Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he is taking steps to ensure that that public contracts are not awarded to companies that blacklist workers.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Public Contracts Regulations 2015 contain exclusion grounds which allow contracting authorities to exclude suppliers from procurements where their tender does not comply with labour law or where the supplier is guilty of grave professional misconduct.
For example, a breach of the The Employment Relations Act 1999 (Blacklists) Regulations 2010, which prohibit the compilation, usage, sale or supply of blacklists of trade union members and activists, would render the supplier liable to potential exclusion.
In all cases, individual departments and other public sector bodies are responsible for their own decisions on these matters.
The Procurement Act, which is expected to go live in October 2024, builds on and clarifies the exclusions measures in the existing regime. This includes specific measures enabling the exclusion of suppliers for professional misconduct.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether secondary legislation could be used to increase the number of ministers that can be paid in order that all ministers receive the relevant current rate, and if not how might this be done.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The payment of ministerial salaries is governed by the Ministerial and Other Salaries Act (MOSA) 1975. To answer these questions, we have treated ministers who hold more than one office (“joint ministers”) but are paid only for one as paid ministers, and therefore have counted only those ministers who do not receive a salary under MOSA.
There are currently 108 ministers who receive a government salary. The current number of ministers in total is 125, meaning that 17 are unpaid, 3 in the House of Commons and 14 in the House of Lords.
If the 17 unpaid ministers were to claim a ministerial salary on the same basis as those who receive a salary the additional sum payable would be £1,146,358 per annum, excluding pension contributions. We have counted the Party Chair, the Rt Hon Richard Holden MP in these calculations, as he is unpaid by the government. He is, however, by convention paid by the party.
Primary legislation would be required to increase the number of ministers entitled to receive a salary to include the 17 ministers who are currently unpaid. Secondary legislation in the form of an Order in Council under the Ministerial and Other Salaries Act 1975 may be used to increase the rate at which ministerial salaries are payable.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department is taking steps to prevent public contracts from being awarded to companies that blacklist workers.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Public Contracts Regulations 2015 contain exclusion grounds which allow contracting authorities to exclude suppliers from procurements where their tender does not comply with labour law or where the supplier is guilty of grave professional misconduct.
For example, a breach of the The Employment Relations Act 1999 (Blacklists) Regulations 2010, which prohibit the compilation, usage, sale or supply of blacklists of trade union members and activists, would render the supplier liable to potential exclusion.
In all cases, individual departments and other public sector bodies are responsible for their own decisions on these matters.
The Procurement Act, which is expected to go live in October 2024, builds on and clarifies the exclusions measures in the existing regime. This includes specific measures enabling the exclusion of suppliers for professional misconduct.
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department is taking to prevent public contracts being awarded to companies that blacklist workers.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Public Contracts Regulations 2015 contain exclusion grounds which allow contracting authorities to exclude suppliers from procurements where their tender does not comply with labour law or where the supplier is guilty of grave professional misconduct.
For example, a breach of the The Employment Relations Act 1999 (Blacklists) Regulations 2010, which prohibit the compilation, usage, sale or supply of blacklists of trade union members and activists, would render the supplier liable to potential exclusion.
In all cases, individual departments and other public sector bodies are responsible for their own decisions on these matters.
The Procurement Act, which is expected to go live in October 2024, builds on and clarifies the exclusions measures in the existing regime. This includes specific measures enabling the exclusion of suppliers for professional misconduct.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many ministers in each House receive a government ministerial salary, and how many receive none; and what the total extra cost of paying all ministers the relevant current rate would be.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The payment of ministerial salaries is governed by the Ministerial and Other Salaries Act (MOSA) 1975. To answer these questions, we have treated ministers who hold more than one office (“joint ministers”) but are paid only for one as paid ministers, and therefore have counted only those ministers who do not receive a salary under MOSA.
There are currently 108 ministers who receive a government salary. The current number of ministers in total is 125, meaning that 17 are unpaid, 3 in the House of Commons and 14 in the House of Lords.
If the 17 unpaid ministers were to claim a ministerial salary on the same basis as those who receive a salary the additional sum payable would be £1,146,358 per annum, excluding pension contributions. We have counted the Party Chair, the Rt Hon Richard Holden MP in these calculations, as he is unpaid by the government. He is, however, by convention paid by the party.
Primary legislation would be required to increase the number of ministers entitled to receive a salary to include the 17 ministers who are currently unpaid. Secondary legislation in the form of an Order in Council under the Ministerial and Other Salaries Act 1975 may be used to increase the rate at which ministerial salaries are payable.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what are the most recent statistics on the Economic Activity Rate of each of the UK's four nations, and what were the equivalent rates (1) 10, and (2) 20, years earlier.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
Please see the letter attached from the National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority.
The Rt Hon. the Lord Wigley
House of Lords
London
SW1A 0PW
Dear Lord Wigley,
As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking what are the most recent statistics on the Economic Activity Rate of each of the UK’s four nations, and what were the equivalent rates (1) 10, and (2) 20, years earlier (HL4552).
