Asked by: Baroness Finn (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what guidance the Cabinet Office have issued to departments since the start of December 2025 about the approach to answering Written Questions about direct ministerial appointments; whether the Cabinet Office has made departments aware of expectation of transparency on direct ministerial appointments in the Guidance on Making Direct Ministerial Appointments, published October 2025; and what assessment they have made of compliance with that guidance of (1) the original, and (2) the corrected, Written Answer by the Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office on 7 January (HC98100).
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Cabinet Office wrote to departments when the Guidance on Making Direct Ministerial Appointments was published, highlighting the contents of the guidance. As the guidance sets out, the responsibility for the publication of information about direct ministerial appointments rests with individual departments.
Asked by: Baroness Finn (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to paragraph 23 of Guidance on Making Direct Ministerial Appointments, published in October 2025, whether (1) the Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary, and (2) the Cabinet Propriety and Ethics Team, have approved any individual exemptions to the publication of details of direct ministerial appointments for appointees who are currently in post.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
There are no such cases.
Asked by: Baroness Finn (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with reference to Permanent secretary model employment contract, deposited in the House of Commons Library on 4 December 2025 (DEP2025-0830), whether they will place the model contract for the Senior Civil Service in the Library of the House.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
A copy of the model contract has been placed in the House Library.
Asked by: Baroness Finn (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent on 23 December 2025 (HL13096), who took the decision not to include any political activity information in Public Appointments Data Report 2024-25, published on 2 December 2025; and why page 41 of The Commissioner for Public Appointments Annual Report 2024-25, published on 17 December 2025, contained political activity data on regulated public appointments that was not listed in the Cabinet Office's Public Appointments Data Report 2024-25.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The decision not to include political activity data in the Public Appointments Data Report 2024-25 was taken by officials, due to a data collection issue which limited the data that was available.
The Commissioner for Public Appointments sources data from the Cabinet Office. As an independent regulator, he reports separately to the government and decided to include this limited data.
The data collection issue has been rectified, and this information will be considered for inclusion in the 2025-26 data report. In the meantime, information about the political activity of individual public appointees is available on the announcement page of the public appointment digital service.
Asked by: Baroness Finn (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the reason why the public statement on 6 January about the appointment of Axel Heitmueller as Head of the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit and Expert Adviser on Delivery does not include his (1) remuneration, or (2) expected end date, in line with paragraph 21 of Guidance on Making Direct Ministerial Appointments, published October 2025.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
This information was published by the government on the new Direct Ministerial Appointments Announcements Portal.
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.
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, with regard to Ministers' Gifts and Hospitality: Publication Guidance, published on 30 January, whether ministerial gifts and hospitality which were accepted and subsequently reimbursed or repaid to the donor by (1) the Prime Minister, (2) the Deputy Prime Minister, (3) the Chancellor of the Exchequer, are (a) included, or (b) omitted, from the Register of Ministers’ Gifts and Hospitality.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Details of gifts and hospitality received by the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer in a ministerial capacity have been declared in line with the requirements of the Ministerial Code and Cabinet Office guidance.
In line with these requirements, the Cabinet Office publishes a Register of Ministers' Gifts and Hospitality each month, which can be found, alongside the publication guidance, at the following address -
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/register-of-ministers-gifts-and-hospitality