Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether she plans to bring forward legislative proposals to allow claims for combined discrimination under the Equality Act 2010.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
In our manifesto, we committed to strengthening protections against dual discrimination and in April we launched a call for evidence on this commitment, as well as a number of other areas of equality law. We will consider the responses to the call for evidence, which closed at the end of June, and confirm next steps in due course.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether the budget for the Office for Equality of Opportunity has increased since October 2024.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The Office for Equality and Opportunity (OEO) overall budget has increased from £16.2m in 2024-25 to £17.7m in 2025-26. Further details will be provided, in the usual way, in the Cabinet Office’s accounts.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, with reference to Annex 1 of the Better Regulation Framework Guidance, September 2023, whether the court judgment exemption will be applied in relation to the requirement for a Regulatory Impact Assessment for the Equality and Human Rights Commission's updated statutory Code of Practice for Services, Public Functions and Association.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The EHRC has revised its Code of Practice for Services, Public Functions and Associations following the consultation and submitted it to the Minister for Women and Equalities. The Government is considering the updated draft Code and, if the decision is taken to approve it, the Code will be laid before Parliament for a 40 day period.
The Government will follow the appropriate process when considering the Code.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 16 June 2025 to Question 59028 on Public Expenditure, what the monetary value is of the indicative (a) capital and (b) resource departmental expenditure limit settlement budgeted for Parliament over each year of the Spending Review; and whether this includes budgeted funding for the restoration and renewal programme.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Figures on the resource and capital outturns, estimates and forecasts for Parliamentary Bodies over the Spending Review period - including for the Restoration and Renewal of Parliament - are provided in the table below. The figures in future years can change. The budgets for Parliamentary Bodies are set by Parliament.
| Outturn 2023-24 (£m)* | Outturn 2024-25 (£m)* | Plans 2025-26 (£m)** | Plans 2026-27 (£m) | Plans 2027-28 (£m) | Plans 2028-29 (£m) | Plans 2029-30 (£m) |
Resource | 567.7 | 602.8 | 634.6 | 643.7 | 651.6 | 657.3 | - |
Capital | 167.1 | 187.1 | 233.7 | 257.0 | 267.2 | 278.0 | 291.3 |
*Excludes non-cash ringfence
**Main Estimate, excludes non-cash ringfence
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether Irish citizens in Northern Ireland will be required to have digital ID cards.
Answered by Josh Simons - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
There will be no requirements for Irish citizens, or UK citizens, to have a digital ID. We will design this system to ensure everyone who has a right to live and work in any part of the UK can do so more easily and securely, ensuring our commitments in the Good Friday Agreement and the Common Travel Area are respected.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 13 October 2025 to Question 77564 on Lord Mandelson, if she will publish her Department's HR guidance on the process to be followed once a head of mission is withdrawn.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
HR procedures routinely draw from a range of established diplomatic protocols and policies.
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 21 October 2025 to Question 81327 on Government Departments: Advertising, on which (a) programmes and (b) topics his Department used each contractor.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
As with any communication campaign approach, channels are selected based on their ability to engage with audiences in alignment with the government's priorities.
Social media has been utilised on campaigns of varying scale and reach, supporting missions communications and government priorities.
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 2025 Honours Committee handbook.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
As noted in our answer to PQ 43222, the Honours Committee handbook is a document used to induct newly appointed independent chairs and committee members to the honours system and the committee process. This document is intended for internal use only. More information on these can be found 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, whether the Future of Work Committee has (a) met and (b) carried out business via correspondence since 5 September 2025.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
It is a long established precedent that the frequency and business of Cabinet Committee meetings is not usually publicly disclosed.
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 13 October 2025 to Question 77545 on Cabinet Office: Social Media, whether his Department has undertaken expenditure (a) directly and (b) through contractors on digital influencers outside the New Media Unit since 4 July 2024.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Cabinet Office has worked with influencers outside of the New Media Unit.