Ben Obese-Jecty

For the Cabinet Office the figures are:

These are the devices reported by staff of the Cabinet Office as lost since July 5th 2024. Some of these devices may have been found since their initial reporting.

Office for Equality and Opportunity are part of the Cabinet Office and as such, lost/stolen laptops will be reported within the Cabinet Office data

Part 5 of the Equality Act 2010 provides protection against direct and indirect discrimination in employment and makes it unlawful for an employer or a recruitment agency to discriminate against an employee or someone applying for employment because of a protected characteristic.

Interns with, or applying for, a contract of employment that falls within the definition of “employment” are covered by the Equality Act 2010’s protections against discrimination based on sex, ethnicity, and sexual orientation, amongst other protected characteristics.

There are some circumstances in which employers may provide additional help to groups of people who share a protected characteristic, including interns. This is permitted by the positive action provisions in the Equality Act 2010. Whether positive action is permitted will depend on whether the test in those provisions is met.

Government guidance to help employers understand the difference between positive action and positive discrimination can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/positive-action-in-the-workplace-guidance-for-employers. The Equality and Human Rights Commission’s Code of Practice provides employers with support and can be found at: https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/equality/equality-act-2010/codes-practice/employment-code-practice-0.

The Law Officers’ Convention applies to advice which may or may not have been given by the Law Officers, or requested of the Law Officers, and the Convention applies to your question.

The Law Officers’ Convention can be found at paragraph 21.27 of Erskine May:

“By long-standing convention, observed by successive Governments, the fact of, and substance of advice from, the law officers of the Crown is not disclosed outside government. This convention is referred to in paragraph [5.14] of the Ministerial Code [updated on 6 November 2024]. The purpose of this convention is to enable the Government to obtain frank and full legal advice in confidence.”

The Attorney sits on the Parliamentary Business and Legislation Committee. As part of the process of approving a government Bill for introduction, as set out in the published Guide to Making Legislation, a legal issues memorandum is prepared for this Committee. This will set out all relevant legal issues.

Whether the Law Officers have been asked to provide advice outside of the PBL process is covered by the Law Officers' Convention. This Convention provides that whether or not the Law Officers have been asked to provide advice, and the contents of any such advice, is not disclosed outside Government.

This protects the Law Officers’ ability as chief legal advisers to the Government to give full and frank legal advice and provides the fullest guarantee that government business will be conducted at all times in light of thorough and candid legal advice.

Acting recklessly with or throwing fireworks can cause life-changing injuries. These actions can result in criminal prosecution and/or civil liability, depending on whether the injury was caused deliberately, recklessly or negligently.

There are numerous offences this can fall under, including: s.39 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (common assault/battery) or from the+ Offences against the Person Act 1861: s47 (assault occasioning actual bodily harm), s20 (wounding/inflicting grievous bodily harm), s18 (wounding/causing grievous bodily harm with intent to do grievous bodily harm), s28 (grievous bodily harm by the unlawful explosion of gunpowder or other explosive substance), s29 (unlawfully causing gunpowder or some other explosive substance to explode with intent to cause grievous bodily harm). The charge chosen will depend on the facts and circumstances of the case and the level of injury caused.

During the most recently available 12 months (ending June 2025) management information shows that a total of 102,493 offences charged by way of the above legislation, commenced prosecution in magistrates’ courts. Of these charges the CPS is unable to identify which offences specifically involved fireworks as opposed to physical assaults or the use of other types of weapons, without a manual review of each case, which would incur disproportionate cost.

If an injury is caused through negligence (e.g. due to an accident at a private or publicly organised display) the person who set off the firework (or the event organiser/landowner) may be sued for damages in a civil court. Information on proceedings in civil courts is held by HM Courts and Tribunals Service.

Offences relating to the dangerous use or misuse of fireworks can be prosecuted under Section

80 of the Explosives Act 1875 (throw or light a firework in a highway, street or public place),

Section 131(1(d)) and Section 161(2(b)) of Highways Act 1980 (light a fire/discharge a

firework/firearm within 50 feet of a public highway), Section 28 of the Town and Police Clauses

Act 1847 (throw a firework/missile/discharge a firearm/light a fire in the street) and Section 2 of

the Football (Offences) Act 1991 (throw a missile onto a football pitch or adjacent area).

Management information is held by the CPS showing the number of offences in which a

prosecution commenced during each of the last five years for the above legislation.

Of these charges the CPS is unable to identify which offences specifically involved fireworks as

opposed to other types of missiles, without a manual review of each case, which would incur

disproportionate cost.

There is no indication of the final outcome or if the charged offence was the substantive charge at

the time of finalisation. It is often the case that an individual defendant is charged with more than

one offence.

Sickness absence data for the Civil Service, including departmental breakdowns is published annually, and is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/sickness-absence.

The next update will be for the year ending 31st March 2025.

The process was followed as set out in the Ministerial Code.

The Attorney General made a further statement on the speech in question which is publicly available.

The safety of our roads is a key priority for this government.

We have amended the Crime and Policing Bill to provide for new offences and penalties for dangerous cycling, updating legislation that is over 160 years old, to ensure that the tiny minority who recklessly disregard others face the full force of the law.