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) collects information on the labour market status of individuals through the Labour Force Survey (LFS), which is a survey of people resident in households in the UK.
The responses allow us to identify how many people are economically active; that is, those who are engaged with the labour market, either through employment or who are unemployed and actively seeking work. We are also able to calculate economic activity rates by region using these data.
Due to the current smaller sample sizes being achieved by the LFS, recent estimates are showing increased volatility and should be treated with additional caution. We are currently undertaking a programme of work to improve our estimates of the UK labour market. As part of this work, we have updated our labour market estimates from July to September 2022 onwards to incorporate more up to date estimates of the UK population. Labour market estimates prior to this remain based on older population estimates. Therefore, the latest available estimates of the UK labour market, for January to March 2024, are on a different population basis than those ten and twenty years earlier. As a result of this we recommend caution when considering long-term movements in these series.
The latest available estimates (January to March 2024) of the economic activity rates, for people aged 16 to 64 years, resident in each of the UK’s four nations are presented in Table 1, alongside estimates for January to March 2014 and January to March 2004.
Yours sincerely,
Professor Sir Ian Diamond
Table 1: Economic Activity Rates, people aged 16 to 64 years, England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, seasonally adjusted.
| England | Scotland | Wales | Northern Ireland |
January to March 2004 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
January to March 2024 [1] |
|
|
|
|
Source: Labour Force Survey
[1] Estimate based on more up to date population estimates and subject to greater volatility due to smaller achieved sample sizes. We advise caution when interpreting movements in these series.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 17 April 2024, to Question 19773, on Veterans: Cost of Living, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing cost of living support for veterans.
Answered by Johnny Mercer - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Minister for Veterans' Affairs)
This Government has successfully reduced inflation by more than half, which will make the cost of living more affordable for veterans along with every other resident in the UK.
Veterans’ employment is at an all-time high, with 89% of those leaving service finding employment within six months, but we're determined to go further. The recently launched OP PROSPER backed by £2.1million in government funding will support veterans and their families into valuable, fulfilling employment in roles which fully utilise their skills and capabilities, based in sectors at the forefront of innovation and economic growth.
This government also introduced, and continued for at least one further year at the Autumn statement, 12-month National Insurance relief to eligible employers recruiting veterans in their first civilian role after service.
My officials continue to drive forward efforts to ensure that veterans and their families are fully aware of the benefits and support available to them, including in relation to easing the Cost of Living.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps their Department is taking to support the Disability Confident scheme; how many officials in their Department work directly on supporting that scheme; what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of that work in supporting the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of disabled people in their Department; and what further steps they are taking to support their Department’s recruitment and retention of disabled people.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Cabinet Office successfully accomplished Disability Confident (DC) level 3 leader status in February 2024. We have been Disability Confident in Level 3 for the last 4 years. We continue to work closely with the Business Disability forum that validated our DC and are working through our recommendations in all areas.
Cabinet Office takes a departmental approach to Disability Confidence to embed core areas across the department. Some examples of officials supporting this are the Workplace Adjustments Team and the Recruitment Team. All colleagues involved in the end to end process of recruitment campaigns undertake activities that support the scheme such as Vacancy Managers, HR Business Partners and Civil Service Resourcing colleagues.
The effectiveness of that work in supporting the scheme in both recruitment and retention was postively reflected in the feedback as part of the assessment in the Disability Confident Scheme. The re-accreditation of Disability Confidence Level 3 Leader status demonstrates the effectiveness of all the work we do in the department.
All areas received positive feedback and also some recommendations to support the development of those areas. We will be working through the recommendations from the validator to continue to be a leader in Disability Confident.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the employment rate for veterans was in financial year (a) 2018-19, (b) 2021-22 and (c) 2022-23.
Answered by Johnny Mercer - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Minister for Veterans' Affairs)
This Government is committed to making the United Kingdom the best place in the world to be a veteran. This includes making sure all veterans have equity of opportunity and access to valuable, sustainable careers after they leave military service.
Veterans’ employment in the UK is at an all-time high, at 89% within six months of leaving service for those who engage with the available support. Previously, this was at 88% in 2021/22, and 86% in 2018/19.
Op PROSPER, the first-of-its kind initiative backed by £2.1 million of government funding, will further support our veterans into valuable, fulfilling roles which make full use of their capabilities, in sectors at the forefront of the UK’s innovation and economic growth.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 1 May 2024 to Question 22836 on Veterans: Social Rented Housing, if he will list the locations awarded grants by the Veteran Capital Housing Fund.
Answered by Johnny Mercer - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Minister for Veterans' Affairs)
The Government launched the £20 million Veterans Capital Housing Fund to ensure the sustainable supply of veteran housing through the refurbishment of affordable rental accommodation and the delivery of new build projects for veterans.
The Fund is a three-year programme with multiple awards planned over that period. Grants supported to date are located in North East England; South East England; and Wales. More details on these grants can be found at https://covenantfund.org.uk/veterans-capital-housing-fund-refurbishment.