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 17 July 2026, to Question 18647, on Lobbying: Finance, whether stakeholder engagement of parliamentarians through external public affairs or lobbying firms is permitted by NDPBs; and whether the rules on lobbying apply to executive agencies.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
There is a long-standing principle that public bodies, including NDPBs and executive agencies, must be politically impartial, and must ensure the proper use of public money at all times. All public bodies must comply with the rules on lobbying. Public bodies must never employ external firms or consultants to influence or attempt to influence Parliament, the Government or political parties. This includes firms and consultants engaged in stakeholder management.
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 10 July 2026 to Question 4175 on Government Department: Communication, in which business unit were the relevant (a) special advisers and (b) officials who reviewed the branding guidance based.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The advisers were based in the Number 10 communications team, and in the former Chancellor for the Duchy of Lancaster’s office, alongside officials in the Government Communication Service.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the annual administrative cost is of the Cabinet Office’s Second Headquarters in Glasgow; and what the planned budget is following its expansion.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The annual estates-based administrative cost for the Cabinet Office’s Second Headquarters in Glasgow is £2,557,541 for financial year 2025/26. There has been no expansion since our initial occupancy and no expansion is planned; therefore, there will be no additional administrative costs for this.
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 the Cabinet Office news story, "Machinery of Government changes: Fact Sheet", of 22 July 2026, what is the estimated administrative cost of these changes.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
In line with usual practice, administrative costs to implement Machinery of Government changes will be met within existing departmental settlements.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether her Department maintains an internal Outcome Delivery Plan.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The department maintains an internal strategic plan as a tool for internal planning and performance management.
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 28 August 2026 to Question 18040 on Cabinet Office: Secondment, whether there have been secondments between the Propriety and Constitution Group and the Civil Service since July 2024.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
A secondment is a move on a temporary basis into or out of the Civil Service from an organisation in the public, private or voluntary sector that is not operating under the Civil Service pension scheme arrangements. The Propriety and Constitution Group sits within the Cabinet Office. Any recruitment coming from other areas of the Civil Service would therefore not be considered secondments.
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 transaction number 1037285942 for HH Associates Ltd for the amount of £46,530.15 in her Department's publication entitled Expenditure Over £25,000 - June 2026 (Cabinet Office Core), published on 30 July 2026, what was the publication that was printed for the Propriety and Ethics Team.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The publication referred to was ‘Update on the Government response to the Humble Address motion’ which was published on 1 June 2026.
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 28 August 2026 to Question 14356 on Cabinet Office: Staff, what the name is of the integrated team.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Delivering the Prime Minister’s priorities is a task for the entire Government. The integrated team is a flexible, cross-cutting capability that collaborates from across departments; it does not constitute a single named unit.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the headcount was of the Government Communications Service in each year from April 2024, including Arms’ Length Bodies and non-Civil Service staff.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Government Communications Service is currently finalising its 2026 annual data collection, therefore the figures provided below are from the 2025 annual data collection.
Staffing figures across the central teams are as follows:
Number 10 Civil Service Communications Team: 44.8 FTE.
Core Cabinet Office Communications Roles: 40.43 FTE (including 22 roles within the Press Office and Cabinet Office Digital Communications).
Central GCS Team (Cabinet Office-based): 191.52 FTE in total, comprising 141.52 FTE communications roles and 50 FTE non-communications roles.
Information on roles specifically related to video production and social media content is not held.
Overall headcount stood at 6,120.35 FTE in 2024, compared to 5,950.54 FTE in 2025. Please note that these figures are not directly comparable due to differences in the specific organisations submitting returns across the 2024 and 2025 collection cycles.
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 headcount of the Government Communications Service.
Answered by Mark Ferguson - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Government Communications Service is currently finalising its 2026 annual data collection, therefore the figures provided below are from the 2025 annual data collection.
Staffing figures across the central teams are as follows:
Number 10 Civil Service Communications Team: 44.8 FTE.
Core Cabinet Office Communications Roles: 40.43 FTE (including 22 roles within the Press Office and Cabinet Office Digital Communications).
Central GCS Team (Cabinet Office-based): 191.52 FTE in total, comprising 141.52 FTE communications roles and 50 FTE non-communications roles.
Information on roles specifically related to video production and social media content is not held.
Overall headcount stood at 6,120.35 FTE in 2024, compared to 5,950.54 FTE in 2025. Please note that these figures are not directly comparable due to differences in the specific organisations submitting returns across the 2024 and 2025 collection cycles.