Emily Thornberry Portrait

Emily Thornberry

Labour - Islington South and Finsbury

First elected: 5th May 2005

Shadow Attorney General

(since November 2021)

1 APPG membership (as of 1 Nov 2023)
Sexual and Reproductive Health in the UK
2 Former APPG memberships
Rule of Law, Sexual and Reproductive Health
Shadow Secretary of State for International Trade
6th Apr 2020 - 29th Nov 2021
Shadow Foreign Secretary
27th Jun 2016 - 5th Apr 2020
Shadow Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union
20th Jul 2016 - 6th Oct 2016
Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
5th Jan 2016 - 27th Jun 2016
Shadow Minister (Work and Pensions)
18th Sep 2015 - 5th Jan 2016
Health and Social Care Committee
8th Jul 2015 - 26th Oct 2015
Shadow Attorney General
7th Oct 2011 - 20th Nov 2014
Shadow Minister (Health)
8th Oct 2010 - 7th Oct 2011
Shadow Minister (Energy and Climate Change)
12th May 2010 - 8th Oct 2010
Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee
23rd Oct 2006 - 2nd Nov 2009
Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee
23rd Oct 2006 - 2nd Nov 2009
Draft Constitutional Renewal Bill (Joint Committee)
1st May 2008 - 22nd Jul 2008
Environmental Audit Committee
12th Jul 2005 - 26th Mar 2007
Draft Legal Services Bill (Joint Committee)
15th May 2006 - 25th Jul 2006


Department Event
Thursday 7th December 2023
10:10
Attorney General
Oral questions - Main Chamber
7 Dec 2023, 10:10 a.m.
Attorney General
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Note: This event involves a Department with which this person is linked, and does not guarantee their actual attendance.
Division Votes
Monday 4th December 2023
Victims and Prisoners Bill
voted Aye - in line with the party majority
One of 162 Labour Aye votes vs 0 Labour No votes
Tally: Ayes - 246 Noes - 242
Speeches
Wednesday 15th November 2023
Written Answers
Wednesday 6th December 2023
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology: Aviation
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to her Department's publication entitled DSIT ministerial …
Early Day Motions
Thursday 28th May 2015
MARRIAGE EQUALITY IN IRELAND
That this House congratulates the Republic of Ireland on becoming the first country in the world to endorse the call …
Bills
None available
MP Financial Interests
Monday 20th March 2023
3. Gifts, benefits and hospitality from UK sources
Name of donor: Trans in the City
Address of donor: Office 505, Albert House, 256-260 Old Street, London EC1V 9DD …
EDM signed
Monday 7th June 2021
Fire and rehire
That this House notes with alarm the growing number of employers who are dismissing and re-engaging staff on worse pay …
Supported Legislation
Wednesday 21st April 2021
Fur Trade (Prohibition) Bill 2019-21
A Bill to prohibit the import, export, purchase and sale of fur and fur products; and for connected purposes.

Division Voting information

During the current Parliamentary Session, Emily Thornberry has voted in 559 divisions, and never against the majority of their Party.
View All Emily Thornberry Division Votes

Debates during the 2019 Parliament

Speeches made during Parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. For ease of browsing we have grouped debates into individual, departmental and legislative categories.

Sparring Partners
Elizabeth Truss (Conservative)
(46 debate interactions)
Greg Hands (Conservative)
Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
(20 debate interactions)
Lindsay Hoyle (Speaker)
(13 debate interactions)
View All Sparring Partners
Department Debates
Department for International Trade
(104 debate contributions)
Attorney General
(4 debate contributions)
View All Department Debates
Legislation Debates
Trade Bill 2019-21
(6,916 words contributed)
View All Legislation Debates
View all Emily Thornberry's debates

Islington South and Finsbury Petitions

e-Petitions are administered by Parliament and allow members of the public to express support for a particular issue.

If an e-petition reaches 10,000 signatures the Government will issue a written response.

If an e-petition reaches 100,000 signatures the petition becomes eligible for a Parliamentary debate (usually Monday 4.30pm in Westminster Hall).

Petitions with most Islington South and Finsbury signatures
Emily Thornberry has not participated in any petition debates

Latest EDMs signed by Emily Thornberry

20th May 2021
Emily Thornberry signed this EDM on Monday 7th June 2021

Fire and rehire

Tabled by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
That this House notes with alarm the growing number of employers who are dismissing and re-engaging staff on worse pay and terms and conditions, a practice commonly known as fire and rehire; agrees with the Government that such tactics represent an unacceptable abuse of power by rogue bosses, many of …
50 signatures
(Most recent: 21 Oct 2021)
Signatures by party:
Labour: 35
Independent: 5
Plaid Cymru: 3
Alba Party: 2
Liberal Democrat: 2
Alliance: 1
Social Democratic & Labour Party: 1
Green Party: 1
Scottish National Party: 1
28th February 2018
Emily Thornberry signed this EDM on Tuesday 6th March 2018

SIMEON ANDREWS

Tabled by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
That this House is shocked and saddened by the sudden death of Simeon Andrews, whose advice and assistance has proved invaluable to so many Labour movement comrades and Parliamentary colleagues; pays tribute to his success in creating and co-ordinating several union parliamentary groups and cross-party groups; notes his earlier achievements …
55 signatures
(Most recent: 16 May 2018)
Signatures by party:
Labour: 39
Scottish National Party: 7
Independent: 4
Plaid Cymru: 1
Conservative: 1
Non-affiliated: 1
Green Party: 1
Democratic Unionist Party: 1
View All Emily Thornberry's signed Early Day Motions

Commons initiatives

These initiatives were driven by Emily Thornberry, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.

MPs who are act as Ministers or Shadow Ministers are generally restricted from performing Commons initiatives other than Urgent Questions.


1 Urgent Question tabled by Emily Thornberry

Emily Thornberry has not been granted any Adjournment Debates

Emily Thornberry has not introduced any legislation before Parliament

1 Bill co-sponsored by Emily Thornberry

Fur Trade (Prohibition) Bill 2019-21
Sponsor - Taiwo Owatemi (Lab)


3008 Written Questions in the current parliament

(View all written questions)
Written Questions can be tabled by MPs and Lords to request specific information information on the work, policy and activities of a Government Department
11 Other Department Questions
21st Feb 2023
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether any officials, advisers or ministers from her Department have held discussions with representatives of (a) the Qatari government, (b) the consortium led by Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani or (c) Manchester United Football Club on that consortium's proposed takeover of that club.

Officials, advisers and ministers from my department have had no such discussions.

Any purchase of a football club is a matter for the owners and potential purchasers to resolve, including meeting any relevant requirement of the league in which they compete.

Stuart Andrew
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
7th Feb 2023
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many ministerial red (a) boxes and (b) folders were in use by her Department as of 1 February bearing the inscription Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, and how much public money was spent on the procurement of those items.

As of 1 February, 4 ministerial folders bearing the inscription ‘Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’ were in use by the Department. The cost of each folder was £495 (including a £15 delivery fee).

