Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee West)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment the Government has made of the security of civil servants' pensions data following the cyber attack against Capita in March 2023.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Civil Service Pension Scheme (CSPS) contract has been structured to ensure that robust Information Security including Cyber Security controls are in place. This has been a fundamental principle from the inception of the procurement. As such the procurement has built measures into the CSPS contract and supporting requirements to ensure that Information Security including Cyber Security is of paramount importance throughout all stages of transition and the contract term. This includes:
CSPS requirements including a robust set of security principles that are up to date with the latest His Majesty's Government (HMG) requirements, specifically no off-shoring of CSPS data, annual IT health checks, a monthly Security Working Group to review and investigate any issues relating to security and ongoing requirement to provide Cabinet Office Digital team, assurance against the Cyber Assessment Framework (GovAssure) standard.
Embedding within the CSPS contract is the requirement to ensure that Capita, and the administration solution, will be subject to a rigorous accreditation process prior to any CSPS data being migrated to their infrastructure.
Enhancements being made to the standard Model Service Contract Security Schedule (2.4) to ensure that the Cabinet Office has the contractual leverage to enforce proactive and reactive controls for cyber and data security.
Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee West)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what criteria were used to assess the suitability of Capita to administer the Civil Service Pension Scheme for his Department.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Civil Service Pension Scheme (CSPS) procurement was run in accordance with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. In accordance with this, strict criteria were applied to the evaluation of all bids submitted. In summary:
All final tender bids submitted were assessed against three criteria, each with an allocated weighting. These areas were Quality (65%), Price (25%) and Social Value (10%).
The Quality aspects of the bid evaluated included: Security, Business Systems, Core Administration, Member & Employer Engagement, Data, Fraud & Finance, Risk & Governance and Transition.
The Social Value aspects of the bid evaluated included: Tackling Economic Inequality, Fighting Climate Change, Equal Opportunity and Wellbeing.
To ensure that the evaluation of all bids was fair, proportionate and met the criteria for best value for money, strict moderation protocols were implemented to ensure that consensus was agreed on the outcomes.
Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee West)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Open Government Partnership National Action Plan 2021-23 commitment to explore in greater detail developing a commitment to Aid Transparency, what plans the Government has to publish a timeline for that process.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
As a part of UK membership to the Open Government Partnership, government and civil society work together to develop a National Action Plan every two years. Due to COVID-19 related resource constraints, not all commitment areas identified through the co-creation process could be developed in full, including Aid Transparency. However, as set out in the plan, we will look to explore this theme further as engagement continues into 2022.
If all parties agree to explore this topic following discussion at an upcoming multi-stakeholder forum, a discrete working group will be convened to develop a commitment. A timeline will then be published.
Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee West)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Open Government Partnership National Action Plan 2021-23 commitment to explore in greater detail developing a commitment to Aid Transparency, what steps the Government is taking to consult with stakeholders during that process.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
As a part of UK membership to the Open Government Partnership, government and civil society work together to develop a National Action Plan every two years. Due to COVID-19 related resource constraints, not all commitment areas identified through the co-creation process could be developed in full, including Aid Transparency. However, as set out in the plan, we will look to explore this theme further as engagement continues into 2022.
If all parties agree to explore this topic following discussion at an upcoming multi-stakeholder forum, a discrete working group will be convened to develop a commitment. A timeline will then be published.
Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee West)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department is taking to monitor cross-government progress to the delivery of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) as outlined in the 2021 Outcome Delivery Plans.
Answered by Michael Ellis
The Cabinet Office supports the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, which has overall policy oversight for the Sustainable Development Goals, on domestic coordination and implementation by embedding Sustainable Development Goals into the Planning and Performance Framework. Outcome Delivery Plans were published for all government departments on 15 July 2021. These plans highlight how each department will support the delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals for the financial year 21-22. Departments continue to report on performance against these plans as part of the financial year 21-22 Annual Reports and Accounts process.
Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee West)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he has taken to progress the cross-Government policy coherence on the Sustainable Development Goals in 2021.
Answered by Michael Ellis
The Cabinet Office supports the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, which has overall policy oversight for the Sustainable Development Goals, on domestic coordination and implementation by embedding Sustainable Development Goals into the Planning and Performance Framework. Outcome Delivery Plans were published for all government departments on 15 July 2021. These plans highlight how each department will support the delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals for the financial year 21-22. Departments continue to report on performance against these plans as part of the financial year 21-22 Annual Reports and Accounts process.
Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee West)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will ensure that all government departments produce an analysis of the effect of their policies on people who are low-paid.
Answered by Ben Gummer
At each Budget and Autumn Statement, the Government already produces cumulative distributional analysis; this shows the impact of government policies since 2010 on the share of tax paid and spending received, across the household income distribution.
Where appropriate, departments also choose to publish analyses of the potential effects on protected characteristics, and of the effect of government policy on families.
Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee West)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Prime Minister, how many times he has visited Scotland in an official capacity since the 2015 General Election; and what meetings were held on each such visit.
Answered by Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton - Foreign Secretary
I regularly visit all parts of the United Kingdom, including Scotland. Details of my meetings with external organisations are published on a quarterly basis and can be accessed via the gov.uk website.
Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee West)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people have been employed in Dundee by the Government and its agencies in each year since 1990.
Answered by Rob Wilson
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee West)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to his Answer of 10 July 2015 to Question 2952, if he will make it his policy that all Government departments pursue accreditation from the Living Wage Foundation.
Answered by Matt Hancock
We are the first Government ever to deliver a National Living Wage. Every employer in the country will pay the National Living Wage, including of course all Government departments.