Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, with reference to paragraphs 7.16 and 7.17 of the Ministerial Code, on how many occasions she has informed the Law Officers that she is the defendant in a libel action in (a) her personal capacity, (b) her official position and (c) both since 19 December 2019.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
I refer the hon. member to paragraph 2.13 of the Ministerial Code which states: “The fact that the Law Officers have advised or have not advised and the content of their advice must not be disclosed outside Government without their authority.”
Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, if she will take steps with Cabinet colleagues to increase parliamentary scrutiny of UK strategic export controls for military goods.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
The government recognises the importance of effective Parliamentary scrutiny of strategic export controls and takes these matters very seriously. The UK operates one of the most transparent export licensing systems in the world, publishing quarterly and annual statistics on all of our export licensing decisions, including details of export licences granted, refused and revoked. The government is required by statute to present an Annual Report on UK Strategic Export Controls detailing the government’s approach to export licensing, including international commitments. The most recent quarterly data on strategic export controls is available on gov.uk (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/strategic-export-controls-licensing-statistics-1-april-to-30-june-2023), as is the annual report for 2022 (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-strategic-export-controls-annual-report-2022).
As of January 2024, the Business and Trade Committee is the Parliamentary scrutiny committee with oversight of arms export controls, a role formerly carried out by the Select Committee on Arms Exports Controls (CAEC). A joint report outlining plans for future parliamentary scrutiny of strategic export controls was published by the Business and Trade, Foreign Affairs and International Development Committees on 23rd January 2024 and can be found on parliament.uk (https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/42982/documents/213812/default/).
The Government recognises the important role that the CAEC played in providing Parliamentary scrutiny of export controls and the work of the Export Control Joint Unit (ECJU). While Parliamentary scrutiny is a matter for the House, the government is committed to keeping the Business and Trade Committee updated on the work of the ECJU as it carries out its new scrutiny role. Other relevant select committees will no doubt continue to examine strategic export controls as part of their wider work, allowing a broad range of scrutiny across the House.
Hon and Rt Hon Members can also raise matters relating to the scrutiny of the UK's strategic export controls directly with the Department for Business and Trade.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, what proportion of named day questions were answered on or before the relevant named day by (a) all Government Departments and (b) the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in (i) the 2022-23 Parliamentary Session and (ii) the current Parliamentary session.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
Data on response times to all written parliamentary questions is held by the House, rather than the Government. The Procedure Committee reports on departmental performance following the end of each Parliamentary Session, the most recent of which can be found on parliament.uk (https://committees.parliament.uk/work/1245/written-parliamentary-questions/publications), and the Government looks forward to receiving the Committee’s report on data from the 2022-23 Session. The Hon. Member may wish to approach the House regarding data for the current Parliamentary session.
Asked by: Chris Bryant (Labour - Rhondda)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, with reference to her oral contributions of 12 December 2022, Official Report column 823, and 30 March 2023, Official Report column 1168, when she plans that the the ministerial registration of interests, hospitality, gifts and so forth will be put on the same footing as Parliament’s.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
In July 2023, the Cabinet Office published its response to three reports on strengthening ethics and integrity in central government. This states: “The Government will be implementing comprehensive reforms to improve the quality and accessibility of departments' transparency returns, which cover meetings, gifts, hospitality and travel.”
“The Cabinet Office is developing a single platform to collate and publish departments' transparency returns. This will provide a single public source of transparency data, replacing the system of separate publications. Following the deployment and adoption of an integrated database, the Government will look to move departments' transparency publications from a quarterly to a monthly basis.” The full response is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/strengthening-ethics-and-integrity-in-central-government
My office is already collating monthly returns and we are working with the Cabinet Office in order to publish these ahead of the new system being rolled out across Government.
Separately, and in line with the Ministerial Code, the List of Ministers’ Interests is published twice yearly with updates issued at other times as needed.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, if she will take steps to increase the amount of parliamentary time given to debate Private Members' Bills in the 2023-24 parliamentary session.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
The Standing Orders provide for thirteen sitting Fridays per session. The House can agree, on a Government motion, to sit on additional Fridays when required. This is usually appropriate when the length of a session has been extended.
With the support of the Government, 24 Private Members’ Bills were passed in the last session, with only one additional Friday allocated. This is more than the 2021-22 session, which saw 13 Private Members’ Bills reach Royal Assent in thirteen sitting Fridays. This clearly demonstrates that sufficient support from across the House is more important in the successful passage of Private Members’ Bills than additional parliamentary time.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, if she will bring forward proposals to enable Members to directly scrutinise the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
The Procedure Committee is conducting an inquiry into this issue and it would not be appropriate for me to pre-empt the conclusions of that inquiry. The Government will respond to the Committee’s recommendations in the usual way once they have published their report.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, how much her office spent on external recruitment consultants in the (a) 2020-21, (b) 2021-22 and (c) 2022-23 financial year.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
The Office of the Leader of the House of Commons has not incurred external recruitment consultancy costs in any of the last three financial years.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, how much her office spent on hospitality in (a) 2021, (b) 2022 and (c) 2023.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
We do not routinely publish this data, as has been the case under successive administrations. All Business Units within the Cabinet Office have a responsibility to keep official hospitality costs as low as possible and demonstrate good value for money.
Details of ministerial and senior official hospitality are published on a quarterly basis, and are available on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, if she will bring forward proposals to implement the recommendations in the Third Report of the House of Commons Procedure Committee of Session 2009-10 on Accountability to the House of Commons of Secretaries of State in the House of Lords, HC496, which was published on 22 March 2010.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
The Procedure Committee has announced an inquiry into this issue and it would not be appropriate for me to pre-empt the conclusions of that inquiry.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the Leader of the House:
To ask the Leader of the House, how many Government Bills have been withdrawn in each year since 2010.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
Parliament has been informed on each occasion a bill has been withdrawn. Information on the bills withdrawn in each session is available on the Parliament website at: https://bills.parliament.uk/.