Julia Lopez
Minister on Leave (Minister of State)
23rd Nov 2022
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, pursuant to the Answer of 23 November to Question 90762 on Equality: Surveys, if she will list the (a) 12 main questions and (b) 28 sub-questions, and the associated answer options associated with each question, that have been included in the 2022 British Social Attitudes Survey at the request of the Equality Hub.

The 12 main questions, 28 sub-questions and associated answer options that the Equality Hub have included in the 2022 British Social Attitudes Survey are in the attached document.

Stuart Andrew
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
18th Nov 2022
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, with reference to the contract awarded by The Equality Hub to the National Centre for Social Research on 10 October under procurement reference CCZZ22A10, what are the 27.5 items proposed for inclusion in the 2022 British Social Attitudes survey.

The 27.5 items relate to 12 main questions, 28 sub-questions and associated answer options that the Equality Hub have included in the 2022 British Social Attitudes Survey. They provide useful information on public attitudes on equalities issues including over long-term trends. The questions cover areas of gender, sexuality, disability and social mobility.

Stuart Andrew
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
5th Sep 2022
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, with reference to Section 109(4) of the Equality Act 2010, whether the provision of mandatory training for civil service staff regarding their obligations under the Equality Act has been cited as a defence against Section 109 proceedings by (a) a Government department and (b) other public sector body since the commencement of that Act.

This information is not held centrally. Proceedings under the Equality Act 2010 are brought against individual Government departments, or the employing public sector body.

Amanda Solloway
Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
27th Jun 2022
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, if she will publish details of the fourteen individuals and organisations appointed as expert advisers on the Social Mobility Commission's Policy and Evidence Advisory Panel under the terms of procurement process reference SMC-2122-35.

The tender exercise for Expert Advisers on the Social Mobility Commission's Policy and Evidence Advisory Panel has concluded. The outcome can be found on the Contracts Finder website: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/notice/aa001085-f74f-4840-a39f-c93c3d1be71a?origin=SearchResults&p=1.

We are unable to publish the names of private individuals contracted at this stage for reasons of data protection. While individual names have been redacted, seven of the Policy & Evidence Advisory Panel members applied through their respective organisations or companies and these details are available on the Contracts Finder website cited above.

Kemi Badenoch
President of the Board of Trade
8th Mar 2021
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what remuneration members of the Gender Equality Advisory Council will receive for the work they do on behalf of the UK’s G7 presidency.

Membership of the Gender Equality Advisory Council is voluntary and unpaid.

8th Mar 2021
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what recent progress the Government has made in contributing to the 2018 G7 Gender Equality Advisory Council’s recommendations (a) 18.1, (b) 28 and (c) 40.

Under the UK G7 Presidency, the Prime Minister has reconvened the Gender Equality Advisory Council (GEAC). I am delighted to act as Ministerial Lead working with the independent Council and building on the foundations laid by the Canadian and French G7 presidencies, and to champion the core principles of freedom, opportunity, individual humanity and dignity for women around the world.

The Government remains deeply committed to tackling global poverty and helping to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Despite the economic challenges we face, the UK will remain a major donor spending 0.5 per cent of GNI on Overseas Development Aid (ODA).

The Foreign Secretary’s Strategic Framework for UK ODA announced in the House on 26 November 2020 will see us focus on global challenges where the UK can make the most impact: on climate change and biodiversity; girls’ education; COVID and global health security; on open societies, conflict resolution, humanitarian crises and trade and economic development.

FCDO supports a range of programmes that promote the importance of data to inform policy-making and programme delivery focused on the needs of the most vulnerable. Having joined the Inclusive Data Charter last year, we will produce an Action Plan on improving the quality, quantity, financing, and availability of inclusive and disaggregated data, as well as the capacity and capability to produce and use it.

The Prime Minister has made absolutely clear our continued commitment to stand up for the right of every girl to 12 years of quality education. ODA spending is only one of our tools in achieving our ambitions; this year we will be co-hosting the Global Partnership for Education Replenishment with Kenya and using our G7 Presidency to rally the international community to step up support to girls’ education.

8th Mar 2021
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what recent progress the Government has made in implementing commitments made under the 2019 Biarritz Partnership for Gender Equality.

This Government is fully committed to fulfilling our obligations under international agreements, and remains steadfast in its commitment to advance gender equality and women and girls’ rights.

Our landmark Domestic Abuse Bill is on track to achieve Royal Assent by the end of April 2021 and represents our determination to tackle this abhorrent crime. We remain determined to better protect and support the victims of abuse and their children and bring perpetrators to justice.

Importantly, provision within this Bill brings us even closer to compliance with the Istanbul Convention and this Government’s commitment to ratifying it, as set out in the most recent annual report on progress towards ratification published by the Home Office in October 2020.

Kemi Badenoch
President of the Board of Trade
8th Mar 2021
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, when she plans to (a) announce a date, (b) confirm a programme and (c) issue invitations for the Government's international Safe To Be Me conference.

This Government is committed to delivering an international LGBT conference that will bring together governments from around the world, international civil society, businesses and Parliamentarians to address the safety of LGBT people at home and abroad.

Safe To Be Me: A Global Equality Conference was planned to take place in London between 27 and 29 May 2020.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Conference had to be postponed. We are considering a variety of alternative options on how we can address this commitment in a way that is fit-for-purpose and safe for our delegates. We will be announcing the rescheduled dates shortly, followed by the programme and invitations in due course.

Kemi Badenoch
President of the Board of Trade
23rd Oct 2023
To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 14 December 2022 to Question 107061 on Attorney General: Incentives, how much the Government Legal Department spent on purchasing non-cash vouchers for staff as reward and recognition bonuses in 2022-23.

Purchasing non-cash vouchers as reward and recognition bonuses for staff is standard practice across Government.

The Government Legal Department spent £240,605 on purchasing non-cash vouchers for staff as reward and recognition bonuses in 2022-23.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
18th Oct 2023
To ask the Attorney General, what estimate she has made of the total costs incurred by the Serious Fraud Office in pursuing the cases dropped on 24 August 2023 against (a) the Alpha and Green Park Group of companies, (b) ENRC and (c) Rio Tinto.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) does not disclose the costs associated with its cases as this risks prejudicing the administration of justice and is against the public interest. Information on how the SFO uses resources is published in aggregate in its Annual Report and Accounts.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
19th Sep 2023
To ask the Attorney General, on how many working days did the Crown Prosecution Service’s case management system experience (a) planned and (b) unplanned outages that prevented staff from accessing the system between 1 April and 30 September 2023.

Planned outages

There were two planned outages on working days, namely 25th April and 27th June.

Further, there was a planned outage on the weekend of Saturday 19th August to Sunday 20th August, which included an outage during the CPS core working hours of Saturday morning.

Unplanned outages

There were three unplanned outages, namely on the 4th August, 16th August, and 17th August.

