Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to make (a) Returning Officers and (b) Electoral Registration Officers subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
It is the Government’s intention to bring forward proposals to make Returning Officers and Electoral Registration Officers subject to the Freedom of Information Act when legislative time allows and following appropriate consultation.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much the Government has paid in fees to all counsel to public inquiries in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Michael Ellis
Under the Inquiries Rules 2006, the appointment of Counsel to the Inquiry is a matter for an inquiry’s independent chair.
Baroness Hallett, the chair of the Covid-19 Inquiry, has appointed Hugo Keith QC as Lead Counsel to the Inquiry.
Information as to fees paid to inquiry counsel is not held centrally. Statutory inquiries publish information on their expenditure on their own independent websites.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the process is for the selection of counsel for the forthcoming public inquiry into the covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by Michael Ellis
Under the Inquiries Rules 2006, the appointment of Counsel to the Inquiry is a matter for an inquiry’s independent chair.
Baroness Hallett, the chair of the Covid-19 Inquiry, has appointed Hugo Keith QC as Lead Counsel to the Inquiry.
Information as to fees paid to inquiry counsel is not held centrally. Statutory inquiries publish information on their expenditure on their own independent websites.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will confirm the process by which counsel to public inquiries are selected.
Answered by Michael Ellis
Under the Inquiries Rules 2006, the appointment of Counsel to the Inquiry is a matter for an inquiry’s independent chair.
Baroness Hallett, the chair of the Covid-19 Inquiry, has appointed Hugo Keith QC as Lead Counsel to the Inquiry.
Information as to fees paid to inquiry counsel is not held centrally. Statutory inquiries publish information on their expenditure on their own independent websites.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many offshore oil and gas workers were resident in (a) Teesside, (b) north east England, (c) England and (d) Scotland in (i) 2000, (ii) 2010 and (iii) 2020.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have, therefore, asked the Authority to respond.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the timeframe is for allowing the restarting of small weddings.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
Our Plan To Rebuild, the Government's COVID-19 Recovery Strategy, is published on gov.uk and includes details on plans for weddings. We understand the frustration couples planning a wedding must be feeling at this time. We are keeping these restrictions under review and will ease them as soon as it is safe to do so. We will continue to work closely with faith leaders and local government over the coming weeks to go through the practicalities of doing so.
Marriages and civil partnerships under the special procedure for those who are seriously ill and not expected to recover, are taking place in some cases where it is safe to do so in line with PHE guidance.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department takes across Government to calculate social value in the award of central government contracts.
Answered by Oliver Dowden
We have developed a light touch model for calculating social value in government procurement, representing the minimum standard on social value that we expect departments to consider in their procurement activity. The model comprises a set of high level themes, a set of priority policy outcomes grouped under each theme, standard award criteria and a menu of specific metrics for departments to use in contract management and reporting.
Each policy outcome will have standard award criteria and a suggested set of evaluation questions for departments to consider, and a corresponding set of proposed metrics that should be used by departments to performance manage the delivery of the contract. Bidders will need to submit questions based on these metrics where they have been selected.
In March 2019, we launched a public consultation on the final measures that will form part of the overall social value framework. The consultation will encompass the proposed questions and reporting metrics that will be used to compare the relative social value of bids for central government contracts. The consultation closes on 10 June 2019.
We are also developing proposals for government’s biggest suppliers to provide data and action plans for how they plan to address key issue such as ethnic minority representation in their workforce, the gender pay gap throughout the company and what they are doing to tackle the scourge of modern slavery.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking across all Government departments to ensure social value is delivered in public procurement.
Answered by Oliver Dowden
We are extending the application of the Social Value Act in central government to ensure all
major procurements explicitly evaluate social value where appropriate, rather than just
‘consider’. This will ensure central government contracts take account of areas as diverse as
the employment of disabled people, the use of social enterprises, the prevention of modern
slavery and the protection of the environment
We are developing a simple, systematic approach to bring departments up to a consistent,
minimum level of operating, and ensuring additional reporting does not add complexity or
cost to the procurement process, restrict markets or exclude small businesses from
government contracts
Government is committed to train all 4,000 commercial buyers on how to take account of
social value and procure successfully from social enterprises - training for government
commercial staff will help unlock more opportunities for voluntary, community and social
enterprise organisations. We will also require all departments to report on the social impact
of major new procurements.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many seafarers were classified as working on vessels engaged in decommissioning projects on the UK Continental Shelf in each year between 2008-09 and 2016-17.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many seafarers were classified as working on vessels engaged in offshore wind projects on the UK Continental Shelf in each year between 2008-09 and 2016-17.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.