Asked by: Alex Davies-Jones (Labour - Pontypridd)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what meetings have taken place between (a) Cabinet members and (b) other Ministers and social media network, Parler, since December 2019.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
There have been no meetings between Cabinet Office ministers and Parler.
Full details of all departments’ ministerial meetings are published quarterly and can be found on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Alex Davies-Jones (Labour - Pontypridd)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Cabinet Secretary was informed by the Rt hon. Member for North East Somerset of the shares in Yandex Ltd held by Somerset Capital Management LLP while he held his positions as (a) Leader of the House and (b) Minister of State for Brexit Opportunities; and whether an assessment was made of whether this could have constituted a conflict of interest.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
I refer the hon Member to the answer given by my Rt Hon Friend the member for Northampton North on 14 March 2022 (UIN 122754) and to the Annual Report of the Independent Adviser on Ministers Interests, together with the List of Ministers Interests, which were published on 31 May 2022.
Asked by: Alex Davies-Jones (Labour - Pontypridd)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, which (a) members of the Cabinet and (b) other Ministers have been involved in discussions on the content of (i) the Online Safety Bill and (ii) the National Security Bill since 24 July 2019.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
Both the Online Safety Bill led by DCMS and the National Security Bill led by the Home Office include measures that touch on policy areas covered by a range of government departments. As such, Ministers from across government have been involved in their development from initial policy discussions to introduction to Parliament over several years. In line with normal process, both of these Bills come under Cabinet collective agreement.
Asked by: Alex Davies-Jones (Labour - Pontypridd)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many deaths have been attributed to nitrous oxide use in each year since 2010.
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 Davies-Jones (Labour - Pontypridd)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the total value of contracts awarded to PA Consulting in 2020 was to help the Government’s response to covid-19.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
As has been the case under successive administrations, details of meetings with external contractors are not usually disclosed. Details of ministers' meetings with external organisations and individuals are published on gov.uk periodically.
Details of Government contracts above £10,000 are published on Contracts Finder: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Search
Asked by: Alex Davies-Jones (Labour - Pontypridd)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish the attendees at negotiations for the contracts awarded to PA Consulting to help deliver the Government’s covid-19 response.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
As has been the case under successive administrations, details of meetings with external contractors are not usually disclosed. Details of ministers' meetings with external organisations and individuals are published on gov.uk periodically.
Details of Government contracts above £10,000 are published on Contracts Finder: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Search
Asked by: Alex Davies-Jones (Labour - Pontypridd)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the total value of service credits applied to the contracts awarded for consultancy spend across all Government Departments since 1 March 2020.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
This Government recognises that outsourcing is an important component in a “mixed economy” of public service provision and that the private sector has played a crucial role in the country’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, including in relation to the development and procurement of the Government’s world-leading vaccine programme. Under the terms of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, departments and other public authorities are able to use various applicable procedures. Public authorities across the United Kingdom including the devolved administrations and local authorities have made use of direct awards - this includes Leeds City Council. Similar approaches were adopted by many other countries, including Japan, Finland and New Zealand. It is unrealistic to suggest that the government ought to have run a full public procurement competition for PPE and other critical contracts at the height of the pandemic. The minimum number of days a competitive award could take place under the current rules is 25 days. This would have hugely slowed down the buying of vital PPE supplies.
Further to the Outsourcing Playbook, available on gov.uk, and as has been the case under successive administrations, public sector contracting authorities are responsible for their own commercial decisions, such as the award and monitoring of contracts. Regarding cyber security, details of the Cyber Essentials scheme is available on gov.uk. The requested information on service credits is not held centrally.
I note that the Hon Member has not yet replied to the letter by my Rt Hon Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster of 20 November 2020. As a courtesy, I will ensure that a further copy of the letter is sent to her office to ensure she has a chance to reply to the points raised.
Asked by: Alex Davies-Jones (Labour - Pontypridd)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, on how many occasions Ministers of devolved Governments have been invited to meetings of the EU Exit Operations Cabinet Committee to discuss preparedness for the end of the transition period (a) from 1 February to 31 August 2020 and (b) since 1 September 2020.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
The letter from the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster to Michael Russell MSP on 27 October, available on GOV.UK at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/letters-from-the-chancellor-of-the-duchy-of-lancaster-to-jeremy-miles-ms-and-michael-russell-msp includes detail of the extensive joint working with the devolved administrations.
Asked by: Alex Davies-Jones (Labour - Pontypridd)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many times the EU Exit Operations Cabinet Committee met to discuss preparedness for the end of the transition period (a) from 1 February and 31 August 2020 and (b) since 1 September 2020.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
In line with the practice of successive administrations, details of the discussions that have taken place in Cabinet and its Committees, and how often they have met, is not normally disclosed.
Asked by: Alex Davies-Jones (Labour - Pontypridd)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many fatalities have been recorded in hospitals in England for injuries related to firework displays in each year since 2010.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have therefore asked the Authority to respond.