics for 2024–25.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
This was not a decision taken by ministers. 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.
The Commissioner for Public Appointments Annual Report 2024-25 was published on 17 December. For appointments made during the reporting period, the report provides the percentage of appointees who declared political activity. It does not provide a breakdown of political activity by party for the reason stated above.
Asked by: Baroness Finn (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government why the Cabinet Office report Public Appointments Data Report 2024–25, published on 2 December, does not include political activity statistics; and who took the decision not to include those statistics.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
This was not a decision taken by ministers. 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.
The Commissioner for Public Appointments Annual Report 2024-25 was published on 17 December. For appointments made during the reporting period, the report provides the percentage of appointees who declared political activity. It does not provide a breakdown of political activity by party for the reason stated above.
Asked by: Baroness Finn (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what changes have been made to the collection of political activity data in relation to regulated public appointments since the public data appointments reporting year 2024–25.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
This was not a decision taken by ministers. 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.
The Commissioner for Public Appointments Annual Report 2024-25 was published on 17 December. For appointments made during the reporting period, the report provides the percentage of appointees who declared political activity. It does not provide a breakdown of political activity by party for the reason stated above.
Asked by: Baroness Finn (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many regulated public appointments made since 4 July 2024 have made a declaration of political activity relating to the Labour Party.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
This was not a decision taken by ministers. 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.
The Commissioner for Public Appointments Annual Report 2024-25 was published on 17 December. For appointments made during the reporting period, the report provides the percentage of appointees who declared political activity. It does not provide a breakdown of political activity by party for the reason stated above.