Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the level of overseas demand for UK goods in April, and the consequential impact on private sector output.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
Please see the letter attached from the National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority.
Professor Sir Ian Diamond | National Statistician
The Lord Taylor of Warwick
House of Lords
London
SW1A 0PW
1 May 2025
Dear Lord Taylor of Warwick,
As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking what assessment has been made of the level of overseas demand for UK goods in April, and the consequential impact on private sector output (HL6970).
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) UK trade in goods data is currently available up to February 2025[1]. March data will be published on 15 May 2025, while April data will be published on 12 June 2025.
Yours sincerely,
Professor Sir Ian Diamond
[1]https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/nationalaccounts/balanceofpayments/bulletins/uktrade/february2025
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the United Kingdom is protested from large-scale cyber attacks; and what mitigations are in place to protect core infrastructure in the event of an attack.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government is working tirelessly to improve the cyber resilience of the UK’s critical infrastructure. We published the Cyber Security and Resilience policy statement on April 1, which set out our plans for the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill. It will strengthen the UK’s cyber defences and ensure that critical infrastructure and the digital services that UK citizens and businesses rely on are secure.
We welcome the findings of the recent National Audit Office report on Government Cyber Resilience, which highlight the need for an accelerated response. We are taking immediate steps to address its recommendations, including developing a cross-government implementation plan for the 2030 target and a new model to clarify and enforce cyber resilience responsibilities. We have published the Cyber Policy Handbook and the Secure by Design Framework to embed best practice throughout the UK’s public services. We are using GovAssure to define clear cyber resilience outcomes and develop an objective view of cyber resilience across the government technology estate.
Our commitment to improving the UK’s cyber resilience includes our engagement with the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). The NCSC engages with government, regulators and critical national infrastructure (CNI) operators to improve the cyber security and resilience of CNI, this includes: supporting them to raise their security baseline, improving their understanding the cyber risks they need to manage, such as the Cyber Assessment Framework, and helping them prepare for how they would respond to an incident or a period of heightened risk, leveraging GCHQ expertise.
The NCSC coordinates the government response to significant incidents. In the event of a severe national cyber incident the Cabinet Office activates COBR for enhanced coordination.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure access to accurate and up-to-date statistics, following reports of delays and mistakes in releases of data from the Office for National Statistics.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
Please see the letter attached from the National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority.
Professor Sir Ian Diamond | National Statistician
The Lord Taylor of Warwick
House of Lords
London
SW1A 0PW
31 March 2025
Dear Lord Taylor,
As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking what steps have been taken to ensure access to accurate and up-to-date statistics, following reports of delays and mistakes in releases of data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) (HL6081).
In recent months, as part of routine quality assurance, the ONS identified issues with some of our statistical outputs, resulting in a small number of publications being delayed. Prioritising quality in our statistics is at the forefront of what we do. As such, we are consistently improving systems, investing in quality assurance, and undertaking vital transformation programmes. Further steps to ensure quality in our statistics will be communicated in our 2025/26 Strategic Business Plan. In early April, we will also be publishing our new survey strategy. This will build upon our existing surveys recovery plan, and will chart the pathway to a robust, sustainable survey system that can deliver the critical data required by Government and other key stakeholders.
Yours sincerely,
Professor Sir Ian Diamond
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that Whitehall operates effectively, particularly regarding how different departments collaborate and coordinate with one another.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Mission-driven government means a focus on ambitious, long-term goals that require coordination and partnership across government and wider society. This a refocusing of the state onto active delivery across departmental boundaries. The Mission Delivery Unit in my departments works to ensure that all parts of government work together to deliver the Plan for Change.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the UK’s Labour Force Survey is providing correct and current data.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the noble Lord Taylor of Warwick’s Parliamentary Question of 10/02/25 is below and attached.
Professor Sir Ian Diamond | National Statistician
The Lord Taylor of Warwick
House of Lords
London
SW1A 0PW
19 February 2025
Dear Lord Taylor of Warwick,
As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking what steps the Office for National Statistics (ONS) are taking to ensure that UK’s Labour Force Survey (LFS) is providing correct and current data. (HL4910).
In my previous letter to you in February 2024 (HL2453) I included details on the comprehensive recovery plan[1] rolled out by the ONS in the last quarter of 2023 to improve the GB sample of the LFS. Since that letter, we have seen the implementation of further measures[2] introduced in the second half of 2024 to ensure the continued sustainability of the LFS.
These measures cover a combination of improvements to both data collection and methods which help make the survey estimates more representative of the UK population. We have continued measures introduced under the 2023 recovery plan, such as the reintroduction of in-home interviewing, the increased incentive, and the sample boost. We have also recruited and trained additional interviewers to increase the resource assigned to LFS. Interviewers were previously focused primarily on the wave 1 sample of the survey, with waves 2-5 being picked up by field interviewers as a lower priority. Since our letter to the Treasury Select Committee in December 2024[3], which included detail on our planned interviewer up-lift, we have increased the number of interviewers working on waves 2-5 by 50 so far.
As part of our continued efforts to make the survey estimates more representative, the ONS have reweighted[4] the LFS data periods back to 2019 using more recent population information published in January 2024. This reweighting exercise resulted in increased levels’ estimates across most of the labour market series, with rates and averages seeing little change, and reduced the gap between the LFS employment data and payroll estimates of the number of employees. This partial reweighting exercise has also been extended to the two-quarter longitudinal outputs, which we released on 18 February 2025. Further work is under way looking at the implementation of a more comprehensive full reweighting of our data when new population projections are released later this year.
