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 26 March 2026 to Question 122146 on Lord Mandelson, whether the steps taken to retain material include (a) accessing tape backups or (b) turning off the auto-delete policy on Number 10 computers.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
I refer you to the Government's response to the Urgent Question tabled on 12th February, the Written Ministerial Statement in the name of the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister that same day, and the Oral Statement on the 23rd February, in the name of the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister, which set out an update on the Government's process and that Departments have been instructed to retain material that may be relevant to the motion.
Asked by: Alex Burghart (Conservative - Brentwood and Ongar)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the responsibilities are of the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister; and whether they have changed since the departure of the Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister's responsibilities are available on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/people/darren-jones
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 24 March 2026 to Question 118525 on Ministers: Maternity Leave, whether Ministers providing temporary cover under the provisions of the Ministerial and other Maternity Allowances Act 2021 are entitled to a severance payment when they leave office.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Ministers providing temporary leave cover, whilst a minister takes maternity leave under the provisions of the Ministerial and other Maternity Allowances Act 2021, are asked to waive their entitlement to a severance payment.
Asked by: Alex Burghart (Conservative - Brentwood and Ongar)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he plans to extend Universal Basic Services across government.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Universal Basic Services is not a government policy and is not being explored by 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 15 January 2025, to Question 22450, on Cabinet Office: Senior Civil Servants, what is the maximum amount of time that a Senior Civil Servant can remain in post on a temporary promotion.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Normally covering a role at a higher grade should not exceed 6 months and be reviewed every 3 months, exceptions would be in line with “lifecycle events” for example maternity leave cover.
Asked by: Alex Burghart (Conservative - Brentwood and Ongar)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what guidance he has given to Departments on whether (a) prior performance and (b) end-of-year appraisal are a material consideration in the Civil Service promotion process.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Departments and agencies have authority to determine promotion and lateral transfer arrangements for their own staff, in addition to the personal review arrangements for their own staff outside the Senior Civil Service.
A condition of this authority is that promotion within the Civil Service must follow a decision as to the fitness of individuals, on merit, to undertake the duties concerned.
The Civil Service uses the Success Profiles framework to attract and retain talent. This framework covers the expected levels for different grades, helping people understand suitability requirements for promotion or level transfer.
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 23 January 2026, to Question 106624, on Civil Servants: Workplace Pensions, what steps he is taking to help tackle the (a) delays in payment and (b) backlogs in the Civil Service Pension Scheme for pensioners; and what role is HMRC taking to support the Cabinet Office in taking these steps.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office awarded the contract to administer the Civil Service Pension Scheme to Capita in November 2023 under the previous government.
Angela MacDonald, Deputy Chief Executive at HMRC, is working with the Cabinet Office and Capita to lead and support delivery of a full recovery plan. This includes commitments, with milestones, to immediately deal with priority cases, restore service levels and improve communication with affected members.
The issues and delays facing a number of civil servants and pension scheme members in receiving their pension quotes are unacceptable. I want to reassure you that this Government has taken firm action to help put things right as soon as possible. We have agreed a clear recovery plan with Capita, which includes specific milestones and accountability targets for delivery. For priority cases, we have deployed additional resources and improved communication with affected colleagues, so that staff, both former and serving, receive the quality of service and support they deserve.
Existing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) have been enhanced and strengthened to deliver improved performance and higher penalties for failure, including financial penalties. These have already applied in respect to Capita's performance with recent issues and delays in administering the Civil Service Pension Scheme.
Capita prioritised the most urgent cases and by the end of February, all death in service cases were either settled or progressed to the final stage or awaiting a member response. The same position was reached for ill health retirement applications by mid-March.
Capita has made lump sum payments to 8,979 members, the majority of whom have retired but are not yet receiving their pension, and are on track to bring these members into regular pension payments by the end of April.
To provide immediate financial support to those who may need it, arrangements are in place for interest-free bridging loans typically up to £5,000 or £10,000 in exceptional cases to most recent retirees facing payment delays. This is alongside interim lump sum payments being made to provide immediate funds to retiring members. The pension scheme continues to make monthly pension payments to approximately 730,000 existing pensioner members on time.
The latest position of the Civil Service Pension Recovery Plan Update is available at this weblink: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-pension-recovery-plan-updates
Asked by: Alex Burghart (Conservative - Brentwood and Ongar)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Government will make payments to the European Union to participate in the Youth Mobility Scheme.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
We have agreed that we will work towards the establishment of a balanced youth experience scheme with the EU. This will provide a valuable form of cultural exchange for young Brits and EU citizens with the opportunity to travel, work, study and experience other cultures.
We have agreed that any scheme will be capped, subject to a visa requirement, as well as time-limited. We have been clear that the scheme should be in line with the UK’s existing schemes, such as Australia and New Zealand, but the exact parameters are subject to ongoing negotiation. This will not include financial contributions to the European Union - that is not how youth mobility schemes operate.
Asked by: Alex Burghart (Conservative - Brentwood and Ongar)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the consultation entitled Making public services work for you with your digital identity, of 10 March 2026, CP1498, whether there are circumstances in which private companies would have access to individual citizen’s data for payment of a fee.
Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The new digital ID system will help to personalise and join up public services. The UK has a strong set of data protection laws that will apply to this system, and robust enforcement of those laws. We won't be watering them down for this system and there are no circumstances in which the Government will sell the public’s digital ID data to private companies.
Asked by: Alex Burghart (Conservative - Brentwood and Ongar)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Independent Adviser on Ministerial Standards’ review into Labour Together is being assisted by the Propriety and Ethics Team.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Prime Minister asked officials in the Cabinet Office to establish the facts in relation to allegations about the conduct of the former Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State jointly in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the Cabinet Office, Josh Simons MP. Following completion of that work, the matter was referred to the Independent Adviser on Ministerial Standards. The Independent Adviser’s subsequent advice to the Prime Minister is published on gov.uk.
The Independent Adviser is independent of government.