Asked by: Lord Stunell (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government which Government-funded construction projects had been awarded to Caledonian Modular prior to its collapse in March, including, for each project, the awarding department, the contract value, and the anticipated costs of remediation of defective work.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office does not centrally hold commercial information on Government-funded construction projects. Individual departments manage and procure their own contracts. The Cabinet Office can confirm that no contracts with Caledonian Modular were held with the Cabinet Office prior to its collapse in March 2022.
Asked by: Lord Stunell (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many Freedom of Information requests were considered by the Cabinet Office's Clearing House in each of the last ten years; and how many of these were (1) answered in full, (2) answered in part, and (3) refused, broken down by the statutory grounds for refusal.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
The Clearing House function does not have full time members of staff, and its work is done by a small team of people in the FOI team, including the Deputy Director of Freedom of Information and Transparency, alongside their other day to day responsibilities. There is no separate budget for the Clearing House.
The Cabinet Office does not routinely capture data on the number of requests which are referred to the Clearing House. However, in 2020, Clearing House gave advice on 516 aggregated ‘round robins’ (requests made to more than one department and that have repeat characteristics); a small proportion of over 30,000 requests received by government departments in the same time period.
The Cabinet Office has referred requests to the Clearing House where appropriate and in line with the published criteria, which is available on gov.uk here - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cabinet-office-and-freedom-of-information.
Information on Freedom of Information statistics is also published on gov.uk here - https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics.
Asked by: Lord Stunell (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the Chair of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry to speed up the start of the next phase of its work.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The timetable for the independent public Inquiry is a matter for the Chair, Sir Martin Moore-Bick. Work on Phase 2 has been going on for several months. Sir Martin has said that he would like to start the Phase 2 hearings as soon as possible, but there is still much work to do. The issues to be considered in Phase 2 are complex and detailed, and involve a huge number of documents, which must be reviewed and digested. The investigation must be thorough, but careful and detailed preparation should make it possible to ensure the hearings, once begun, are completed within a reasonable time
Before the phase 2 hearings, the Inquiry will produce its report on phase 1, and carry out, as far as it properly can, an investigation into the deaths caused by the fire, and make findings that will meet the coroner’s requirements. Sir Martin has made clear that some steps can and should be taken immediately in the interests of public safety, and he has put in place a procedure for considering proposals from core participants. Government is committed to providing the Inquiry with all the resources it needs to complete its important task.
Asked by: Lord Stunell (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the current financial situation of Carillion; and what consideration they have given to mandating the use of bank accounts in England for public infrastructure projects in order to protect smaller sub-contractors on such projects.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The Cabinet Office tracks the financial status of all of HMG’s Strategic Suppliers and manages risks accordingly. Carillion plc is a Strategic Supplier to Her Majesty’s Government, publicly listed company and is required to comply with all rules and regulations of the London Stock Exchange. We are expecting the company to be publishing its half-year results on the 29th September.
The Government Construction Strategy, as set out by the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA), does not mandate the use of Project Bank Accounts (PBAs) in England for public infrastructure projects. However, the policy states they are recognised as an effective mechanism for facilitating fair payment to the construction supply chain and that departments have committed to use them unless there are compelling reasons not to do so. The use of PBA’s can be found in the Government Construction Strategy, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-construction-strategy-2016-2020.