Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, further to the letter from the Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary to the Hon Member for Brentwood and Ongar of 30 January 2026, on severance payments, what is the wider policy of the (a) Civil Service and (b) Cabinet Office on the practice of outgoing Permanent Secretaries being paid gardening leave from the public purse for their three month waiting period when leaving Crown employment.

The Business Appointment Rules for Crown Servants set out that Permanent Secretaries are required to observe a three month waiting period, and the Rules set out that it may be appropriate to pay former civil servants who are required to observe a waiting period before taking up an external role.