Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect to complete the quango review.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Arms Length Body (ALB) Review, formally launched on 7th April 2025, is ongoing and its outcomes will be communicated in due course.
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 a list of (a) inward and (b) outward secondments by (i) Department, (ii) grade and (iii) external body.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Secondments into the Civil Service from other sectors are a key route to bring essential skills and experience into the right roles and teams, enabling talented individuals from outside the Civil Service to contribute to the work of Government by sharing critical capabilities and innovative thinking for a set period of time.
The secondments data commission provides insight on inward and outward secondments taking place across government. The Cabinet Office has worked closely with departments to improve the amount, detail and quality of the data available. The limited number of records/data sets makes the data personally identifiable information, therefore it will not be possible to publish this data.
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 17 October 2025, to Question 77543, on Political Parties: Conferences, whether Cabinet Office HR division collates information on (a) junior and (b) senior civil service staff who are given permission to (i) run for local election and (ii) attend party political conferences.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Cabinet Office Human Resources does collate information centrally on both junior and senior civil service staff who are given permission to run for local election. However, information on staff attending party political conferences is not collated centrally as previously referenced in my answer to Question 77543.
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 4 November 2025 to Question 86054 on Cabinet Office: Lord Lieutenants, when his Department first established a formal complaints procedure for (a) Lord-Lieutenants, (b) Vice Lord-Lieutenants and (c) Deputy Lieutenants; and on what statutory basis this procedure was created.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
A formal complaints procedure relating to the Lieutenancies was published in 2021. The Lieutenancies Act 1997 and the Northern Ireland (Lieutenancy) Order 1975 provide the statutory framework relating to Lieutenancies.
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 Correspondence from the Interim Chair of ACOBA to the Permanent Secretary of the Cabinet Office on the closure of ACOBA and reform of the Rules, published on 12 October 2025, for what reason the letter was removed from gov.uk.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The correspondence was published in error and therefore it was removed from GOV.UK.
Asked by: Jen Craft (Labour - Thurrock)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps (a) his Department and (b) its public bodies are taking to (i) develop and (ii) use artificial intelligence approaches to British Sign Language.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Providing BSL translations of pre-recorded audio and video content on public services is a legislative Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AAA criterion. As outlined in the Government Service Standard, all digital government services must as a minimum meet Level AA. AAA is best practice.
Through the Service Standard and Service Assessments, the Government Digital Service encourages departments to incorporate BSL into service design. In May this year DVSA (Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency) launched the UK Government’s first British Sign Language (BSL) online translation service for candidates booking their theory test online. DVSA held a series of user research session with BSL users, with one participant calling the service ‘life-changing’.
There are opportunities to use AI to accelerate the creation of accessible content across public services. If public bodies trial the use of AI in approaches to BSL, they would be required to conform with both WCAG and the Service Standard, and must conduct research with disabled people, including Deaf users and where appropriate to the service provision, those who use sign language or a sign language interpreter to interact with the service.
Regardless of if AI generated, services must also make sure any BSL video is culturally appropriate by working with the BSL community, testing it, or getting feedback.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 8 July 2025 to Question 64200, when he expects to publish the evaluation results for 2024-25.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Evaluation results for the GREAT Britain & Northern Ireland Campaign have not yet been finalised for financial year 2024/25. We expect initial economic returns generated by the campaign in 2024/25 to have been assessed and validated before the end of the year, and will be published via the GREAT website when appropriate.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 5 November 2025 to Question 86240 on Chinese Embassy: Planning Permission, and further to his public comments at the G20 in November 2024, if he will publish the dates on which he discussed the proposed Chinese Embassy in London with the Chinese Government since 4 July 2024.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
I refer the Hon Member back to the answer of 5 November 2025, Official Report, PQ 86240.
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 June 2025 to Question 54273 on Government Departments: Sanitation, if he will publish all written submissions sent by PCS to the Cabinet Office on toilet provision in government buildings since the Supreme Court judgment in the case of For Women Scotland v The Scottish Ministers of 16 April 2025.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office does not publish correspondence between unions and officials as this would undermine the ability to communicate freely.
Asked by: Alex Burghart (Conservative - Brentwood and Ongar)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when the Prime Minister plans to reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar dated 29 November 2024.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The correspondence referred to the resignation of the Rt Hon Member for Sheffield Heeley in November 2024. The Prime Minister has addressed this matter in the House and set out that, subsequent to her appointment as Secretary of State for Transport, further information emerged and that it was right for the former Transport Secretary to resign.
The public exchange of letters is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/louise-haighs-resignation-letter-and-the-prime-ministers-response-29-november-2024