There are ongoing work streams aiming to understand the statistical quality, such as attrition, mode effects and bias in the longitudinal and cross-sectional samples. In addition, we are conducting a number of research projects exploring our approaches to communication with respondents and the incentives to participate in our surveys. These projects will also help us to understand how we can optimise the response to our surveys. As part of our agreed user and methods assurance, we continue to engage with our Stakeholder Advisory Panel and external methods advisors, Ray Chambers and James Brown, to discuss and invite feedback on all work stream developments.
To date, the aforementioned sustainability improvements have had a positive impact. In July to September 2023, the quarterly LFS data included 44,238 individual responses across the UK[5]. By the October to December 2024 quarter this had increased to 63,069 individual responses for the UK[6]. With the additional interviewer resource enhancing our data collection efforts over coming months, we expect the achieved sample and dataset size and its representativeness to improve further.
As we expect to continue seeing higher volatility in LFS data in the short term than might have historically been expected, we continue to advise users to apply caution when observing changes in the survey-based estimates. Users should also consider the commentary we publish alongside our statistical bulletins, as well as consulting the wider range of labour market data we publish when forming a view on the labour market.
In summary, progress has been made in recovering the LFS with the achieved sample now significantly higher and the incorporation of the latest population information into the estimates. The major changes we have made to the LFS will be fully included through all five survey waves by the first quarter of next year, which will inform the LFS estimates for publication in May 2025.
While we are working hard to improve our LFS-based data, our long-term solution for collecting labour market data is delivery of the Transformed Labour Force Survey (TLFS). We conducted a range of tests towards end of 2024, investigating the effects of a shortened questionnaire and specific changes to the content. We are planning to up-date users on the next steps in Spring 2025.
Yours sincerely,
Professor Sir Ian Diamond
[1] Labour Force Survey: planned improvements and its reintroduction, ONS article, 2 November 2023,
https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/methodologies/labourforcesurveyplannedimprovementsanditsreintroduction
[2] Labour market transformation – update on progress and plans: December 2024, ONS article, 3 December 024, https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/labourmarkettransformationupdateonprogressandplans/december2024
[3] UKSA Response to the Treasury Select Committee, UKSA letter, 3 December 2024,
https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/45859/documents/227537/default/
[4] Impact of reweighting on Labour Force Survey key indicators: December 2024, ONS article, 3 December 2024,
https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/impactofreweightingonlabourforcesurveykeyindicators/latest
[5] Labour Force Survey performance and quality monitoring report: July to September 2023, ONS article, 14 November 2023, https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/methodologies/labourforcesurveyperformanceandqualitymonitoringreportjulytoseptember2023
[6] Labour Force Survey performance and quality monitoring report: October to December 2024, ONS article, 18 February 2025, https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/methodologies/labourforcesurveyperformanceandqualitymonitoringreportoctobertodecember2024
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to encourage more cyber experts to work in government departments.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government has been delivering successful cyber programmes for many years.
We bring new talent into His Majesty’s government with our apprenticeship and graduate schemes and a new Government Cyber Skills Academy.
We attract cyber experts into Government with our new Cyber Resourcing Hub which is working to engage with talent pools and support recruiting line managers. The Civil Service Pay Remit Guidance also gives flexibility for departments to offer higher pay for hard-to-recruit-to roles.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of how increasing funding to the Civil Service could (1) support innovation in technology and processes, and (2) improve productivity.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government is committed to a strategic plan for the Civil Service which supports improved productivity and drives innovation.
In a speech on 9 December, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster set out the Government’s plans for public sector reform. Phase 2 of the Spending Review will also include a focus on how departments can support innovation and boost productivity in the Civil Service.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential impact of job cuts on the efficiency and output of the Civil Service.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
This government is committed to ensuring departments consider overall value for money in resourcing decisions.
To this end, it has introduced a 2% target for reduction to administration budgets in financial years 2024-25 and 2025-26 and a stop to all non-essential spending on consultancy, with an aim to halve spending in future years.
As set out in the Budget, the government has committed to developing a long-term strategic plan for a more efficient and effective Civil Service, including bold options to improve skills, harness digital technology and drive better outcomes for public services.
Decisions relating to the size and cost of the Civil Service workforce will be considered as part of the Spending Review process. HM Treasury and the Cabinet Office will work closely with departments to develop plans that achieve the government’s reform objectives for the Civil Service.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support small GB–based businesses in overcoming barriers to trade with Northern Ireland, particularly in relations to shipping difficulties.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Windsor Framework provides a wide range support for business between GB and NI.
The UK Internal Market Scheme already enables businesses to move goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland without being subject to customs duties. This is being expanded into the full UK internal market system which will further simplify the movement of goods for businesses.
There will be a competitive procurement exercise for provision of the Trader Support Service, which provides free support and guidance to businesses, to ensure continuity of service from 2026 onwards, and the current service has been extended to the end of 2025.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what resources and infrastructure they are investing in to defend against cyber warfare, with particular reference to artificial intelligence.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Last week, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster delivered a speech to the NATO Cyber Defence Conference in which he set out the Government's commitment to strengthening cyber resilience. We continue to work closely with allies to expose cyber attackers from across the world, whether that’s through public attributions, calling out hostile actors, or through sanctions. And we are constantly looking at where we can bolster our own digital defences here in the UK. In the King’s Speech, we announced that the Government would bring forward a Cyber Security and Resilience Bill, which will strengthen the UK’s cyber defences, and, working with industry, help make the UK the safest place to live and work online.
The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster also announced a new Laboratory for AI Security Research at the University of Oxford (LASR), backed by £8.2 million of funding from the government’s Integrated Security Fund. The lab will bring together experts from government, industry and academia to seize the national security and economic opportunities of secure AI, underlining our commitment to stay one step ahead in this new AI arms race.