Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to hold centrally the data on the details of internships within each Government Department.
Answered by Lord Wallace of Saltaire - Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Cabinet Office)
Data is held centrally for corporate internship schemes. These consist of: The Whitehall Internship Programme for Year 9 & 12 school pupils and; the Summer Diversity Internship Programme for penultimate & final year undergraduates. From spring 2015, Civil Service Resourcing will also be running the Early Diversity Internship Programme for first year undergraduates.
Data for other internships offered by individual departments will continue to be held by the relevant department.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the electoral registration app for smart phones recently launched in Dundee; and what plans they have to encourage the use of smart phone technology to facilitate voter registration, particularly amongst young people.
Answered by Lord Wallace of Saltaire - Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Cabinet Office)
The Government welcomes all activity by local Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) to promote the online channel for voter registration.
We have introduced online registration which makes registering to vote quicker and more accessible than ever before and can be done on a smartphone, tablet or PC in around 5 minutes. Since 10 June over 900,000 18-24 year olds have applied to register to vote with over 700,000 of these applications having been made on-line.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what measures are in place to increase the proportion of young people under 25 registered to vote in the 2015 General Election.
Answered by Lord Wallace of Saltaire - Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Cabinet Office)
The Government has introduced online registration in Great Britain. Young people are one of the biggest users of on-line registration to date and over 852,595 have applied to register to vote since June.
On 9 January Government announced that almost £10 million will be given to local authorities and to national activity to boost the number of people registering to vote around the country. This is in addition to the £4.2 million announced last year.
Up to £2.5 million will be used to fund wider activity, including working with national organisations to encourage groups who are not as well represented on the electoral register in general, such as young people including students.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many internships are offered by each government department.
Answered by Lord Wallace of Saltaire - Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Cabinet Office)
Data is not held centrally on internships offered by individual Departments; however a number of internship programmes are run centrally by Civil Service Resourcing. Details of these programmes and the targeted groups are listed online.
https://www.gov.uk/civil-service-fast-stream-summer-diversity-internship-programme
https://www.gov.uk/civil-service-fast-stream-early-diversity-internship-programme
http://www.socialmobility.org.uk/programmes/residential-programmes/whitehall-residential-programme/
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure the quality of youth services; and what measures they plan to maintain the quality of youth workers.
Answered by Lord Wallace of Saltaire - Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Cabinet Office)
The Government works closely with national youth organisations to look at ways in which Government can support high quality youth work through our existing programme and policies.
We are working to offer practical support to the youth sector at a time when local authorities continue to make difficult decisions on how to deliver services. Our support focuses on promoting delivery models for innovative youth services, including mutuals, and better measurement of the impact of youth services on the lives of young people. We also continue to ensure opportunities exists for young people to develop skills and confidence through programmes like National Citizen Service.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their policy regarding publicly funded bodies using private postal firms to deliver mail, and which (1) departments, and (2) agencies, currently do so.
Answered by Lord Wallace of Saltaire - Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Cabinet Office)
All Government departments use Royal Mail to some extent.
In addition, the Cabinet Office's Crown Commercial Service (CCS) has put in place a framework agreement for the provision of postal services. This provides choice and competition for the provision of postal services to the public sector.
Three central Government departments have reported to CCS spend with postal providers other than Royal Mail, HM Revenue and Customs, the Department for Work and Pensions and the Office for National Statistics.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether all Government departments use Royal Mail for their postal deliveries, and if not, which use other providers.
Answered by Lord Wallace of Saltaire - Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Cabinet Office)
All Government departments use Royal Mail to some extent.
In addition, the Cabinet Office's Crown Commercial Service (CCS) has put in place a framework agreement for the provision of postal services. This provides choice and competition for the provision of postal services to the public sector.
Three central Government departments have reported to CCS spend with postal providers other than Royal Mail, HM Revenue and Customs, the Department for Work and Pensions and the Office for National Statistics.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Lord Wallace of Saltaire on 18 June (WA 63), 14 May (WA 512), 6 May (WA 359), 7 April (WA 234) and 20 March (WA 52), on what each former Prime Minister, in each year that the Public Duty Costs Allowance was awarded to them, spent their allowances, in terms of comprehensive, unambiguous and catalogued expenses.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Public Duty Costs Allowance is to reimburse former Prime Ministers of necessary office and secretariat costs.
In line with the practice of successive administrations, further details are not normally disclosed.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the charitable status of fee-charging educational foundations with more than 75 per cent of pupils from outside the United Kingdom.
Answered by Lord Wallace of Saltaire - Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Cabinet Office)
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Charity Commission. I have asked the Commission's Head of Policy to reply.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Wallace of Saltaire on 14 May (WA512), where all past public duty cost allowance audit reports compiled by the National Audit Office, including all (1) submitted receipts, and (2) supporting documentation provided in support of former Prime Ministers' claims, may be accessed; and whether they will place copies of all such audit reports, regarding each former Prime Minister's spending in the last 20 years, in the Library of the House.
Answered by Lord Wallace of Saltaire - Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Cabinet Office)
The Public Duty Cost Allowance (PDCA) is subject to audit, both by Internal Audit and the National Audit Office. Relevant supporting documentation is provided in support of claims. The Certificate and Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General to the House of Commons is published as part of the Cabinet Office Annual Report. Copies of the Annual Report can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/cabinet-office-annual-reports-and-accounts.