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The Cabinet Office supports the work of government in a number of ways, including through its specific responsibilities and its wider remit coordinating the business of government. This year has seen a number of important developments across the whole of the Department.

The Cabinet Office is playing its part in the process of constitutional reform, through its landmark proposals to put the impartiality of the Civil Service into statute. And we have published proposals to provide for 60 key public appointments to be subject to pre-appointment scrutiny for the first time.

One of our most important responsibilities is to lead work on social exclusion across government. We are taking forward Public Service Agreement 16 which is designed to help provide access to a job and a home for specific groups at greatest disadvantage – young people leaving care, ex-offenders, and those with mental health problems or learning difficulties. We have also worked with the Department for Children, Schools and Families [External website] to put forward innovative proposals to help families at risk.

Essential to tackling social exclusion and building a strong society is the work of the third sector. The Cabinet Office is proud to have the Office of the Third Sector within the Department. It worked last year to produce a 10-year strategy for the third sector which was formulated on the basis of consultation with more than 1,000 community organisations and charities, and invested more than £500 million in the sector.

Phil Hope MP, and the Rt Hon Ed Milliband MP

The third sector is also at the heart of another of the Cabinet Office's responsibilities – improving public services across government. We are seeking all the time to learn from the most innovative organisations, including those in the third sector. This is being carried forward in the Service Transformation Agreement, helping all public services to be more convenient for citizens, and the new taskforce on the Power of Information will help make sure citizens are better able to access public data and information about public services.

Overall, whether it's the important work of the Cabinet Secretariats, the Strategy Unit, Government Communications [External website], or Intelligence, Security and Resilience, the Cabinet Office is supporting the work of government. At times during the last year, this has been of particular importance, including the work done by the Civil Contingencies Secretariat [External website] in supporting efforts to tackle flooding, foot and mouth disease, and other incidents.

I would like to end by thanking all of the staff in the Cabinet Office for their contributions and hard work, and my fellow Ministers, Phil Hope, Tom Watson, Tessa Jowell and Gillian Merron.