Asked by: Douglas Carswell (Independent - Clacton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when his Department plans to publish a list of its special advisers in post.
Answered by Ben Gummer
A full list of Government special advisers will be published in due course, in the usual way.
Asked by: Douglas Carswell (Independent - Clacton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what contingency planning the Government undertook in the event of a vote to leave the EU.
Answered by Oliver Letwin
The Government had a clear position on the referendum and it was right for the civil service to work in support of that. We now have clear instructions from the British people and Government will of course work to take those instructions forward.
Asked by: Douglas Carswell (Independent - Clacton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much UK public money has been used to purchase steel from loss-making state-owned Chinese steel making companies (a) through the Crown Commercial Service and (b) in total in the last 10 years.
Answered by Matt Hancock
The Crown Commercial Service has not awarded any contracts for the procurement of steel.
Information on departmental spend on steel is not held centrally.
All departments are now required to implement new guidelines, which we published on 30 October last year, on how government buyers should source steel for major projects so that the true value of UK steel is taken into account in major procurement decisions.
Asked by: Douglas Carswell (Independent - Clacton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many civil servants from across all Government departments and at what grade have been seconded to the Cabinet Office Referendum Unit.
Answered by John Penrose
I refer my right hon. Friend the Member for Haltemprice and Howden and the hon. Member for Clacton to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for St Albans on 18 April 2016 to UIN: 32678.
The cost of the secretariat, including the Referendum Unit, will be accounted for in the Department’s annual report and accounts.
Asked by: Douglas Carswell (Independent - Clacton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the press release, Government response to public desire for EU facts, published on 6 April 2016, how much and in what areas the Government has spent on the production of its leaflet on the EU referendum; and from which departmental budget that funding has been obtained.
Answered by John Penrose
I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 14 April 2016, to the hon. Member for Harwich and North Essex.
All leaflets will be delivered in advance of the 28 day restricted period, beginning on 27 May 2016. The costs of the leaflet will be met from the Cabinet Office budget.
Asked by: Douglas Carswell (Independent - Clacton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the press release, Government response to public desire for EU facts, published on 6 April 2016, whether the Government plans to complete the delivery of the leaflets on the EU referendum and remove the website, eureferendum.gov.uk, prior to the start of the purdah period related to that referendum on 27 May 2016.
Answered by John Penrose
I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 14 April 2016, to the hon. Member for Harwich and North Essex.
All leaflets will be delivered in advance of the 28 day restricted period, beginning on 27 May 2016. The costs of the leaflet will be met from the Cabinet Office budget.
Asked by: Douglas Carswell (Independent - Clacton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Prime Minister's Oral Statement of 22 February 2016, Official Report, column 35, on the European Council, whether his Department is undertaking planning in the eventuality of a majority leave vote in the EU referendum.
Answered by John Penrose
At the February European Council, the Government negotiated a new settlement, giving the United Kingdom a special status in a reformed European Union. The Government's position, as set out by the Prime Minister to the House on 22 February, is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off remaining in a reformed EU.
Asked by: Douglas Carswell (Independent - Clacton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Prime Minister, with reference to his Oral Statement of 22 February 2016, Official Report, column 35, on the European Council, whether his Office is undertaking planning in the eventuality of a majority leave vote in the EU referendum.
Answered by Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton
At the February European Council the Government negotiated a new settlement, giving the United Kingdom a special status in a reformed European Union. The Government's view is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off remaining in a reformed EU.
The civil service is working full-time to support the Government’s position. A document setting out the principal alternatives to our membership of the EU will be published shortly.
Asked by: Douglas Carswell (Independent - Clacton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the cost has been to the public purse of independent policy advisers across all government departments since May 2010.
Answered by Lord Maude of Horsham
Independent policy advisers is not a category of staff or profession that is recognised in the Civil Service. Departments may commission policy advice externally including through the Contestable Policy programme. Comprehensive details are not held centrally.