Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Maude of Horsham and Dan Jarvis

Wednesday 30th April 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Maude]

We are reforming the way we do that. We identified a lack of commercial capability in Government and we are acting to remedy that, although there is still some way to go. The Government have been a very bad customer: we should be the best customer suppliers have, because we have scale and good credit and we pay quickly. We need to use that scale to get the best pricing, and we were not doing that. We have saved hundreds of millions of pounds by doing much better and by dealing with our biggest suppliers as a single customer, but there is much more that we still need to do.

[Dan Jarvis (Barnsley Central) (Lab)]

6. What steps he is taking to encourage volunteering.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Maude of Horsham and Dan Jarvis

Wednesday 7th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Dan Jarvis (Barnsley Central) (Lab)]

7. What recent assessment he has made of steps to improve transparency throughout Government.

[The Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General (Mr Francis Maude)]

The Government have a world-leading transparency programme, as is widely acknowledged. Open data sharpen accountability, inform choice over public services and offer raw material for a fast-growing industry of developers and entrepreneurs. As lead co-chair of the open government partnership, we are working with Governments the world over to embed transparency through stretching action plans.

[Dan Jarvis]

Does the Minister share my concern about the Government’s failure to extend freedom of information to private companies that deliver public services? Does that not make a mockery of the Government’s transparency agenda? If he does share my concern, what will his Department do about it?

[Mr Maude]

First, FOI is the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice, not my Department. Secondly, the Justice Committee recently undertook a wide-ranging post-legislative study of the Freedom of Information Act 2000—the Government will respond before too long—and, as I recollect, recommended no such change.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Maude of Horsham and Dan Jarvis

Wednesday 15th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Dan Jarvis (Barnsley Central) (Lab)]

5. What progress his Department’s counter fraud taskforce has made in tackling benefit fraud.

[The Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General (Mr Francis Maude)]

The National Fraud Authority estimates that £21 billion is lost to fraud in the public sector each year. In recent months, the counter fraud taskforce, which I chair, has overseen a series of small-scale pilots that have made immediate savings of £12 million in benefit and tax credit fraud, and which—when rolled out—will save £1.5 billion a year.

[Dan Jarvis]

I thank the Minister for his response, which, when compared with the Labour Government’s targets for benefit fraud reduction, signals an unambitious approach to tackling this serious problem. Why is that?