Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he has a target for a reduction in the size of the headcount of (a) his Department, (b) its agencies and (c) the Civil Service in 2025.

The Prime Minister has set out his ambition to deliver long-term, impactful changes to reshape the British state and the Government is taking forward a number of measures to deliver greater efficiency and transformation in the Civil Service. Each department will take a decision on its individual size and shape as per the financial settlement it agreed with HMT in the first Phase of the Spending Review that concluded with the Autumn Statement 2024.

The Prime Minister has announced that the Government is committed to cutting bureaucracy across the state, in order to focus government on the priorities of working people and shift money to the frontline. As part of this, the Prime Minister announced the abolition of the arms-length body NHS England. The Government has also announced the first zero-based review of government spending in 17 years, with departments expected to go line-by-line to find savings and efficiencies, including in bodies and agencies that they sponsor.