Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to improve cross-Government coordination on preparedness for a future pandemic.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Government is committed to improving pandemic preparedness. As the response to Module One of the Covid-19 inquiry made clear, the Cabinet Office is playing a greater role in preparedness for cross-cutting catastrophic risks.
Our preparedness for future pandemics has been stepped up through Exercise Pegasus, the largest ever national pandemic response exercise. The exercise will test national to local coordination arrangements, and lessons from the exercise will help strengthen pandemic preparedness at national and local levels.
Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent progress his Department has made on protecting people from cyber threats.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
I refer to my answer for UIN 80985, tabled on 10 October 2025.
Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what progress is being made on paying compensation to people affected by the Infected Blood Scandal.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The delivery of compensation is a matter for the Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA). As of 9 September, IBCA has contacted 3,471 people to start their compensation claim, and 3,122 have started the claim process. 1,615 offers of compensation have been made, totalling over £1.2 billion, and so far 1,299 people have accepted their offers with more than £897 million paid in compensation. This means, as of 9 September, over 90% of infected people registered with a support scheme have been contacted to begin their claim.
IBCA expects the first claims from the cohort of people who are infected but have never been compensated, as they are not registered with an infected blood support scheme, to begin in October 2025. IBCA will also start the first claims for deceased infected people, and affected people, by December 2025.
Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to help support (a) small and medium-sized businesses and (b) social enterprises in North East Somerset and Hanham constituency to be awarded government contracts.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The Government is determined to ensure the £385 billion of public money spent on public procurement annually, delivers economic growth and supports small businesses across the country. For too long, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and voluntary, community and social enterprises (VCSEs) have been held back by government procurement processes that are too slow, bureaucratic, and difficult to navigate.
The National Procurement Policy Statement (NPPS) sets out the Government’s strategic priorities for public procurement and builds on measures in the Procurement Act including an expectation for all public bodies to maximise procurement spend with SMEs and VCSEs.
In central government, we have announced new rules to drive greater transparency and accountability for increasing numbers of SMEs and VCSEs delivering public contracts. From 1 April 2025 central government departments must set three-year targets for direct spend with SMEs, and from 1 April 2026 for VCSEs, and to publish progress annually.
The Government is also currently consulting on further reforms to our public procurement processes to build on the changes introduced in the Procurement Act. In particular, these reforms will open up more opportunities for SMEs and VCSEs.
Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether estates managed by the Government Property Agency took part in No Mow May.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The Government Property Agency (GPA) does not manage participation of No Mow May centrally. However, estates are encouraged to take part in such initiatives if operationally feasible on a site by site basis. As such several sites took part across the GPA estate.