Further, there were two periods on the 20th June and 15th August of degraded service. During these periods some users were not able to log in to the system.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
19th Sep 2023
To ask the Attorney General, if she will publish a list of the (a) dates when the case management system experienced its ten longest outages, (b) the number of hours the case management system could not be used on each date and (c) whether each outage was (i) planned or (ii) unplanned between 1 April and 30 September 2023.

Planned outages are normally scheduled outside the CPS core working hours (Mon-Fri 7am to 7pm and Saturday 8am – 1pm) to minimise impact.

The table below sets out:

a) Days and dates when the case management system (CMS) experienced its ten longest outages;

b) The number of hours the case management system could not be used on each date; and

c) whether each outage was planned or unplanned.

Outage Start

Outage End

Duration (Hrs/Mins)

Planned / Unplanned

Sunday 23/04/2023 08:00

23/04/2023 13:00

05:00

Planned

Tuesday 25/04/2023 19:15

25/04/2023 23:30

04:15

Planned

Thursday 11/05/2023 19:00

11/05/2023 20:00

01:00

Unplanned

Wednesday 07/06/2023 19:15

07/06/2023 20:45

01:30

Planned

Tuesday 27/06/2023 17:30

27/06/2023 21:30

04:00

Planned

Tuesday 11/07/2023 19:15

12/07/2023 00:15

05:00

Planned

Friday 04/08/2023 17:36

04/08/2023 20:28

02:52

Unplanned

Sunday 06/08/2023 08:00

06/08/2023 13:30

05:30

Planned

Wednesday 16/08/2023 13:00

16/08/2023 15:11

02:11

Unplanned

Saturday 19/08/2023 14:00

20/08/2023 19:00

29:00

Planned

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
5th Sep 2023
To ask the Attorney General, how many times defendants were informed that they had been charged with (a) controlling or coercive behaviour in an intimate or family relationship, (b) stalking and (c) harassment and given a date and time to appear in court by a Postal Requisition letter from the Crown Prosecution Service in financial years (i) 2021-22 and (ii) 2022-23.

The Police issue all postal requisition letters following Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) advice to charge, and have sole responsibility for decisions on, and issue of, postal requisition letters. The CPS does not hold the relevant data.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
5th Sep 2023
To ask the Attorney General, how many times defendants were informed that they had been charged with (a) being concerned in the supply of Class A drugs or (b) conspiracy to supply a Class A drug and given a date and time to appear in court by a Postal Requisition letter from the Crown Prosecution Service in financial years (i) 2021-22 and (ii) 2022-23.

The Police issue all postal requisition letters following Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) advice to charge, and have sole responsibility for decisions on, and issue of, postal requisition letters. The CPS does not hold the relevant data.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
5th Sep 2023
To ask the Attorney General, how many times defendants were informed that they had been charged with (a) wounding or (b) wounding with intent and given a date and time to appear in court by a Postal Requisition letter from the Crown Prosecution Service in financial years (i) 2021-22 and (ii) 2022-23.

The Police issue all postal requisition letters following Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) advice to charge, and have sole responsibility for decisions on, and issue of, postal requisition letters. The CPS does not hold the relevant data.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
5th Sep 2023
To ask the Attorney General, how many times defendants were informed that they had been charged with (a) assault occasioning actual bodily harm or (b) causing grievous bodily harm with intent and given a date and time to appear in court by a Postal Requisition letter from the Crown Prosecution Service in financial years (i) 2021-22 and (ii) 2022-23.

The Police issue all postal requisition letters following Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) advice to charge, and have sole responsibility for decisions on, and issue of, postal requisition letters. The CPS does not hold the relevant data.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
5th Sep 2023
To ask the Attorney General, how many times defendants were informed that they had been charged with (a) sexual activity with a child or (b) making an indecent image of a child and given a date and time to appear in court by a Postal Requisition letter from the Crown Prosecution Service in financial years (i) 2021-22 and (ii) 2022-23.

The Police issue all postal requisition letters following Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) advice to charge, and have sole responsibility for decisions on, and issue of, postal requisition letters. The CPS does not hold the relevant data.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
5th Sep 2023
To ask the Attorney General, how many times defendants were informed that they had been charged with (a) rape of a child under 13 or (b) sexual assault of a child under 13 and given a date and time to appear in court by a Postal Requisition letter from the Crown Prosecution Service in financial years (i) 2021-22 and (ii) 2022-23.

The Police issue all postal requisition letters following Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) advice to charge, and have sole responsibility for decisions on, and issue of, postal requisition letters. The CPS does not hold the relevant data.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
5th Sep 2023
To ask the Attorney General, how many times defendants were informed that they had been charged with (a) rape or (b) sexual assault and given a date and time to appear in court by a Postal Requisition letter from the Crown Prosecution Service in financial years (i) 2021-22 and (ii) 2022-23.

The Police issue all postal requisition letters following Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) advice to charge, and have sole responsibility for decisions on, and issue of, postal requisition letters. The CPS does not hold the relevant data.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
5th Sep 2023
To ask the Attorney General, how many times defendants were informed that they had been charged with (a) murder or (b) manslaughter and given a date and time to appear in court by a Postal Requisition letter from the Crown Prosecution Service in financial years (i) 2021-22 and (ii) 2022-23.

The Police issue all postal requisition letters following Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) advice to charge, and have sole responsibility for decisions on, and issue of, postal requisition letters. The CPS does not hold the relevant data.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
5th Sep 2023
To ask the Attorney General, how many times defendants were informed that they had been charged with (a) robbery, (b) conspiracy to commit robbery, (c) burglary and (d) conspiracy to commit burglary and given a date and time to appear in court by a Postal Requisition letter from the Crown Prosecution Service in financial years (i) 2021-22 and (ii) 2022-23.

The Police issue all postal requisition letters following Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) advice to charge, and have sole responsibility for decisions on, and issue of, postal requisition letters. The CPS does not hold the relevant data.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
4th Sep 2023
To ask the Attorney General, on how many occasions defendants were informed that they (a) had been charged with an (i) indictable and (ii) either-way offence and (b) given a date and time to appear in court via a postal requisition letter from the Crown Prosecution Service in England and Wales in the (A) 2021-22 and (B) 2022-23 financial year.

The Police issue all postal requisition letters following Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) advice to charge, and have sole responsibility for decisions on, and issue of, postal requisition letters. The CPS does not hold the relevant data.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
17th Jul 2023
To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to Recommendation 9 of the Joint Inspectorate’s Phase Two report into the police and Crown Prosecution Service response to rape published in February 2022, in how many and what proportion of rape cases resulting in a conviction in the 2022-23 financial year was there no record of the victim (a) making and (b) actively declining the option to make a victim personal statement prior to sentencing.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not have a central record of the number of victim personal statements made, updated or where a victim declined to provide one.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
17th Jul 2023
To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to Recommendation 9 of the Joint Inspectorate’s Phase Two report into the police and Crown Prosecution Service response to rape, published in February 2022, in how many and what proportion of rape cases resulting in a conviction in the 2022-23 financial year did the victim (a) make a victim personal statement prior to trial, (b) make or update a victim personal statement between trial and sentencing and (c) actively decline the option to make a victim personal statement.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not have a central record of the number of victim personal statements made, updated or where a victim declined to provide one.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
17th Jul 2023
To ask the Attorney General, how many people were employed by the Crown Prosecution Service as prosecutors on 30 June; and how many of those had (a) been in post for at least twelve months and (b) prosecuted at least one case before the (i) magistrates court and (ii) crown court between 1 July 2022 and 30 June 2023.

