Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government when the Prime Minister last spoke to the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Prime Minister spoke to Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on 5 December 2023. A readout is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-call-with-prime-minister-netanyahu-of-israel-5-december-2023.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what are their key priorities for the forthcoming G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan on 19 to 21 May.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
As the Prime Minister’s Statement to the House of Commons on 22 May set out at the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, the UK: led the way in supporting Ukraine for as long as it takes; took action on economic security and resilience; stood united with allies on China’s generational challenge; championed sustainable development; and secured commitments to collaborate on the challenge of illegal migration.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many current members of the Senior Civil Service were recruited via the Fast Stream; and why they have paused the Civil Service Fast Stream recruitment in 2022/23 for the 2023 intake.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
The Fast Stream is a talent pipeline for government departments and professions. It is only right we pause bringing in candidates as departments set out how they might achieve the government’s commitment to return the Civil Service to the size it was in 2016.
Whilst we pause the Fast Stream for the 2023 intake, we will take the opportunity to further improve the Fast Stream offer. This reform will ensure that when the scheme reopens, it is focused on driving up specialist skills in the Civil Service, as well as improving the regional representation of the Fast Stream.
Information provided by departments to the Cabinet Office shows that as of 1st April 2021, 890 Senior Civil Servants were reported to have been successful in the central Fast Stream selection process. This represents 20% of all Senior Civil Servants (as a percentage of all members where information has been reported by the department as known).
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Prime Minister met Aleksandr Lebedev in Italy in 2018 without his officials present whilst he was Foreign Secretary; and what was discussed during that meeting.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
My Rt Hon Friend the Prime Minister has committed to write to the Liaison Committee on this and other matters raised with him during his appearance. A copy of that letter will be placed in the Library of the House.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take to publicise the Global Talent Visa programme to potential applicants, particularly to scientists; and how they plan to measure their progress towards securing the UK’s status as a Science and Tech Superpower by 2030, as promised in Global Britain in a competitive age: The Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy, published on 16 March.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
The Office for Talent, with other government departments, is developing the GREAT campaign to attract those working in science and technology and inspire them to live and work in the United Kingdom. This will include highlighting the Global Talent visa route. The Home Office works hard to ensure the UK’s immigration rules are clear and accessible and our visa system is easy to navigate for those who want to come to the UK.
The Prime Minister has put his science and technology superpower ambitions at the heart of government business by setting up the new National Science & Technology Council (NSTC). The new Office for Science & Technology Strategy in the Cabinet Office will inform and deliver the NSTC’s vision - this includes monitoring the impact of its decisions on the UK’s status as a science and technology superpower. The Government Office for Science’s Technology and Science Insights team will provide independent and objective analysis to support this work.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when the Prime Minister last spoke to the President of Russia.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
The Prime Minister last spoke to President Putin of Russia on Monday 25 October.
Details of their call were published on GOV.UK (https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-call-with-president-putin-of-russia-25-october-2021) and stated that:
“The Prime Minister spoke to Russian President Putin this afternoon ahead of the COP26 Summit.
He welcomed the steps Russia has taken in recent days to commit net zero by 2060. The Prime Minister expressed his hope that Russia will raise that target to achieving net zero by 2050 as well as making further progress on ending deforestation and an ambitious Nationally Determined Contribution.
President Putin expressed his regret that he would not be able to attend the COP26 Summit in person in the light of the coronavirus situation in Russia.
The Prime Minister was clear that the UK’s current relationship with Russia is not the one we want. He said significant bilateral difficulties remain, including the poisonings in Salisbury in 2018. The Prime Minister also underscored the importance of Ukrainian sovereignty.
The Prime Minister said that as fellow permanent members of the UN Security Council and major world economies with a long, shared history, the UK and Russia have a responsibility to work together to tackle shared challenges like climate change and safeguard international agreements like the Iran Nuclear Deal.
The leaders also discussed the current situation in Afghanistan. The Prime Minister stressed the importance of any recognition of the Taliban being conditional on their behaviour, including respect for human rights.”
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how often the taskforce set up with the United States of America to discuss the establishment of a travel corridor has met; and what progress has been made on agreeing a date to open such a corridor.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
The Prime Minister and US President announced the establishment of a UK/US Expert Working Group on international travel following their meeting on 10 June 2021. Since then, the group met in full regularly over the summer to discuss the reopening of travel between the UK and US, as well as further engagement between the UK and US chairs, our embassy in Washington, and technical discussions.
Facilitated by the UK/US Working Group, the UK reopened travel for double vaccinated US residents on 2 August, meaning that they no longer need to self isolate on arrival into the UK.
On 20 September, the US announced that they will allow double vaccinated British nationals to enter the US from November, completing the fully vaccinated travel corridor. Travellers will need proof of full vaccination and a negative COVID test taken three days before departure and will not need to quarantine.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to reform the Ministerial Code to take greater account of ministerial communication by (1) text, (2) Signal, (3) WhatsApp, and (4) other encrypted messaging services.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
Ministers’ formal meetings with external organisations are published quarterly on gov.uk.
Ministers will have informal conversations from time to time, in person or remotely, and significant content relating to government business from such discussions is passed back to officials.
Ministers will use a range of digital forms of communication for discussions in line with relevant guidance on information handling and security.
The Cabinet Office has previously published guidance on how information is held for the purposes of access to information, and how formal decisions are recorded for the official record. Ministers are also given advice on the security of electronic communications.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they intend to appoint a new Independent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests; and why that post has remained vacant since the resignation of Sir Alex Allan in November 2020.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
The Prime Minister yesterday announced the appointment of Rt Hon Lord Geidt to serve as the Independent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests. Lord Geidt is a Crossbench Member of the House of Lords, a Privy Councillor and a former Private Secretary to The Queen. He brings a distinguished record of impartial public service and experience of Government to bear on the appointment.
The Prime Minister has agreed Terms of Reference for the role with Lord Geidt. These have been published on Gov.uk and will be deposited in the House libraries.
As part of these new Terms of Reference, and taking into account the recommendations of the Chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, the Independent Adviser will now have the authority to advise on the initiation of investigations.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many Freedom of Information (FOI) requests they have not responded to within 20 working days; and whether they have any plans to improve the efficiency of the FOI request system.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
The Cabinet Office publishes information on the handling of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests across Government on a quarterly basis on Gov.uk.
Covid-19 has put particular pressures on public officials, but as the published figures demonstrate that between July and September 2020, departments received around 8,000 freedom of information requests and responded to almost 90% of them within 20 working days or with a permitted extension. This reflects the Government’s commitment to fulfill its freedom of information obligations, despite the pressures of responding to COVID-19.