Cases of causing death or serious injury by dangerous or careless driving have usually been prosecuted under section 35 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 (OAPA 1861), but this offence applies to any person ‘having charge of any carriage or other vehicle’ and therefore does not solely apply to cyclists.

The earliest data held by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for prosecutions of offences under s. 35 OAPA 1861 is from 2005. Between 1 January 2005 and 31 December 2024, the CPS authorised charges for 362 offences of causing injury by wanton and furious driving contrary to s. 35.

Of these charges, the CPS is unable to identify which offences involved defendants who were cyclists, without a manual review of each case, which would incur disproportionate cost.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has conducted a full manual review of the 11 case files with a monitoring flag for child abuse. It could not ascertain whether the defendants and victims were from Guinea-Bissau or Portugal from the information provided by the police.

The CPS were unable to undertake a full manual review of the remaining cases with a monitoring flag for modern slavery as to obtain this information would incur a disproportionate cost.

This Government is committed to tackling the scourge of child trafficking. Children who are exploited by gangs for criminal purposes will now receive greater protection under the Government’s flagship Crime and Policing Bill, with the introduction of a new offence of child criminal exploitation. The Bill represents the biggest package of measures on crime and policing for decades, with new measures to cut crime and make our streets safer.

From January 2010 to September 2024, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) prosecuted 56 cases flagged for modern slavery in the Cambridge Police Force Area.

Data is recorded by defendant, rather than victim, and therefore modern slavery flagged cases may involve adult or child victims. Of these 56 cases, 11 cases also had a case monitoring flag applied for child abuse, which covers several different offences, including child trafficking.

The CPS is working closely with law enforcement via the Modern Slavery Criminal Justice Action Group – a joint working group led by CPS National Lead for Human Trafficking and the National Police Chiefs’ Council Lead for Modern Slavery and Organised Immigration Crime – to identify areas of improvement to promote early advice and increase referrals and prosecutions of modern slavery cases.

There is no record of receipt of Lord Glasman’s report in the Prime Minister’s Office.

I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided on 23 October 2025, Official Report, column 1087.

Whilst the Government does not comment on specific security assessments, we maintain a robust, cross-departmental approach to ensure that official travel is conducted securely.

The licensing of taxis in London is a matter for Transport for London (TfL). Any vehicle licensed to operate must meet stringent safety and regulatory requirements as set out in TfL’s Conditions of Fitness.

The security of Members is a matter for the Parliamentary Security Department. For Ministers and officials handling sensitive data, the Cabinet Office and individual departments provide comprehensive information security policies and guidance.

I refer the Hon Member to the evidence given by the Cabinet Secretary and Permanent Under-Secretary to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to the Foreign Affairs Committee on 3 November 2025, specifically Q310: https://committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence/16673/html/.

It is long-standing practice that UK Security Vetting, the body responsible for National Security Vetting across government does not disclose information provided by the security and intelligence services.

The most recent public-sector trade union facility time data, including the total cost of facility time broken down by Government body, for the period 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 is published here on .gov.uk.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 26th January is attached.

As the honourable Member should know and in line with the policy under successive governments, the most sensitive operational details of our continuous at sea deterrent are obviously not disclosed publicly.

The most recent public-sector trade union facility time data, broken down by organisation, for the period 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 is published here on .gov.uk.

As a matter of policy we do not publish information relating to individuals' peerage nominations.

I refer the honourable Member to my answer to PQ93098.

Any costs in this Spending Review period will be met within existing settlements. The Government will run a public consultation in the new year.

HVCTS will be paid by property owners not residents. Where official residences are owned by the state, any tax will be paid to the Exchequer at no overall cost to the taxpayer.

The UK Government does not publicly communicate the location or identity of Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) sites.

All Members of Parliament are able to make representations on behalf of their constituents. It would not be appropriate to disclose the volume of correspondence of individual MPs.

Employers will be required to conduct digital right to work checks by the end of this parliament.

We will be consulting on the details of the programme in due course, including how to help employers of all sizes onboard onto the system and how they will validate the credential to prove an employee's right to work.

Employers will be required to conduct digital right to work checks by the end of this parliament.

We will be consulting on the details of the programme in due course, including how to help employers of all sizes onboard onto the system and how they will validate the credential to prove an employee's right to work.

Defence is one of the key growth sectors identified by this government, and the GREAT Britain & Northern Ireland campaign (GREAT) has renewed its efforts to support defence exports. GREAT coordinates activities enabling government departments and overseas posts to deliver integrated local campaigns boosting British defence exports globally.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 10th October is attached.

The Government Property Agency is working with the Cabinet Office to progress a business case for the Manchester Digital Campus (“MDC”). Subject to final approval MDC will form a central component of this Government’s Digital, AI and Innovation Campus in Manchester and would build capacity benefitting multiple Government Missions.

On 22 July 2025, the former Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, the Rt Hon Pat McFadden MP, published a 12-week consultation on updating the definitions of the 17 sensitive areas of the economy subject to mandatory notification requirements under the National Security and Investment Act 2021 through the Notifiable Acquisition Regulations.

The consultation closed on 14 October. The Government is currently considering the feedback received and will publish a consultation response summarising responses and setting out the proposals that will be taken forward, including possible secondary legislation, in due course.