Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have received about the Reshaping Government Communication Service programme; from whom they have received such representations; and what have been their responses.
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
The Reshaping Government Communication Service programme will further strengthen and unify the Government Communication Service (GCS), making an effective and efficient service.
Cabinet Office is leading the programme and working closely with ministerial departments and other public sector bodies.
Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the Shetland Islands Council about terms for those islands' self-determination; and what has been the outcome of those discussions.
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
Government has noted the vote by the Shetland Islands Council, which was driven by funding cuts and centralised decision-making by the Scottish Government. This highlights the many problems with the Scottish Government’s position on the break up of the UK.
Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have received about parity of conditions between employees of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Ministry of Defence.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The Cabinet Office has not assessed or received any representations on the parity of conditions between employees of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Ministry of Defence.
Further to my response to the Noble Lord Goodlad on the 21 March (HL14735), the Government can confirm that terms and conditions for civil servants below the Senior Civil Service have been to a great extent, and within certain central parameters, in particular those set out in the Civil Service Management Code, formally ‘delegated’ to departments. Accordingly, inter-departmental differences in relation to terms and conditions exist.
The Diplomatic Service is a separate Civil Service from the main (UK) Civil Service and is managed by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.
Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure parity of conditions of service between employees of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Ministry of Defence.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
Pay for those below the Senior Civil Service is delegated to departments and requires departments to develop arrangements for remuneration of their own staff, in accordance with chapter 7 of the Civil Service Management Code.
For the Senior Civil Service pay the Government submits annual evidence to the Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB) who make recommendations on the pay of the SCS. Pay is then set centrally for this group in accordance with chapter 7 of the Civil Service Management Code.
Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government which bills they intend to subject to pre-legislative scrutiny this session.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The Government is committed to engaging with the public and other interested parties as policies are developed through formal and informal consultation. Where possible the Government is keen to facilitate formal pre-legislative scrutiny of draft legislation. A revised set of consultation principles was published in 2016 to give clear guidance to Government Departments on consultations. A copy of these principles can be found in the attached document.
Three draft bills have already been published this session: the Draft Health Service Safety Investigations Bill, the Draft Domestic Gas and Electricity (Tariffs Cap) Bill and draft legislation on the Personal Injury Discount Rate. These draft bills are available for select committees to scrutinise as they see fit.
At the State Opening of Parliament on 21 June 2017, the Government announced two further bills would be published in draft this session: the draft Tenants’ Fees Bill and draft Domestic Violence and Abuse Bill. These will be published in due course. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has recently announced their intention to publish draft legislation on animal cruelty sentencing. Tax legislation is regularly published draft for technical consultations.
Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their policy on pre-legislative scrutiny by Parliament.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The Government is committed to engaging with the public and other interested parties as policies are developed through formal and informal consultation. Where possible the Government is keen to facilitate formal pre-legislative scrutiny of draft legislation. A revised set of consultation principles was published in 2016 to give clear guidance to Government Departments on consultations. A copy of these principles can be found in the attached document.
Three draft bills have already been published this session: the Draft Health Service Safety Investigations Bill, the Draft Domestic Gas and Electricity (Tariffs Cap) Bill and draft legislation on the Personal Injury Discount Rate. These draft bills are available for select committees to scrutinise as they see fit.
At the State Opening of Parliament on 21 June 2017, the Government announced two further bills would be published in draft this session: the draft Tenants’ Fees Bill and draft Domestic Violence and Abuse Bill. These will be published in due course. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has recently announced their intention to publish draft legislation on animal cruelty sentencing. Tax legislation is regularly published draft for technical consultations.
Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their policy on pre-legislative consultation.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The Government is committed to engaging with the public and other interested parties as policies are developed through formal and informal consultation. Where possible the Government is keen to facilitate formal pre-legislative scrutiny of draft legislation. A revised set of consultation principles was published in 2016 to give clear guidance to Government Departments on consultations. A copy of these principles can be found in the attached document.
Three draft bills have already been published this session: the Draft Health Service Safety Investigations Bill, the Draft Domestic Gas and Electricity (Tariffs Cap) Bill and draft legislation on the Personal Injury Discount Rate. These draft bills are available for select committees to scrutinise as they see fit.
At the State Opening of Parliament on 21 June 2017, the Government announced two further bills would be published in draft this session: the draft Tenants’ Fees Bill and draft Domestic Violence and Abuse Bill. These will be published in due course. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has recently announced their intention to publish draft legislation on animal cruelty sentencing. Tax legislation is regularly published draft for technical consultations.
Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their policy on the publication of impact assessments in relation to (1) primary legislation and (2) secondary legislation.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The Government's policy is to develop and publish impact assessments for any proposals that have a regulatory impact, whether delivered through primary or secondary legislation.
The form that these should take and the level and type of detail and evidence they provide should be proportionate to the scale of impacts and the stage of policy development.
Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written answer by Lord Wallace of Saltaire on 29 July (WA 297), what percentage of statutory instruments laid by the Cabinet Office this calendar year corrected errors in a previous instrument (including drafts of affirmative instruments that had to be superseded by correcting drafts); and what were the titles of the correcting instruments.
Answered by Baroness Northover
In 2014 Cabinet Office has laid 22 statutory instruments, of which three corrected errors in a previous instrument (14%).
The instruments concerned are the European Parliamentary Elections (Amendment) Regulations 2014, the Local Authorities (Conduct of Referendums) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2014 and the Electoral Registration (Disclosure of Electoral Registers) (Amendment) Regulations 2014.
Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many statutory instruments from the Cabinet Office have been laid this calendar year; of those, what percentage corrected errors in a previous instrument (including drafts of affirmative instruments that had to be superseded by correcting drafts); and what steps that Department is taking to reduce the need for correcting instruments.
Answered by Lord Wallace of Saltaire - Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Cabinet Office)
All legislation is published online at legislation.gov.uk
The lessons gained from any errors in Statutory Instruments are fed back into the department’s quality assurance process, ensuring that the planning process takes sufficient account of the time required for pre-laying scrutiny of instruments.