Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 10 September 2026 to Question 20656 on Arms Length Bodies: Equality, whether Arms Length Bodies are required to submit nil returns when asked for information on external EDI expenditure for 2025-26; and whether her Department assumes zero spending on external EDI if no response is received from the Arms Length Body.

Arm’s Length Bodies (ALBs) report directly to their respective sponsoring departments regarding performance oversight and financial governance. In accordance with established corporate governance frameworks and the Government Financial Reporting Manual, sponsoring departments remain responsible for supervising ALB expenditure.

In instances where departments gather data on external Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) spending, all reporting procedures are administered independently by sponsoring departments through their standard financial monitoring structures.