As at 30 June 2023, there were (a) 113 Asscociate Prosecutors and (b) 235 Crown Prosecutors employed by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). In total, there were 3304 people employed by the CPS as proseuctors on 30 June 2023, with 3040 in post for at least 12 months. The CPS manages its workforce data systems separately from its prosecution casework and the response would require disproportionate and significant manual input. *Data extracted is accurate at point of enquiry on 18 July 2023. Consequent changes to data input may mean that this data will change at some point in the future.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
17th Jul 2023
To ask the Attorney General, how many people were employed by the Crown Prosecution Service as (a) an associate prosecutor and (b) a crown prosecutor as of 30 June 2023.

As at 30 June 2023, there were (a) 113 Asscociate Prosecutors and (b) 235 Crown Prosecutors employed by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). In total, there were 3304 people employed by the CPS as proseuctors on 30 June 2023, with 3040 in post for at least 12 months. The CPS manages its workforce data systems separately from its prosecution casework and the response would require disproportionate and significant manual input. *Data extracted is accurate at point of enquiry on 18 July 2023. Consequent changes to data input may mean that this data will change at some point in the future.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
13th Jul 2023
To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 25 January 2023 to Question 125375 on Stalking, how many prosecutions were commenced into offences of stalking in financial year 2022/23.

The data for the financial year 2022/23 will be available from 20 July 2023 on the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) website in line with CPS quarterly data publications.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
19th May 2023
To ask the Attorney General, how many staff in the Government Legal Department received public sector equality training in the period between (a) 13 February 2020 to 2 August 2022, (b) 3 August 2022 to 6 September 2022, and (c) 7 September 2022 to 15 May 2023.

Training on the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) and other elements of equality law is provided to GLD staff in a range of formats, including live training sessions and on demand video content and e-learning modules.

The table below provides the total number of individuals recorded as having engaged with all formats of training during the time periods in question.

Time period

Number of individuals

13 February 2020 to 2 August 2022

637

3 August 2022 to 6 September 2022

6

7 September 2022 to 15 May 2023

178

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
30th Mar 2023
To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 28 March 2023 to Question 166164 on Government Departments: Staff, what the overall rating out of 100 recorded was in the most recent Leesman office surveys undertaken by the (a) Crown Prosecution Service, (b) Government Legal Department and (c) Serious Fraud Office.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) do not undertake Leesman surveys. Any such office surveys are completed by the Government Property Agency (GPA). The Government Legal Department (GLD) holds no data on this. At the time of the last survey, none of the core GLD buildings were managed by the GPA. The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) scored 52.7 out of 100 on the latest Leesman Office survey.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
23rd Mar 2023
To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 22 March to Question 163750 on Crown Prosecution Service: Staff, what proportion of the difference between the figure provided in that answer for the number of prosecutors employed in the Crown Prosecution Service regions as of 31 December 2019 (2,009) and the figure provided in the answer of 20 December 2021 to Question 90844 for the total number of prosecutors employed by the CPS on the same date (2,800) is accounted for by the inclusion in the latter figure of prosecutors employed in the CPS Direct and CPS Central Casework divisions.

The total of 2,800 in the answer to question 90844 includes 414 prosecutors (including managers) employed in CPS Direct and CPS Central Casework Divisions.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
23rd Mar 2023
To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 22 March to Question 163750 on Crown Prosecution Service: Staff, what proportion of the difference between the figure provided in that answer (2,182) for the number of prosecutors employed in the Crown Prosecution Service regions as of 31 December 2020 and the figure provided in the answer of 20 December 2021 to Question 90844 on Crown Prosecution Service: Staff for the total number of prosecutors employed by the CPS on the same date (3,025) is accounted for by the inclusion in the latter figure of prosecutors employed in the CPS Direct and CPS Central Casework divisions.

The total 3,025 in answer to question 90844 includes 436 prosecutors (including managers) employed in CPS Direct and CPS Central Casework Divisions

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
23rd Mar 2023
To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 22 March 2023 to Question 163750 on Crown Prosecution Service: South West, what proportion of the difference between the figure provided in that Answer for the number of prosecutors employed in the Crown Prosecution Service regions as of 31 December 2021 (2,230) and the figure provided in the Answer of 20 December 2021 to Question 90844 for the total number of prosecutors employed by the CPS on the same date (3,118) is accounted for by the inclusion in the latter figure of prosecutors employed in the CPS Direct and CPS Central Casework divisions.

The total of 3,118 in the answer to question 90844 includes 438 prosecutors (including managers) employed in CPS Direct and CPS Central Casework Divisions. The figures were not from the same date. As stated in answer to question 90844, the data was correct as of 30 November 2021. As stated in answer to question 16370, the data was correct as of 31 December 2021.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
23rd Mar 2023
To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 22 March 2023 to Question 163750 on Crown Prosecution Service: South West, what accounts for the difference between the figure provided in that answer for the total number of prosecutors employed by the Crown Prosecution Service as of 31 December 2022 (2,703) and the equivalent figure provided in the Answer of 13 February 2023 to Question 139145 (2,389).

They are not equivalent figures. As stated in answer to Question 163750, the grand total was 2,703. Whereas the table in answer to Question 139145 gave a breakdown and not a grand total. In addition to the 2,389 prosecutors in that table are Crown Advocates; Associate Prosecutors; and qualified and experienced prosecutors in corporate roles such as legal trainers. Further, as stated in answer to Question 163750, consequential changes to data input may mean that the data will change at some point in the future.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
13th Mar 2023
To ask the Attorney General, how many (a) prosecutors and (b) other staff were employed by the Crown Prosecution Service in the Wessex CPS area as of 31 December (i) 2010, (ii) 2012, (iii) 2019, (iv) 2020, (v) 2021 and (vi) 2022.

The responses to parliamentary questions 163738-163750 have been grouped. The data provided includes all staff grades full time equivalent posts and has been extracted from the CPS Oracle HR database. It is accurate at point of enquiry on 20 March 2023. Consequent changes to data input may mean that this data will change at some point in the future. Data is unavailable for 2010 and 2012 as we do not retain detailed data such as business unit specific information for more than 6 years. Due to the size of the data available, it is presented on a separate document.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
13th Mar 2023
To ask the Attorney General, how many (a) prosecutors and (b) other staff were employed by the Crown Prosecution Service in the Thames and Chiltern CPS area as of 31 December (i) 2010, (ii) 2012, (iii) 2019, (iv) 2020, (v) 2021 and (vi) 2022.

The responses to parliamentary questions 163738-163750 have been grouped. The data provided includes all staff grades full time equivalent posts and has been extracted from the CPS Oracle HR database. It is accurate at point of enquiry on 20 March 2023. Consequent changes to data input may mean that this data will change at some point in the future. Data is unavailable for 2010 and 2012 as we do not retain detailed data such as business unit specific information for more than 6 years. Due to the size of the data available, it is presented on a separate document.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
13th Mar 2023
To ask the Attorney General, how many (a) prosecutors and (b) other staff were employed by the Crown Prosecution Service in the South West CPS area as of 31 December (i) 2010, (ii) 2012, (iii) 2019, (iv) 2020, (v) 2021 and (vi) 2022.

The responses to parliamentary questions 163738-163750 have been grouped. The data provided includes all staff grades full time equivalent posts and has been extracted from the CPS Oracle HR database. It is accurate at point of enquiry on 20 March 2023. Consequent changes to data input may mean that this data will change at some point in the future. Data is unavailable for 2010 and 2012 as we do not retain detailed data such as business unit specific information for more than 6 years. Due to the size of the data available, it is presented on a separate document.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
13th Mar 2023
To ask the Attorney General, how many (a) prosecutors and (b) other staff were employed by the Crown Prosecution Service in the South East CPS area on 31 December (i) 2010, (ii) 2012, (iii) 2019, (iv) 2020, (v) 2021 and (vi) 2022.

The responses to parliamentary questions 163738-163750 have been grouped. The data provided includes all staff grades full time equivalent posts and has been extracted from the CPS Oracle HR database. It is accurate at point of enquiry on 20 March 2023. Consequent changes to data input may mean that this data will change at some point in the future. Data is unavailable for 2010 and 2012 as we do not retain detailed data such as business unit specific information for more than 6 years. Due to the size of the data available, it is presented on a separate document.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
13th Mar 2023
To ask the Attorney General, how many (a) prosecutors and (b) other staff were employed by the Crown Prosecution Service in the North West CPS area on 31 December (i) 2010, (ii) 2012, (iii) 2019, (iv) 2020, (v) 2021 and (vi) 2022.

The responses to parliamentary questions 163738-163750 have been grouped. The data provided includes all staff grades full time equivalent posts and has been extracted from the CPS Oracle HR database. It is accurate at point of enquiry on 20 March 2023. Consequent changes to data input may mean that this data will change at some point in the future. Data is unavailable for 2010 and 2012 as we do not retain detailed data such as business unit specific information for more than 6 years. Due to the size of the data available, it is presented on a separate document.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
13th Mar 2023
To ask the Attorney General, how many (a) prosecutors and (b) other staff were employed by the Crown Prosecution Service in the Mersey-Cheshire CPS area on 31 December (i) 2010, (ii) 2012, (iii) 2019, (iv) 2020, (v) 2021 and (vi) 2022.

The responses to parliamentary questions 163738-163750 have been grouped. The data provided includes all staff grades full time equivalent posts and has been extracted from the CPS Oracle HR database. It is accurate at point of enquiry on 20 March 2023. Consequent changes to data input may mean that this data will change at some point in the future. Data is unavailable for 2010 and 2012 as we do not retain detailed data such as business unit specific information for more than 6 years. Due to the size of the data available, it is presented on a separate document.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
13th Mar 2023
To ask the Attorney General, how many (a) prosecutors and (b) other staff were employed by the Crown Prosecution Service in the (i) London North and (ii) London South CPS areas on 31 December (i) 2010, (ii) 2012, (iii) 2019, (iv) 2020, (v) 2021 and (vi) 2022.

The responses to parliamentary questions 163738-163750 have been grouped. The data provided includes all staff grades full time equivalent posts and has been extracted from the CPS Oracle HR database. It is accurate at point of enquiry on 20 March 2023. Consequent changes to data input may mean that this data will change at some point in the future. Data is unavailable for 2010 and 2012 as we do not retain detailed data such as business unit specific information for more than 6 years. Due to the size of the data available, it is presented on a separate document.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
13th Mar 2023
To ask the Attorney General, how many (a) prosecutors and (b) other staff were employed by the Crown Prosecution Service in the East of England CPS area on 31 December (i) 2010, (ii) 2012, (iii) 2019, (iv) 2020, (v) 2021 and (vi) 2022.

The responses to parliamentary questions 163738-163750 have been grouped. The data provided includes all staff grades full time equivalent posts and has been extracted from the CPS Oracle HR database. It is accurate at point of enquiry on 20 March 2023. Consequent changes to data input may mean that this data will change at some point in the future. Data is unavailable for 2010 and 2012 as we do not retain detailed data such as business unit specific information for more than 6 years. Due to the size of the data available, it is presented on a separate document.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
13th Mar 2023
To ask the Attorney General, how many (a) prosecutors and (b) other staff were employed by the Crown Prosecution Service in the East Midlands CPS area on 31 December (i) 2010, (ii) 2012, (iii) 2019, (iv) 2020, (v) 2021 and (vi) 2022.

The responses to parliamentary questions 163738-163750 have been grouped. The data provided includes all staff grades full time equivalent posts and has been extracted from the CPS Oracle HR database. It is accurate at point of enquiry on 20 March 2023. Consequent changes to data input may mean that this data will change at some point in the future. Data is unavailable for 2010 and 2012 as we do not retain detailed data such as business unit specific information for more than 6 years. Due to the size of the data available, it is presented on a separate document.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
13th Mar 2023
To ask the Attorney General, how many (a) prosecutors and (b) other staff were employed by the Crown Prosecution Service in the Wales CPS area on 31 December (i) 2010, (ii) 2012, (iii) 2020, (iii) 2019, (iv) 2020, (v) 2021 and (vi) 2022.

The responses to parliamentary questions 163738-163750 have been grouped. The data provided includes all staff grades full time equivalent posts and has been extracted from the CPS Oracle HR database. It is accurate at point of enquiry on 20 March 2023. Consequent changes to data input may mean that this data will change at some point in the future. Data is unavailable for 2010 and 2012 as we do not retain detailed data such as business unit specific information for more than 6 years. Due to the size of the data available, it is presented on a separate document.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
13th Mar 2023
To ask the Attorney General, how many (a) prosecutors and (b) other staff were employed by the Crown Prosecution Service in the West Midlands CPS area as of 31 December (i) 2010, (ii) 2012, (iii) 2019, (iv) 2020, (v) 2021 and (vi) 2022.

The responses to parliamentary questions 163738-163750 have been grouped. The data provided includes all staff grades full time equivalent posts and has been extracted from the CPS Oracle HR database. It is accurate at point of enquiry on 20 March 2023. Consequent changes to data input may mean that this data will change at some point in the future. Data is unavailable for 2010 and 2012 as we do not retain detailed data such as business unit specific information for more than 6 years. Due to the size of the data available, it is presented on a separate document.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
13th Mar 2023
To ask the Attorney General, how many (a) prosecutors and (b) other staff were employed by the Crown Prosecution Service in the Yorkshire and Humberside CPS area as of 31 December (i) 2010, (ii) 2012, (iii) 2019, (iv) 2020, (v) 2021 and (vi) 2022.

