Cabinet Office written question – answered at on 30 July 2025.
Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town
Labour
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to include special advisors within the scope of the Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and trade union Administration Act 2014 using the powers in section 2(5) of that Act.
Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent
Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip), Lords Spokesperson (Cabinet Office), Lords Spokesperson (Northern Ireland Office), Lords Spokesperson (Wales Office), Lords Spokesperson (Scotland Office)
The Government is committed to transparency and has already taken a number of steps to restore trust in politics. The Government currently has no plans to bring Special Advisers within the scope of the Lobbying Act, although it continues to keep transparency and lobbying under review.
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The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
A group of workers who have united to promote their common interests.
