Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many times Council Leaders from non Mayoral authorities have had meetings with the [i] Prime Minister and [ii] Prime Minister's Officials at Number 10 North since July 2026.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Ministerial meetings with external organisations, including those held by the Prime Minister, are published on a quarterly basis on gov.uk.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many times Mayors from devolved Mayoral authorities have had meetings with the [i] Prime Minister and [ii] Prime Minister's Officials at Number 10 North since July 2026.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Ministerial meetings with external organisations, including those held by the Prime Minister, are published on a quarterly basis on gov.uk.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to WPQ 21856 answered on 8 September 2026 about Number 10 North Operating Costs, if she will publish the total refurbishment costs to date for the establishment of No 10 North at Heron House in Manchester.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
No refurbishment of Heron House was undertaken. The cost of establishing No10 North in Heron House is from the existing budget of the Cabinet Office. Associated costs will be accounted for in the Cabinet Office Annual Report and Accounts.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to WPQ 21856 answered on 8 September 2026 about Number 10 North Operating Costs, what were the outcomes of her last meeting with [a] Civil Service representatives and [b] Trade Union about the progress in moving the civil service workforce from London to Manchester and [ii] the related logistical costs of the move.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Details of Ministers’ and certain Senior Officials' meetings with external organisations and individuals are published by departments quarterly in arrears on their departmental pages on GOV.UK. The most recent data - for the period January 2026 to March 2026 - was published on 25 June.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 8 September 2026 to Question 21856 on Number 10 North Operating Costs, which departmental budget has covered the costs of refurbishing Heron House in Manchester.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
No refurbishment of Heron House was undertaken. The cost of establishing No10 North in Heron House is from the existing budget of the Cabinet Office. Associated costs will be accounted for in the Cabinet Office Annual Report and Accounts.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent discussions she has had with [i] emergency services and [ii] public bodies on the impact of the use of the emergency alerts system on Friday 14 August 2026 to highlight fire prevention and the risks of wildfires.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security) (Jointly with the Cabinet Office)
Following every activation of the Emergency Alert system, the Cabinet Office carries out an internal evaluation with key stakeholders. After the 14th August, the Chair of the National Fire Chiefs Council noted that the Emergency Alert heightened public awareness of the risks affecting firefighters. It was reported that there was a reduction in the number of wildfires in the 72 hours following the Emergency Alert.
The Cabinet Office is committed to continuously improving this valuable service to keep people safe. The government remains ready to deploy the capability at short-notice in response to risks that pose a danger to life, including but not limited to flooding, severe weather and wildfires.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent assessment she has made about the [i] relevance and [ii] effectiveness of the current level of threshold for the use of the national emergency alerts system.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security) (Jointly with the Cabinet Office)
All Emergency Alerts must meet an agreed set of criteria for use. Those criteria were met on the 14th August. On the day the Alert was issued, the National Fire Chiefs Council reported 43 active fires and 11 major incidents nationwide. Mutual aid was in play, with fire and rescue services across the country supporting each other. In south Wales, the military had been deployed to tackle major wildfires.
We took the decision working with fire and rescue services on the ground, in response to the latest understanding of the risk picture.
Encouragingly, in the 72 hours following the Emergency Alert, the Chair of the National Fire Chiefs Council Phil Garrigan noted there was a reduction in the number of wildfires. The Alert was effective in heightening the public’s awareness of the risk affecting the country.
The government remains ready to deploy the capability at short-notice in response to risks that pose a danger to life, including but not limited to flooding, severe weather and wildfires.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if she will publish the criteria used to assess whether to use the emergency alerts system on Friday 14 August 2026.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security) (Jointly with the Cabinet Office)
Every Emergency Alert is carefully coordinated with responding public bodies and agencies. This tool is only used in emergency scenarios and where the need is greatest. The Cabinet Office remains committed to reviewing every alert request on a case-by-case basis.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what his Department’s definition of a working person is for the purposes of policy development in the context of civil service internship schemes.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The refocused Fast Stream Summer Internship scheme will give talented undergraduates from lower socio-economic backgrounds the opportunity to see what a career in the Civil Service is like. We will assess eligibility for the summer internship scheme based on parental occupation at the age of 14. The Social Mobility Commission (SMC) identifies this as the most accurate measure of socio-economic background.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what definition the Government uses of a working class student, in the context of the new Internship Scheme.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The refocused Fast Stream Summer Internship scheme will give talented undergraduates from lower socio-economic backgrounds the opportunity to see what a career in the Civil Service is like. We will assess eligibility for the summer internship scheme based on parental occupation at the age of 14. The Social Mobility Commission (SMC) identifies this as the most accurate measure of socio-economic background.