Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent estimate she has made of the monetary value of crypto-currency (a) seized and (b) non-seized assets currently held by HM Treasury.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security) (Jointly with the Cabinet Office)
The Government does not currently publish the amount of cryptocurrency restrained or recovered under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.
The Home office is reviewing plans to publish new statistics on Crypto assets as part of future annual statistics bulletins on asset recovery in response to the new powers that came into effect in April 2024.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the answer of 27 April 2026 to Question 126609 on ICF Consulting Services: Equality, whether biological men who are non-binary are counted towards the KPI; and what was the policy purpose of a KPI target for contractors on the number of non-binary staff.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
All non-binary individuals are counted in the KPI.
The KPI referenced in Defra’s contract with ICF does not mandate that 50% or more of professional staff within the core team for service orders be female or non-binary, nor does it set any minimum staffing thresholds. The rationale for measuring this aligns with Defra’s aspirations to use its procurement activities to support broader diversity and inclusion goals in its supply chains.
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 Answer of 10 April 2026 to Question 120846 on Resolution Foundation, who approved the C19SFF08RF25 contract award to the Resolution Foundation; and whether Ministers were consulted.
Answered by Chris Ward - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The UK Covid-19 Inquiry operates independently from the Government. Therefore, Ministerial approval was not required for this contract.
The contract was procured and awarded in line with procurement rules, as well as Cabinet Office Commercial policies and procedures.
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 16 June 2026, to Question 8058, on UK Statistics Authority: Remote Working, what estimatehas the Government Property Agency made of the average workplace attendance of civil service staff assigned to work in the Darlington Campus.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The GPA cannot confirm how many staff are assigned to work at the Darlington Economic Campus (in effect Feethams House at this time) as this information is held by individual departments. The GPA does not monitor attendance.
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 June 2026 to Question 4166, on Equality: Gender and Intersex, whether his Department consulted (a) trade unions, (b) Cabinet Office diversity networks, and (c) cross-Government Civil Service diversity networks on the new model Policy and Guidance: Supporting Trans and Non-binary Employees.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
As with any other model policy, the Cabinet Office engaged with a range of stakeholders during development of the model Policy and Guidance: Supporting Trans and Non-binary Employees.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the British Council has a definition of a woman for initiatives supporting women under Erasmus+.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This is a matter for the British Council.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the United Kingdom will be participating in the Erasmus+ programme’s European Solidarity Corps.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
On 17 December 2025 the UK announced the conclusion of negotiations on the UK’s association to Erasmus+. This commitment covers 2027, the final year in the EU Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF). Under the current MFF, the European Solidarity Corps is a distinct programme to which the UK is not associated.
The European Commission has proposed that the European Solidarity Corps will become part of Erasmus+ in the next MFF, covering 2028-34, although the EU’s internal negotiations on programme design are continuing. Any association by the UK to Erasmus+ in the next MFF is a matter for future decisions and negotiation.
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 3 June 2026 to Question 3790 on 10 Downing Street: Libraries, whether she has donated a book to the Prime Minister’s library.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Chancellor of the Exchequer will consider making a donation to the Prime Minister's Library in due course.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the Treasury's press release, Millions to benefit from lower travel and food costs, of 27 May 2026, whether the tariff reductions on the 125 types of goods will include goods imported from (a) Israel and (b) the Occupied Territories.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government has launched a call for input on suspending tariffs on a range of agri food, which is due to close on 24 June 2026.
Any suspensions, where implemented, will apply on a Most Favoured Nation basis. This means they can apply to all imports of the specified goods. Where relevant, other measures like trade remedies and sanctions will continue to apply.
We ensure that we do not enter treaty relations nor economic and trade dealings with Israel that include occupied Palestinian territory, and all our licensed exports to Israel are rigorously assessed against the Strategic Exports Licensing Criteria. We have also taken action to tackle settler violence and announced four packages of sanctions targeting organisations and individuals involved in financing, enabling and carrying out settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
We reiterate the call that Israel should end its occupation of Palestine as rapidly as possible. We respect international law and continue to ensure the UK complies with its obligations.
The UK government does not recognise illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine and we strongly advise UK businesses and citizens against conducting any economic activities in settlements. Under our existing free trade agreement with Israel, the UK excludes illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine from the scope of the agreement. Settlements are illegal under international law, damaging to peace efforts, and call into question Israel’s commitment to the two-state solution. Therefore products from the illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine cannot avail of preferential rates under the FTA, and are subject to MFN trade instead.
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 answer of 15 April 2026 to Question 119907 on Intelligence and Security Committee: Finance, what the value is of the increase in budgeting and resourcing; and in which financial year it will commence.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security) (Jointly with the Cabinet Office)
Following a formal request from the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) Chair, Lord Beamish, the ISC baseline budget for the 2025/26 financial year was increased to £2.5 million to enable the secretariat to expand toward a target headcount of 30 Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) staff.
To ensure the ongoing viability of this expansion, a further budgetary uplift has been agreed for the 2026/27 financial year.