Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many receptions have taken place in Downing Street since the general election which were (a) funded by the taxpayer and (b) funded through political donations.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
As under previous Governments, party political receptions are not a matter for the Government. Details of official receptions are published in quarterly transparency returns on gov.uk.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish the (a) terms of reference and (b) rules of procedure for the Committee on the Grant of Honours, Decorations, and Medals.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
I refer the Right Hon. Member to the answer of 10 October 2024, Official Report, PQ 7430.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to fill vacancies on the Honours committees.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
There is currently ongoing activity to fill vacancies on 7 of the independent Honours Committees. New roles are advertised on the Public Appointments website and new appointments to the Honours Committees can be found on gov.uk.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent guidance the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments has provided to special envoys on lobbying.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The Business Rules apply to Ministers and Crown servants. The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACOBA) provides advice on applications for advice from Crown servants of grade SCS3 and above, and former ministers.
Special envoys are made via a direct ministerial appointment and are not ministerial or civil service roles.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether there is an (a) informal and (b) formal quadrilateral committee or sub-committee of the Cabinet.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The list of Cabinet committees has been published in the House of Commons library and on gov.uk.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Written Statement of 14 May 2024 on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in the Civil Service, HCWS464, and pursuant to the Answers of 19 September 2024 to Question 5049 and of 16 September 2024 to Question 4679, on Civil Service: Equality, what progress he has made on ending standalone EDI roles outside of HR.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The Civil Service Equality Diversity and Inclusion Expenditure Guidance published on 14 May, remains in place.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate has been made of the value of the donation in kind from Arsenal to the Prime Minister of use of the Directors Box in the next twelve months.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
I refer the Right Hon. Member to the entry made to the Register of Members’ Financial Interests by my Right Hon. Friend the Member for Holborn and St Pancras.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many and what proportion of roles advertised on the Civil Service jobs website have been accessible (a) to the general public and (b) only to people with gov.uk email addresses since 4 July 2024.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
As was the case when the Rt Hon member was a minister in the Cabinet Office, roles advertised through Civil Service Jobs can be categorised as ‘internal’ and therefore viewable by civil servants within the advertising department; ‘across government’ and therefore viewable by all those across the Civil Service; and ‘external’ and therefore viewable by the general public. As under the previous Government, for appointments below Senior Civil Service (SCS) level, departments have the authority to determine how they recruit in line with the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles, while all SCS jobs must be advertised externally to the public unless an exemption is approved.
As of 11 November 2024, :
Approx. 73% (37,037) of jobs advertised through Civil Service Jobs were accessible by the general public; and
Approx. 27% (13,478) of jobs advertised through Civil Service Jobs were accessible only to civil servants.
Publishing copies of all these posts will take a disproportionate amount of activity to analyse and provide.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish copies of posts that have been advertised on the Civil Service jobs website since 4 July 2024 which have only been accessible to people with gov.uk email addresses.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
As was the case when the Rt Hon member was a minister in the Cabinet Office, roles advertised through Civil Service Jobs can be categorised as ‘internal’ and therefore viewable by civil servants within the advertising department; ‘across government’ and therefore viewable by all those across the Civil Service; and ‘external’ and therefore viewable by the general public. As under the previous Government, for appointments below Senior Civil Service (SCS) level, departments have the authority to determine how they recruit in line with the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles, while all SCS jobs must be advertised externally to the public unless an exemption is approved.
As of 11 November 2024, :
Approx. 73% (37,037) of jobs advertised through Civil Service Jobs were accessible by the general public; and
Approx. 27% (13,478) of jobs advertised through Civil Service Jobs were accessible only to civil servants.
Publishing copies of all these posts will take a disproportionate amount of activity to analyse and provide.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what methodology the Government uses to assess whether someone is a working person for the purposes of policy development; and whether pensioners are included in that demographic.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Each government department is responsible for assessing potential policies to ensure they deliver the Government’s objectives.