The responses to parliamentary questions 163738-163750 have been grouped. The data provided includes all staff grades full time equivalent posts and has been extracted from the CPS Oracle HR database. It is accurate at point of enquiry on 20 March 2023. Consequent changes to data input may mean that this data will change at some point in the future. Data is unavailable for 2010 and 2012 as we do not retain detailed data such as business unit specific information for more than 6 years. Due to the size of the data available, it is presented on a separate document.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
13th Mar 2023
To ask the Attorney General, how many (a) prosecutors and (b) other staff were employed by the Crown Prosecution Service in the (i) CPS Direct division and (ii) Central Casework Divisions as of 31 December 2022.

The responses to parliamentary questions 163738-163750 have been grouped. The data provided includes all staff grades full time equivalent posts and has been extracted from the CPS Oracle HR database. It is accurate at point of enquiry on 20 March 2023. Consequent changes to data input may mean that this data will change at some point in the future. Data is unavailable for 2010 and 2012 as we do not retain detailed data such as business unit specific information for more than 6 years. Due to the size of the data available, it is presented on a separate document. ​

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
3rd Feb 2023
To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 20 December 2021 to Question 90844 on Crown Prosecution Service: Staff, how many (a) prosecutors and (b) other staff were employed by the Crown Prosecution Service as of 31 December 2022.

Please find data in response attached.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
3rd Feb 2023
To ask the Attorney General, how many (a) prosecutors and (b) other staff were employed in the Crown Prosecution Service’s (i) Serious Economic, Organised Crime and International Directorate and (ii) Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division as of 31 December 2022.

Please find data response attached.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
3rd Feb 2023
To ask the Attorney General, how many (a) associate prosecutors, (b) crown prosecutors, (c) senior crown prosecutors, (d) Level 1-3 crown advocates, (e) Level 4 senior crown advocates and (f) principal crown advocates were employed by the Crown Prosecution Service as of 31 December 2022.

Please find data response attached.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
17th Jan 2023
To ask the Attorney General, how many (a) completed prosecutions and (b) convictions there have been for rape in England and Wales in each quarter from the start of January 2010 to the end of September 2022.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not hold any data which shows the number of defendants prosecuted for, or convicted of, the offence of rape. However, management information is held showing the number of defendants by prosecution outcome, flagged as involving offences of rape since 1st January 2010 to the end of September 2022 by quarter. The tables below show the number of completed prosecutions and convictions in rape flagged cases.

CPS RAPE FLAGGED PROSECUTION OUTCOMES

09/10-Q4

10/11-Q1

10/11-Q2

10/11-Q3

10/11-Q4

11/12-Q1

11/12-Q2

11/12-Q3

Prosecutions

1,014

956

1,096

1,052

1,107

955

959

965

Convictions

622

552

637

623

655

610

577

590

11/12-Q4

12/13-Q1

12/13-Q2

12/13-Q3

12/13-Q4

13/14-Q1

13/14-Q2

13/14-Q3

Prosecutions

985

939

917

938

898

991

957

938

Convictions

637

625

574

593

541

604

599

556

13/14-Q4

14/15-Q1

14/15-Q2

14/15-Q3

14/15-Q4

15/16-Q1

15/16-Q2

15/16-Q3

Prosecutions

1,005

1,050

1,120

1,202

1,165

1,167

1,219

1,150

Convictions

589

606

644

666

666

688

691

666

15/16-Q4

16/17-Q1

16/17-Q2

16/17-Q3

16/17-Q4

17/18-Q1

17/18-Q2

17/18-Q3

Prosecutions

1,108

1,390

1,283

1,256

1,265

1,120

1,151

1,159

Convictions

645

782

747

747

719

668

672

678

17/18-Q4

18/19-Q1

18/19-Q2

18/19-Q3

18/19-Q4

19/20-Q1

19/20-Q2

19/20-Q3

Prosecutions

1,098

985

814

684

561

593

505

524

Convictions

628

625

504

445

359

386

350

362

19/20-Q4

20/21-Q1

20/21-Q2

20/21-Q3

20/21-Q4

21/22-Q1

21/22-Q2

21/22-Q3

Prosecutions

480

218

306

486

547

601

600

661

Convictions

341

174

223

336

376

398

407

467

21/22-Q4

22/23-Q1

22/23-Q2

Prosecutions

675

622

517

Convictions

461

430

320

Data Source: CPS Case Management Information System

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
9th Jan 2023
To ask the Attorney General, with reference to the Greening Government Commitments for 2021-25 for her Office, the Governmental Legal Department and HMCPSI, how many tonnes of food waste were produced from their shared estate in financial year (a) 2021-22 and (b) 2022-23 up to the end of December 2022.

The Attorney General’s Office, HMCPSI and Government Legal Department are all based in shared buildings, which are either managed by the Government Property Agency or another Government department. The data regarding food waste is collated on data provided per building, and cannot be broken down by department. The Greening Government Commitment accepts that, with the exception of greenhouse gas emissions, targets are aggregate central government targets and not bespoke minimum performance targets for individual departments.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
20th Dec 2022
To ask the Attorney General, whether any holder of her office has written to the state authorities in Goa, India, regarding cases under consideration by the Special Investigation Team of Goa Police set up to examine cases of alleged land fraud in the region, since the formation of that team in June 2022.

Following her appointment on 25 October 2022, the Attorney General has not written to the state authorities in Goa, India regarding the issues raised in your question. From the period from June 2022 to the 25 October 2022, and having undertaken relevant searches across my office, there have been no written communications from the holders of this office issued by this office with the state authorities in Goa, India regarding the issues raised in your question.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
20th Dec 2022
To ask the Attorney General, whether any holder of her office has made representations to the (a) Indian High Commission, (b) Indian government and (c) state authorities in Goa, India, on legal disputes over property ownership and alleged misappropriation of land in the town of Assagao in the state of Goa, India since 1 January 2022.

Following her appointment on 25 October 2022, the Attorney General has made no representations to (a) the Indian High Commission, (b) the Indian Government or (c) the state authorities in Goa in relation to the matters raised in your question. For the period from 1 January 2022 to 25 October 2022, and having undertaken relevant searches across the department, no written representations from the holders of the office of Attorney General have been issued by this office to (a) the Indian High Commission, (b) the Indian Government or (c) the state authorities in Goa in relation to the matters raised in your question.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
20th Dec 2022
To ask the Attorney General, whether any representations have been made to her office by (a) UK and (b) non-UK citizens requesting assistance with legal disputes over property ownership and alleged misappropriation of land in the state of Goa, India since 1 January 2022.

Since her appointment on 25 October 2022, the Attorney General has received no representations by (a) UK and (b) non-UK citizens in relation to the matters raised in your question. For the period from 1 January 2022 to the 25 October 2022, and having undertaken relevant searches across the department, no written representations have been made to this office by (a) UK and (b) non-UK citizens in relation to the matters raised in your question.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
9th Dec 2022
To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 8 December to Question 102837 on incentives, how much the Government Legal Department spent on purchasing non-cash vouchers for staff as reward and recognition bonuses under the Edenred contract in (a) 2017-18, (b) 2018-19, (c) 2019-20, (d) 2020-21 and (e) 2021-22.

The Government Legal Department spent the following on non-cash vouchers for staff: 2021- 22 £287,750 2020- 21 £255,300 2019- 20 £274,145 2018- 19 £107,395 2017- 18 £79,527

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
5th Dec 2022
To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 5 December to Question 97593, how much her Department spent on purchasing non-cash vouchers for staff as reward and recognition bonuses under the Edenred contract in (a) 2017-18, (b) 2018-19, (c) 2019-20, (d) 2020-21 and (e) 2021-22.

The Attorney General’s office spent the following on non-cash vouchers for staff: 2021- 22 £1,860 2020- 21 £4,460 2019- 20 £3,700 2018- 19 £4,780 2017- 18 £2,100

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
28th Nov 2022
To ask the Attorney General, what was the total value of non-cash vouchers awarded to staff working for his Department as performance-related bonuses in (a) 2017-18, (b) 2018-19, (c) 2019-20, (d) 2020-21 and (e) 2021-22.

Bonuses paid out as non-cash vouchers is a standard practice across Government. The Edenred contract came into effect in 2017 which allows departments access non-cash vouchers for staff. The Attorney General’s office does not offer non-cash vouchers for performance-related bonuses.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
25th Nov 2022
To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 24 November 2022 to Question 92147, how much of the £376,775.18 incurred in legal costs up to 21 November 2022 related to her office’s submissions to the High Court on the question of costs, resulting in the judgment handed down by Mr Justice Chamberlain on 18 November 2022, His Majesty's Attorney General for England and Wales v British Broadcasting Corporation (Costs) [2022] EWHC 2925 (KB).

Approximately £6,000 was incurred in relation to the Government’s submissions to the High Court on the question of costs. Having successfully obtained an injunction in this case, it was and is the Government’s duty to seek value for money for the taxpayer by seeking its costs.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
21st Nov 2022
To ask the Attorney General, with reference to the judgement of Case Number QB-2022-000174 between the Attorney General and the BBC on 18 November, what costs have been incurred by her Department in its proceedings against the BBC between 1 January 2022 and (a) 24 February, (b) 7 April, (c) 18 May, and (d) 18 November.

As at 23 November 2022, the Government incurred £376,775.18 in legal costs arising from the proceedings in which the Government successfully obtained an injunction.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
16th Nov 2022
To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 7 November 2022 to Question 77333, how many special advisers working in her Department had their employment terminated after their appointing Minister ceased to hold office between 29 June and 9 November 2022.

In line with the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 and the Model Contract for Special Advisers, a Special Adviser's appointment automatically terminates following a change of Administration; when their appointing Minister leaves office; or in the event of a General Election. Between 29 June and 9 November 2022, the employment contracts of four Special Advisers in the Attorney General’s Office were automatically terminated following the cessation of their appointing Minister’s tenure in the department. Information on Special Adviser numbers and costs, including pay bands, is published annually in the Annual Report on Special Advisers as per the requirements of the 2010 Act.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
7th Nov 2022
To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 7 November 2022 to Question 75829 on Visits Abroad: Poland, what the individual cost was of her predecessor's (a) return flight, (b) overnight hotel accommodation and (c) meals and other non-flight and non-accommodation expenses for her trip to Poland on 6 May 2022.

The individual costs of the former Attorney General’s trip to Poland were,

  1. the return flight £261.12.
  2. the accommodation £340.65, and,
  3. no other costs were claimed for meals or non-accommodation expenses.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
2nd Nov 2022
To ask the Attorney General, what total amount of money has been paid out by her Department in severance payments for former (a) Ministers and (b) special advisers since 29 June 2022; how much of that money has subsequently been repaid to her Department as a result of individuals (A) rejecting the payment or (B) returning to new roles; and in how many cases where individuals were in post for (I) 0-3 months, (II) 3-6 months, (III) 6-12 months and (IV) more than 12 months has their full severance payment been retained as of 2 November 2022.

The Provision of severance payments for Ministers is set out in legislation. Details of the severance payments made to ministers when leaving office are published in departments’ annual reports and accounts. Similarly, the provision of severance payments for special advisers is set out in the Model Contract, which is available on gov.uk, including provisions for repayment of severance if reappointed. The cost of severance payments made to special advisers across government is published annually by the Cabinet Office.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
1st Nov 2022
To ask the Attorney General, with reference to data entitled Transparency GPC Transactions over £500 May 2022, published online by her Department on 8 August 2022, showing that two flights were booked for her predecessor’s trip to Poland on 6 May 2022, (a) whether her predecessor used the ticket purchased for £816.43 or £897.31, and (b) for what purpose the other ticket was purchased.

The flights to Poland were for four individuals. This included the former Attorney General and three officials. The former Attorney General’s ticket is included in the £816.43 figure, which appears on the Transparency GPC Transaction Return. There are two transactions because the individuals did not travel together on the same flight.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
1st Nov 2022
To ask the Attorney General, on what date her Department published transparency data for ministerial meetings, travel, hospitality and gifts covering the period January to March 2021; and where that information can be found online.

The Ministerial Transparency returns for meetings, overseas travel, hospitality, and gifts for January to March 2021 was published on the Attorney General’s Office official website on 15 July 2021. This transparency return was published under an incorrect title. The Attorney General’s Office has now corrected the title of the transparency data, and this can be viewed by the public on the official website.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
31st Oct 2022
To ask the Attorney General, whether her Department has carried out checks to determine if any classified documents were forwarded by her predecessor from her government email to her personal email address from (a) 13 February 2020 to 2 March 2021 and (b) 10 September 2021 to 6 September 2022.

There is a place for the use of a variety of digital channels in fast moving modern environments. Ministers will have informal conversations from time to time, in person or remotely, and relevent content from such discussions is passed back to officials. They will also use a variety of digital communications channels for personal, political, and Parliamentary matters.

Victoria Prentis
Attorney General
31st Oct 2022
To ask the Attorney General, what assessment she has made of whether her predecessor forwarded official documents from her government email to her personal email address from (a) 13 February 2020 to 2 March 2021 and (b) 10 September 2021 to 6 September 2022; and what was the outcome of that assessment.

There is a place for the use of a variety of digital channels in fast moving modern environments. Ministers will have informal conversations from time to time, in person or remotely, and relevent content from such discussions is passed back to officials. They will also use a variety of digital communications channels for personal, political, and Parliamentary matters.

Victoria Prentis
Attorney General
27th Oct 2022
To ask the Attorney General, with reference to the ministerial transparency data for January to March 2022, published by her Department on 14 July 2022, for what reason the published declaration (a) for meetings is a duplicate of the published information for overseas travel and (b) of hospitality is a duplicate of the published declaration for gifts; and if she will update the publication with accurate declarations of (i) meetings and (ii) hospitality for that period.

