Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to address the disparities and inequalities revealed by the race disparity audit, published on 10 October 2017.
Answered by David Lidington
Following the publication of the Race Disparity Audit’s Ethnicity facts and figures website on 10th October, the Prime Minister reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to tackle the disparities identified by the Audit.
The Government has already launched an initial programme of work to tackle some of the disparities. This includes the Department for Work and Pensions taking action to improve ethnic minority employment rates in twenty targeted areas, action by the Ministry of Justice to implement recommendations made in the recent Lammy Review and the Department for Education taking forward an external review to improve practice in exclusions. Further announcements on future Government work will be made in due course.
Tackling these disparities involve not just Government but local public services, the voluntary sector and businesses. The Government has made a commitment that it will “explain or change” key ethnic disparities identified by the Audit. Where significant disparities between ethnic groups cannot be explained by wider factors, the Government will work with
partners to change them.
The Race Disparity Unit in the Cabinet Office will be responsible for coordinating the Government’s response to the Audit. The Unit consists of 20 members of staff, including digital, data and policy professionals.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what resources he has dedicated to working on the Government's policy response to the findings of the race disparity audit, published on 10 October 2017.
Answered by David Lidington
Following the publication of the Race Disparity Audit’s Ethnicity facts and figures website on 10th October, the Prime Minister reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to tackle the disparities identified by the Audit.
The Government has already launched an initial programme of work to tackle some of the disparities. This includes the Department for Work and Pensions taking action to improve ethnic minority employment rates in twenty targeted areas, action by the Ministry of Justice to implement recommendations made in the recent Lammy Review and the Department for Education taking forward an external review to improve practice in exclusions. Further announcements on future Government work will be made in due course.
Tackling these disparities involve not just Government but local public services, the voluntary sector and businesses. The Government has made a commitment that it will “explain or change” key ethnic disparities identified by the Audit. Where significant disparities between ethnic groups cannot be explained by wider factors, the Government will work with
partners to change them.
The Race Disparity Unit in the Cabinet Office will be responsible for coordinating the Government’s response to the Audit. The Unit consists of 20 members of staff, including digital, data and policy professionals.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what plans he has to develop (a) a new strategy for resilience in major disasters and (b) a new civil disaster response taskforce.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Work is underway across Government to support local resilience to major disasters. This includes consideration of the response capabilities that could be better provided from the local and national levels when faced with major crises.
This may include strengthening existing systems, and introducing a surge capability to respond to major civil crisis as outlined in the Queen’s Speech.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate his Department has made of the proportion of the Civil Service workforce in his Department dedicated to planning for (a) the UK leaving the EU and (b) projects relating to the UK leaving the EU.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
EU Exit is an all-of- government operation. The Department for Exiting the European Union is doing detailed work with departments to prepare for the upcoming negotiations by understanding the risks and opportunities of leaving the EU and coordinating planning.
Members of staff across the Department may at times be required to provide advice and analysis on EU Exit issues as required. But given the interactions between EU exit work and the Department’s other priorities, it would not be possible to give an accurate figure.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment his Department has made of whether foreign nationals attempted to interfere in the (a) 2016 EU referendum and (b) 2017 General Election.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
I will not comment on operational or intelligence matters, however I can assure you that there has been no successful interference in any UK electoral process to date.
Our system of paper balloting and hand counting means UK voting mechanisms do not lend themselves to direct electronic manipulation. A series of protective measures were put in place ahead of the 2015 General Election, designed to be sufficiently enduring to mitigate future threats, including the EU referendum and future polls.
The NCSC continues to offer political parties access to the best cyber security guidance and support. The NCSC sent refreshed cyber security guidance to the range of bodies involved in the 2017 General Election.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many members of staff who ceased to be employed by his Department, its agencies and non-departmental public bodies in the last three years have subsequently been re-employed by his Department on a temporary basis or as a third-party contractor or consultant.
Answered by Ben Gummer
In my Department, its agencies and non-departmental public bodies, eight individuals have been identified as having left in the last three years and subsequently re-employed on a temporary basis or as a third-party contractor or consultant.
Whilst it is not normal practice to re-employ former employees on such terms, it is sometimes beneficial for the Department to be able to draw on the previous experience and skills of ex-employees in this way for short periods of time
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what plans his Department has to publish its assessments of the potential effect of the UK leaving the EU conducted in the six months before the EU referendum.
Answered by David Davis
The Government published its assessments of the long-term and immediate economic impact of leaving the EU in April and May this year. These can be found at the following web addresses: