Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, to ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office further to the Answer of 4 November 2025, to Question 85708, on Honours: Forfeiture, if he will publish the criteria for removal from the Roll of the Peerage.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
There are no set criteria for removal from the Roll of the Peerage.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to deposited paper DEP2025-0768, committed on 21 November 2025, further to paragraph 18 of the desk note, how many direct ministerial appointments have been made since July 2024 where the name of the appointment has not been placed in the public domain.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Since July 2024, the Cabinet Office has given advice on the announcement of one Direct Ministerial Appointment being exempt from publication, who was providing short-term advice on security and defence policy.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 15 May 2025, to Question 50576 on Cabinet Office: Recruitment, whether members of the Senior Civil Service can be permanently promoted up a grade without open and fair competition.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Promotion on a permanent basis can only take place after fair and open competition. Senior Civil Service vacancies are advertised externally by default and exceptions must be approved by a Minister or Permanent Secretary equivalent in non-Ministerial departments. Civil Service Commissioners chair all competitions for SCS3 and SCS4 posts to ensure appointments are made on merit.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 15 May 2025 to Question 50576, on Cabinet Office: Recruitment, what is a level move.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
In the Civil Service a level move is when a civil servant moves from one role to another at the same grade as their current one. This can be from one government department to another or within the same department.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish the Civil Service Recruitment Framework.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Civil Service Recruitment Framework exists to ensure vacancies are consistently accessible to the widest possible pool of talent. There are no plans to publish this internal-facing framework to the public domain, as it constitutes HR-to-HR guidance designed for departments to integrate into their respective policies and processes.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether civil servants who act as coaches within the Internal Coaching Service are permitted to provide coaching sessions during their contracted working hours.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Civil servants who act as coaches within the Internal Coaching Service are permitted to provide coaching sessions during their contracted working hours. Participation in the coaching service often forms an additional work objective, and coaches are responsible for discussing their participation with their line managers.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 1 December 2025, to Question 93384 on Permanent Secretaries: Redundancy Pay, if he will publish that list.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
I refer to my answer for 93384. Payments are published in departmental Annual Reports and Accounts for the financial years in which they were made. These are available on GOV.UK
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what information his Department holds on what leadership and promotion schemes run by the Civil Service are restricted to people (a) from ethnic minorities and (b) with other protected characteristics.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Promotion in the Civil Service is through fair and open competition and is overseen by the Civil Service Commission.
The Cabinet Office is responsible for centrally managed leadership development programmes for staff at G7 to DD (the Accelerated Development Schemes). Recruitment to these programmes is guided by the same principles. Participation in the Accelerated Development Schemes is not restricted to ethnicity or other protected characteristics.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 1 December 2025 to Question 93375 on Government Departments: Facilities Agreements, whether his department holds information on which departments have given agreement to allow paid time to be used for trade union activities.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office does not hold any central records on which departments have given agreement to allow paid time to be used for trade union activities.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what is the timetable for Departments to implement the Civil Service diversity network guidance in their own departmental diversity networks; and whether the diversity policies adopted by individual departments are centrally monitored or held by the Cabinet Office.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Responsibility for, and management of, departmental diversity networks, is delegated to individual departments as the employer. This includes the decision to adopt or align with the Staff Network Policy. The Cabinet Office has not set a timetable for departments. Departmental policies are not monitored or held centrally by the Cabinet Office.