Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by the Minister for the Cabinet Office on 21 November 2025 (HC91378), and with reference to paragraph 223 of the Cabinet Office Guide to Parliamentary Work and paragraph 1.6(d) of the Ministerial Code, and the MOD guidance "Contact with the media and communicating in public", why the Cabinet Office did not disclose to Parliament the updated guidance to Civil Servants on public speaking and speaking to the media, even though it is the ongoing policy of the Ministry of Defence to publish their equivalent guidance on gov.uk.

Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

There are currently no plans to publish this guidance as the area remains subject to ongoing policy development.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether individuals whose parents were middle class when the applicant was aged 14 seeking to apply to the Civil Service Summer Internship Scheme in 2026 will self-certify as working class to sidestep the new working-class requirements; and whether there will be any audit of self-certified declarations of the socio-economic background of summer interns to verify whether applicants are falsely claiming to be working class.

Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Cabinet Office uses self-certification for the socio-economic data of applicants and we expect the highest levels of integrity from all Civil Servants. This is the same approach taken under the programme's predecessor - the Summer Diversity Internship Programme - from 2010 to 2023.

Any candidate who is found to have misrepresented their circumstances in their application will face a disciplinary investigation.

We will be assessing the impact of our changes at the end of this year's programme as part of our test and learn approach.

Question

To ask His Majesty's Government whether officials or special advisers assign any marking, code or traffic light, other than date, to incoming parliamentary Written Questions to assess or advise how they may be answered.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Basildon - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal

The way in which departments triage incoming parliamentary questions is a matter for each individual department. There is no specific centralised guidance on assigning codes or traffic light ratings to questions.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by the Minister for the Cabinet Office on 14 January 2026 (HC104152), what is the constitutional basis for the National Security Adviser to (1) act as management, and (2) issue directions on behalf of the Prime Minister, given the statutory prohibitions under Section 8(5)(c) of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 on exercising any power under any Act or any power under His Majesty's prerogative.

Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Code of Conduct for Special Advisers states that special advisers 'convey to officials ministers’ views, instructions and priorities' and that they may 'hold meetings with officials to discuss the advice being put to ministers'. In line with the Code, the National Security Adviser does not line manage civil servants.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Baroness Chapman of Darlington on 17 September 2025 (HL10206) and 23 September 2025 (HL10204), what definition of a woman they use when engaging in joint UK-EU programmes relating to women; whether it differs from the self-identification policy adopted by the European Institute for Gender Equality; and whether they plan to change the UK definition in light of the Supreme Court ruling in For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers.

Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)

The Supreme Court decision concerned the definition of a woman in the context of the UK Equality Act 2010.

If the Noble Baroness wishes to specify the UK-EU programmes that she has in mind, I will be happy to examine whether her question arises in relation to those programmes.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what back-channel work, if any, Inter Mediate is undertaking in Haiti for the UK Government.

Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)

Inter Mediate is not undertaking any work in Haiti for the UK Government.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent on 19 January (HL13419), what the specific issue was that limited the available political activity data and prevented the inclusion of that data in the Public Appointments Data Report 2024-25, published on 2 December 2025; whether that issue has been resolved; and whether they will retrospectively publish that data.

Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

Political activity information is collected from candidates as part of the public appointments digital service’s online application process. Political activity data was not included in the Public Appointments Data Report 2024-25 due to a data collection issue which meant it could not be extracted in a usable format for reporting. The data collection issue has now been rectified, and political activity data will be considered for inclusion in the 2025-26 data report.

The last government did not publish a data report after 2021-22, but under this administration, the government has restarted publishing these reports in order to provide transparency.

I also refer the Noble Baroness back to PQ HL13974 and PQ HL13979:

Questions:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent on 19 January (HL13419), what was the title and grade of the most senior official who approved the removal or omission of political impartiality data from the Public Appointments Data Report 2024-25, published on 2 December 2025.

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anderson of Swansea on 19 January (HL13419), whether Ministers were informed or consulted on the decision not to include political activity data in the Cabinet Office Public Appointments Data Report 2024–25; and for what reason the headline political activity data published in the Commissioner for Public Appointment’s Annual Report of 17 December was not included in the Cabinet Office report of 2 December.

Combined answer:

As was the case under previous governments, and in accordance with the Governance Code on Public Appointments, the political activity of successful candidates is published by government departments as part of the public announcement regarding the appointment.

