Lord Norton of Louth

The number of times fire alarms have been activated on the Parliamentary Estate in the first five months of 2022 is as follows:

January – 4

February – 2

March – 5

April – 6

May – 3

The forecast cost of repair and maintenance of the Palace of Westminster in each year from 2022/23 to 2024/25, as per the most recent Medium Term Financial Plans, is set out in the table below. This includes the forecast spend on both maintenance and major projects on the Palace. There is not yet a reliable forecast for repair and maintenance beyond the 2024/25 financial year.

The risks of failure relating to the physical condition of the Palace of Westminster are reviewed and mitigated as part of the operation and maintenance of the Parliamentary Estate. These risks include fire, hitting uncharted underground services, unexploded ordnance, and failure of legally required services, all of which have mitigation plans in place to reduce the risk of failure. The table below shows the current assessment of the likelihood of the top five risk events in relation to catastrophic failure.

Source: In-House Services and Strategic Estates Health and Safety & maintenance team risk registers

The Senior Deputy Speaker has asked me, as Chair of the Services Committee, to respond on his behalf. 858,483 mail items were received on the Parliamentary Estate in 2020. The Administration does not count which House each item goes to but estimates that approximately 15 per cent of these items were destined for the House of Lords.

Please note that this figure refers to the whole Parliamentary Estate, not just the Palace of Westminster, and these figures do not include parcels, courier items or internal mail.

The Senior Deputy Speaker has asked me, as Chair of the Services Committee, to respond on his behalf. In total, 1,254,748 items of mail were received on the Parliamentary Estate in 2019. The destination of mail is not recorded but it is estimated that approximately 15 per cent of these items were destined for the House of Lords. These figures do not include parcels, courier items or internal mail.

Please note that this figure refers to the whole Parliamentary Estate, not just the Palace of Westminster.

The Prime Minister has overall responsibility for constitutional issues. How responsibilities across government are allocated and how the Prime Minister is supported in the discharge of responsibilities is set out in the List of Ministerial Responsibilities, the last version of which was published on 3 March 2022.

There is no centrally held record of the number of post-legislative reviews submitted by Government departments. The decision on whether a review should be submitted to the relevant departmental select committee is a matter for discussion between departments and the committee. There will be occasions when the department and committee may agree that a memorandum is not required, for example where an Act has already been repealed, has only a very limited policy or practical significance, a review has already been committed to or carried out (e.g. following a pilot); or a department has already submitted relevant evidence in connection with another inquiry by the committee.

Information on professional development programmes taken by individual Ministers is not held centrally by the Government.

Ministers are able to access advice on specific subjects, including professional development programmes, such as the short modular training programme on major project delivery, designed by the Infrastructure Projects Authority and University of Oxford Saïd Business School.

The declaration on government reform published in June states a commitment to ensuring Ministers receive training in how to assess evidence, monitor delivery, and work effectively with Civil Service colleagues. This work is underway.

The Civil Service Code sets out that civil servants advising ministers should be aware of the constitutional significance of Parliament, and of the conventions governing the relationship between Parliament and the government.

The Code is part of the terms and conditions for civil servants. Each department or agency has a duty to make civil servants aware of the Code and its values.

There are already Civil Servants based in York. Through the Places for Growth Programme, the Cabinet Office is exploring opportunities to relocate Civil Service roles across the UK. By relocating more Civil Service roles, including senior grades and decision-making roles, out of London, the Government wants to create and distribute opportunity, jobs and investment across the whole United Kingdom.

In that context, the Government has engaged with the York Central Partnership, and, as part of this, explored whether the space would allow for Parliamentary activity, should it be required.