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Written Question
Cabinet Office: Disease Control
Wednesday 1st February 2023

Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether their Department has purchased mobile UV virus irradiation units.

Answered by Jeremy Quin

The Government Property Agency, which manages the Cabinet Office property portfolio, has not purchased any mobile UV virus irradiation units.


Written Question
Prime Minister: Leeds
Monday 16th January 2023

Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the cost to the public purse was for the Prime Ministerial visit by private aircraft to Chapel Allerton on 9 January 2023; and for what reason an alternative sustainable form of transport was not used.

Answered by Jeremy Quin

All Ministerial travel is undertaken using efficient and cost-effective travel arrangements.

As a whole, domestic flights within the United Kingdom allow Ministers to visit more parts of the United Kingdom in the time available, particularly areas further away from London, and reduce the need for overnight accommodation for Ministers and accompanying staff. Security considerations are also taken into account.

Details of departmental business travel are published in the Cabinet Office audited annual report and accounts.


Written Question
Climate Change: Infrastructure
Thursday 1st December 2022

Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy report, Readiness for storms ahead? Critical national infrastructure in an age of climate change, published on 27 October, what assessment the Government has made of the potential merits of appointing a Minister of State for critical national infrastructure.

Answered by Jeremy Quin

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster confirmed during Cabinet Office Orals and Topicals on 27 October that both the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and myself are Ministers for resilience. The resilience portfolio includes working with the lead government departments for the Critical National Infrastructure sectors.

We will respond to the JCNSS report in full in due course.


Written Question
Parliamentary Private Secretaries
Thursday 1st December 2022

Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when he plans to publish an updated List of Parliamentary Private Secretaries to replace the most recent version dated June 2022.

Answered by Jeremy Quin

An updated List of Parliamentary Private Secretaries was published on 29 November, and is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/list-of-parliamentary-private-secretaries-pps-november-2022.


Written Question
Cabinet Office: Bullying and Discrimination
Friday 21st October 2022

Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether any employees of his Department have been blocked from promotion on account of being red-flagged as a result of making a complaint about (a) bullying or (b) discrimination.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Cabinet Office does not red-flag employees who raise complaints about a) bullying or b) discrimination.

The Cabinet Office complies with the Civil Service Recruitment Principles with recruitment being merit based on the basis of fair and open competition. A copy of the Civil Service Recruitment Principles can be found at https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/recruitment/recruitment-principles/.

Complaints relating to bullying or discrimination are treated as confidential in accordance with departmental policies; as such, the hiring manager would not be aware of candidates raising complaints.


Written Question
Cabinet Office: Bullying and Discrimination
Thursday 13th October 2022

Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to tackle (a) bullying and (b) discrimination within his Department.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The Cabinet Office does not tolerate bullying, harassment or discrimination in any form. There are robust policies and processes in place to create a safe working environment and the Department actively encourages staff to report any inappropriate behaviour including bullying, harassment and discrimination.

In October 2021, the Cabinet Office launched an independent Review into Respect & Inclusion to consider policies, practices and workplace culture in regard to fairness and inclusion in the Cabinet Office. The Department has accepted the independent report's recommendations and are implementing them in full, prioritising actions that will have the greatest immediate impact. This includes ensuring senior leaders are accountable for leadership of respect and inclusion issues.

Additionally, Cabinet Office have our Fair Treatment Confidants Network where staff are trained to support and signpost their colleagues if they have experienced, witnessed or been accused of bullying, harassment or discrimination.


Written Question
Civil Servants: Retirement
Friday 10th June 2022

Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many civil servants retired from central Government departments between 1 March 2020 and 1 March 2022; and of those how many had worked in the civil service for 20 consecutive years or more, broken down by Government department.

Answered by Heather Wheeler

National Statistics on the size, shape and structure of the Civil Service, including the number of civil servants leaving, by leaving cause, between 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021, was published as part of the release of Civil Service Statistics 2021 and is available at the following link https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/civil-service-statistics-2021 at table 42.

The attached data table shows that 7,580 civil servants retired in the year ending 31 March 2021. Of these, 4,900 were recorded as having entered the Civil Service 20 years or more prior to their retirement with numbers broken down by main government department in the table attached separately.

Statistics on those who retired in 2021/22 are not yet available.


Written Question
Cabinet Office: Grievance Procedures
Wednesday 8th June 2022

Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many official grievances have been lodged by Cabinet Office staff each year over the last ten years; and how many of those complaints were (a) entirely or (b) partially upheld.

Answered by Heather Wheeler

Employment tribunal decisions are published on GOV.UK. To ascertain which protected characteristic an employment tribunal was related to would lead to disproportionate costs.

The number of official grievances lodged by Cabinet Office staff and how many of those complaints were entirely or partially upheld is not centrally held. The Cabinet Office is therefore not able to respond due to the disproportionate cost of gathering this data.


Written Question
Employment: Tribunals
Wednesday 8th June 2022

Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many employment tribunals have been brought against the Cabinet Office in the last decade; and how many of the tribunal cases considered discrimination or harassment related to a protected characteristic.

Answered by Heather Wheeler

Employment tribunal decisions are published on GOV.UK. To ascertain which protected characteristic an employment tribunal was related to would lead to disproportionate costs.

The number of official grievances lodged by Cabinet Office staff and how many of those complaints were entirely or partially upheld is not centrally held. The Cabinet Office is therefore not able to respond due to the disproportionate cost of gathering this data.


Written Question
Public Service Ombudsman Bill (Draft)
Wednesday 27th April 2022

Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Cabinet Office, whether the Government plans to introduce the Public Service Ombudsman Bill, as drafted in December 2016, to Parliament.

Answered by Michael Ellis

The government has no plans at this time to introduce the 2016 Public Service Ombudsman Bill to Parliament. Whilst the government will consider specific proposals on Ombudsman reform we do not currently view more large scale Ombudsman reform as a priority for this Parliament.