The last government did not publish a data report after 2021-22, but under this administration, the government has restarted publishing these reports in order to provide transparency.

Political activity data was not included in the Public Appointments Data Report 2024-25 due to a data collection issue which limited the data that was available. The data collection issue has now been rectified, and this information will be considered for inclusion in the 2025-26 data report.

The Commissioner for Public Appointments, as the independent regulator, decided to include the limited data for 2024-25 in his own reporting.

The Cabinet Office did not publish a data report in either 2022-23 or 2023-24, so political activity data was also not published in a collated form for these years.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent on 19 January (HL13919), whether the Cabinet Office appointments database holds information on the individual political affiliation of the public appointees who declared political activity in (1) 2024-25, and (2) 2025-26.

Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

Political activity information is collected from candidates as part of the public appointments digital service’s online application process. Political activity data was not included in the Public Appointments Data Report 2024-25 due to a data collection issue which meant it could not be extracted in a usable format for reporting. The data collection issue has now been rectified, and political activity data will be considered for inclusion in the 2025-26 data report.

The last government did not publish a data report after 2021-22, but under this administration, the government has restarted publishing these reports in order to provide transparency.

I also refer the Noble Baroness back to PQ HL13974 and PQ HL13979:

Questions:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent on 19 January (HL13419), what was the title and grade of the most senior official who approved the removal or omission of political impartiality data from the Public Appointments Data Report 2024-25, published on 2 December 2025.

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anderson of Swansea on 19 January (HL13419), whether Ministers were informed or consulted on the decision not to include political activity data in the Cabinet Office Public Appointments Data Report 2024–25; and for what reason the headline political activity data published in the Commissioner for Public Appointment’s Annual Report of 17 December was not included in the Cabinet Office report of 2 December.

Combined answer:

As was the case under previous governments, and in accordance with the Governance Code on Public Appointments, the political activity of successful candidates is published by government departments as part of the public announcement regarding the appointment.

The last government did not publish a data report after 2021-22, but under this administration, the government has restarted publishing these reports in order to provide transparency.

Political activity data was not included in the Public Appointments Data Report 2024-25 due to a data collection issue which limited the data that was available. The data collection issue has now been rectified, and this information will be considered for inclusion in the 2025-26 data report.

The Commissioner for Public Appointments, as the independent regulator, decided to include the limited data for 2024-25 in his own reporting.

The Cabinet Office did not publish a data report in either 2022-23 or 2023-24, so political activity data was also not published in a collated form for these years.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent on 19 January (HL13419), whether Ministers were informed or consulted on the decision not to include political activity data in the Cabinet Office Public Appointments Data Report 2024–25; and for what reason the headline political activity data published in the Commissioner for Public Appointment’s Annual Report of 17 December was not included in the Cabinet Office report of 2 December.

Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

As was the case under previous governments, and in accordance with the Governance Code on Public Appointments, the political activity of successful candidates is published by government departments as part of the public announcement regarding the appointment.

The last government did not publish a data report after 2021-22, but under this administration, the government has restarted publishing these reports in order to provide transparency.

Political activity data was not included in the Public Appointments Data Report 2024-25 due to a data collection issue which limited the data that was available. The data collection issue has now been rectified, and this information will be considered for inclusion in the 2025-26 data report.

The Commissioner for Public Appointments, as the independent regulator, decided to include the limited data for 2024-25 in his own reporting.

The Cabinet Office did not publish a data report in either 2022-23 or 2023-24, so political activity data was also not published in a collated form for these years.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent on 19 January (HL13419), what was the title and grade of the most senior official who approved the removal or omission of political impartiality data from the Public Appointments Data Report 2024-25, published on 2 December 2025.

Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

As was the case under previous governments, and in accordance with the Governance Code on Public Appointments, the political activity of successful candidates is published by government departments as part of the public announcement regarding the appointment.

The last government did not publish a data report after 2021-22, but under this administration, the government has restarted publishing these reports in order to provide transparency.

Political activity data was not included in the Public Appointments Data Report 2024-25 due to a data collection issue which limited the data that was available. The data collection issue has now been rectified, and this information will be considered for inclusion in the 2025-26 data report.

The Commissioner for Public Appointments, as the independent regulator, decided to include the limited data for 2024-25 in his own reporting.

The Cabinet Office did not publish a data report in either 2022-23 or 2023-24, so political activity data was also not published in a collated form for these years.

Found: Letter dated 28/01/2026 from Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent to Baroness Finn regarding the debate