Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many ministerial red boxes belonging to her Department have (a) been reported missing or lost or (b) had their security features removed in order that they can be purchased for personal use by former ministers from 1 May 2018 to 30 April 2023.

There is no record of any ministerial red boxes from the Department having been either reported missing or lost, or having had their security features removed in order that they can be purchased for personal use by former Ministers from 1 May 2018 to 30 April 2023.

The Department keeps a record of all its current ministerial red boxes, and they are all accounted for within the Department and are owned wholly by the Department. All Departmental property is recorded and registered in the appropriate manner and accounted for by the relevant accounting officer.

It is a long standing convention under successive administrations that Ministers may pay to retain red boxes as a memento of their time in their role, as long as the security features are removed, but the Department has no record of this happening from 1 May 2018 to 30 April 2023.