Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to her Department's document entitled SCS Declaration of Paid Outside Employment, updated on 15 September 2026, whether senior civil servants are required to declare if they are owners of (a) holiday lets and (b) buy to let properties.

Government departments have robust rules in place to manage their employees' outside interests. Government guidance requires that the detail of any paid or otherwise remunerated outside employment, held by members of the Senior Civil Service, which has been agreed through the process for the declaration and management of outside interests, should be published and linked to within the relevant department's Annual Report and Accounts.

In line with the guidance for declaring outside interests in the Civil Service on GOV.UK, passive income, such as receiving rental payments would not ordinarily need to be captured and published alongside other paid secondary employment. However, there are instances where it could be, such as where the individual has a business that buys and rents out housing, and undertakes a role akin to an employee.