Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what discussions he has had with MyCSP on the timeline for delivery of Immediate Choice Remediable Service Statements for people with civil service pensions.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
MyCSP, the current administrators of the Civil Service Pension Scheme (CSPS), continue work on the implementation of circa 132,100 impacted members who are drawing their pension and need to be provided with revised options for the Remedy period (2015 to 2022). This is known as Immediate Choice (IC).
In agreement with the Cabinet Office Pension team, acting as Scheme Managers, MyCSP provided 58,400 IC members with their remedial service statements by March 2025. Of this group, 43,400 members have returned their option forms and all but 500 of these will be implemented by the end of November.
From 1 December 2025, Capita takes over as scheme administrator and as part of this, they will pick up the remaining IC work as a focused programme of work ‘project 7’.This will see the remaining 56% of IC members provided with choices as soon as possible. This project is currently being scoped to establish what work remains and how quickly the work can be completed whilst balancing accuracy and business as usual requirements. Detailed delivery plans will be provided to the Cabinet Office by the end of March 2026.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many full-time equivalent UK Government civil servants main place of employment is (a) Queen Elizabeth House Edinburgh and (b) elsewhere in Scotland.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The number of civil servants on a full-time equivalent basis reported as in post as at 31 March 2024 and based in Queen Elizabeth House is 2,760.
The number of civil servants based in Scotland on a full-time equivalent basis as at 31 March 2024 is 51,830. This information is published annually as part of Civil Service Statistics 2025 and available through the Civil Service data browser at the following web address:
https://civil-service-statistics.jdac.service.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps Government is taking to enhance cyber resilience across critical (a) national infrastructure and (b) public institutions.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare
We are committed to strengthening cyber security across the UK’s Critical National Infrastructure (CNI), and all aspects of the Government digital estate.
The Government works closely with CNI operators in both the private and public sector to ensure resilience and preparedness to cyber threats, working to better understand and manage cyber risk, and minimise the impact of cyber incidents when they occur. As well as work to develop a more sophisticated understanding of cyber risk across UK CNI, the Government is focussed on ensuring that CNI operators are prepared to respond to and recover from incidents through better planning and regular exercising.
The King's Speech in July 2024 set out the Government’s intention to bring forward a Cyber Security and Resilience Bill, which will strengthen the UK’s cyber defences, and ensure that critical infrastructure and the digital services that companies rely on are secure.
To enhance the cyber resilience of public institutions, the Government Cyber Security Strategy has set a clear target for all government organisations to be resilient to known vulnerabilities and common attack methods by 2030.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much and what proportion of its budget the UK Integrated Security Fund has allocated for (a) conflict (i) prevention and (ii) resolution and (b) peacebuilding in the (A) 2024-25 and (B) 2025-26 financial years.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare
The Integrated Security Fund (ISF) came into operation on 1 April 2024 and has a budget of almost £1bn for Financial Year 2024-25. The Fund prioritises spending on those geographies and thematic issues that pose the greatest direct threat to the UK. Activity focussed on conflict prevention, resolution and peacebuilding are embedded into programmes across the ISF. However, these are not tracked as individual or separate components. The annual ISF budget for 2025-26 will be published shortly.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the annual budget is for the UK Integrated Security Fund in the (a) 2024-25 and (b) 2025-26 financial years.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare
The Integrated Security Fund (ISF) came into operation on 1 April 2024 and has a budget of almost £1bn for Financial Year 2024/25. Exact spend for the Fund will be published in the 2024/25 ISF Annual Report later in the year. The annual ISF budget for 2025-26 will be published shortly.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 23 October 2017 to Question 108244, on Prosperity Fund, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of Prosperity Fund projects on gender equality in developing countries.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
All Prosperity Fund Official Development Assistance (ODA) spending must comply with the International Development Act 2002 and Gender Equality Act 2014. Large, multi-year Prosperity Fund programmes are being developed, building on the foundations laid by smaller projects in 2016/17.
The multi-year Prosperity Fund programmes will include an assessment on gender equality and inclusion. We are implementing a gender strategy to develop these assessments using specialist capability. An external monitoring and evaluation mechanism is in place that will provide information on the impact of programmes on gender equality.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 23 October 2017 to Question 108244, on Prosperity Fund, what strategy he has for Prosperity Fund programmes explicitly to tackle issues of gender inequality in developing countries as required by the International Development Act 2002.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Prosperity Fund is implementing a gender strategy covering programme selection, design, monitoring and evaluation. The multi-year Prosperity Fund programmes currently being developed will include an assessment of how programmes address the issue of gender inequality and inclusion. Measurement of progress will be part of the Prosperity Fund’s monitoring and evaluation.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he has taken to ensure that spending from the Prosperity Fund takes place across Government in accordance with (a) the provisions of the International Development Act 2002 and (b) international commitments on overseas development assistance.
Answered by Damian Green
The Prosperity Fund is focused on high impact projects to promote economic
development and poverty reduction in the developing world. All Official Development
Assistance spend under the cross-government Prosperity Fund (PF) is fully
consistent with the International Development Act (including the Gender Equality
2014) and OECD DAC criteria. The Fund’s priorities were set out in the UK Aid
Strategy (2015) and the Strategic Defence Security Review (SDSR 2015). The Fund
also supports the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG
8 to “Promote inclusive and sustainable growth, employment and decent work for all”.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many posts related to EU negotiations the Government had planned to fill to date; and how many such posts have been filled.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
Workforce planning is primarily the responsibility of each department. The Civil Service constantly reviews its capabilities in order to deliver the Government's commitment to leave the EU and get the best deal for the UK. Civil Service HR is working with all departments, functions and professions across the Civil Service to better understand their capacity and capability requirements.
The Civil Service is focused on delivering this Government’s commitment to leave the EU and get the very best deal for the UK. We are equipping ourselves with the right people and the right skills across government to make this happen.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that the Civil Service has the (a) project planning, (b) benefits realisation and (c) contract management capabilities required for negotiations with the EU.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
Workforce planning is primarily the responsibility of each department. The Civil Service constantly reviews its capabilities in order to deliver the Government's commitment to leave the EU and get the best deal for the UK. Civil Service HR is working with all departments, functions and professions across the Civil Service to better understand their capacity and capability requirements.
The Civil Service is focused on delivering this Government’s commitment to leave the EU and get the very best deal for the UK. We are equipping ourselves with the right people and the right skills across government to make this happen.