The Ministerial transparency data published by the Attorney General's Office for January to March 2022 contained two errors, namely a duplication of the declarations both for overseas travel and for gifts. I apologise for these errors. The transparency data has now been rectified, and the full publication of the meetings, overseas travel, hospitality and gifts can be viewed by the public on the official website of the Attorney General's Office.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
11th Oct 2022
To ask the Attorney General, with reference to the announcement of support to the former Ukrainian Prosecutor General on 28 March 2022, (a) whether Sir Howard Morrison was still employed as an advisor to the current Ukrainian Prosecutor General as of 10 October 2022, and (b) what remuneration he has received for his work each month since 1 April 2022.

Sir Howard Morrison KC continues to act as an Independent Advisor to the Ukrainian Prosecutor General and his costs are covered by the Attorney General’s Office and FCDO in line with internal programme fund arrangements. He provides a mix of services and advice, both pro bono and at a below market rate fixed daily stipend, to ensure maximum value for taxpayer funds. Sir Howard is also reimbursed for reasonable expenses incurred in this work. I remain very grateful to him for taking on the role.

22nd Sep 2022
To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 22 September 2022 to Question 47417 on Civil Servants: Training, whether the mandatory training includes instructing staff on their obligations under the Equality Act 2010.

Whilst there is no specific mandatory training at the Attorney General’s Office relating to the Equality Act 2010, there are a wide variety of training materials and guidance for AGO staff relating to their obligations under the 2010 Act.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
20th Sep 2022
To ask the Attorney General, with reference to data entitled Transparency GPC Transactions over £500 Nov 2021, published online by his Department on 8 August 2022, showing that 48 laptop computers were purchased using a GPC on 8 November 2021, how many of those laptops were replacements for existing laptops in use by his Department; and, of those existing laptops, how many had been in use for more than three years.

The laptops were purchased not by the Attorney General’s Office, but by the Government Legal Department (GLD). They were purchased for recently recruited staff. 5 of the laptops were allocated to staff as replacements for existing hardware that was faulty and beyond repair. None were replacements for working laptops already in use by staff.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
20th Sep 2022
To ask the Attorney General on how many occasions the provision of mandatory training for staff in (a) his department, (b) the Government Legal Department, (c) the Crown Prosecution Service and (d) the Serious Fraud Office regarding their obligations under the Equality Act 2010 has been cited by those organisations as a defence against Section 109 proceedings since the commencement of that Act.

Based on available data, zero.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
5th Sep 2022
To ask the Attorney General, whether her office was consulted on the decisions by the Cabinet Office to (a) spend public funds on obtaining the legal opinion by Lord Pannick QC and Jason Pobjoy of Blackstone Chambers relating to the proposed conduct of the House of Commons Privileges Committee and (b) place that legal opinion in the public domain.

The decision in any case as to whether to instruct counsel, who to instruct, and whether to waive privilege in respect of that advice, lies with the instructing Government Department. When a Government Department wishes to instruct a QC, other than First Treasury Counsel or Standing Counsel, it should submit a request for a nomination to the Attorney General’s Office. This process was followed, and the request approved, in relation to the instruction of Lord Pannick QC in this case.

5th Sep 2022
To ask the Attorney General, how many people attended lunch at The Cinnamon Club with the former Ukrainian prosecutor general, Ms Iryna Venediktova, on 26 May 2022.

The lunch was attended by eight people.

The then Attorney General hosted a visit for the Ukrainian Prosecutor General and her delegation to discuss how the UK could help ensure accountability for atrocities commmitted during the ongoing Russian invasion.

The venue was quiet and secure which enabled an open and frank exchange about the situation in Ukraine and the prospects for bringing justice to the victims.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
5th Sep 2022
To ask the Attorney General, wither reference to Section 109(4) of the Equality Act 2010, whether she has had discussions with (a) human resources and (b) employment law experts in her Department on the implications for her Department’s liability to Section 109 proceedings of removing mandatory training for civil service staff regarding their obligations under that Act.

There has been no change to the mandatory training for civil servants at the Attorney General’s Office.

Michael Tomlinson
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
21st Jul 2022
To ask the Attorney General, with reference to the meeting between her predecessor and Mr David Tinsley referred to in chapter 10, paragraph 5(h)-(i) of Sir David Calvert Smith's report into the Serious Fraud Office’s handling of the Unaoil Case, if she will set out (a) when, (b) where, (c) for what purpose that meeting took place and (d) whether it was declared in her Department's transparency publications for ministerial meetings or hospitality.

The then Attorney General (the Rt Hon member for Torridge and West Devon), met David Tinsley for 20 minutes in the waiting room of his barristers’ chambers on 18 October 2018, after an acquaintance requested that he meet informally with an unnamed contact with links to the US government about a matter affecting the public interest.

It transpired that Mr Tinsley wished to draw the then Attorney General’s attention to the value of his services and those of his company in facilitating a better working relationship between the English investigation and prosecution authorities and US authorities. The then Attorney General brought the meeting to an end, pointing out that he did not have responsibility for the issues Mr Tinsley had raised.

Neither the Serious Fraud Office’s investigation into Unaoil, Mr Tinsley’s involvement in it, nor the defendants in that case or any other case, were raised in the meeting or discussed. The then Attorney General took no action in connection with the meeting and had no further contact with Mr Tinsley.

The meeting was not declared in the transparency returns for the Attorney General’s Office as the then Attorney General did not meet Mr Tinsley in his ministerial capacity.

18th Jul 2022
To ask the Attorney General, whether her Department’s legal position in respect of challenges to the UK-Rwanda Migration Partnership in the courts is that the partnership agreement is compliant with the European Convention on Human Rights.

By convention, whether the Law Officers have been asked to provide advice, and the contents of any such advice, is not disclosed outside Government.

This convention protects the Law Officers’ ability as chief legal advisers to the Government to give full and frank legal advice and provides the fullest guarantee that government business will be conducted at all times in light of thorough and candid legal advice.

As you are aware, litigation is ongoing. It is the Government’s position that the Migration and Economic Development Partnership is fully compatible with all of our domestic and international legal obligations including ECHR rights.

18th Jul 2022
To ask the Attorney General, with reference to the Government's review of EU retained law, what discussions she has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the legal risk of (a) applying sunset clauses to and (b) attempting to codify the existing applications of VAT rules in the UK derived from EU case law concerning the (i) definition of business and (ii) abuse principle.

By convention, whether the Law Officers have been asked to provide advice, and the contents of any such advice, is not disclosed outside Government.

This convention protects the Law Officers’ ability as chief legal advisers to the Government to give full and frank legal advice and provides the fullest guarantee that government business will be conducted at all times in light of thorough and candid legal advice.

18th Jul 2022
To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the review of EU retained law, what discussions she has had with the Financial Secretary to the Treasury and her officials on the legal risk of (a) applying sunset clauses to and (b) attempting to codify the existing applications of VAT rules in the UK derived from EU case law concerning the (i) definition of business and (ii) abuse principle.

By convention, whether the Law Officers have been asked to provide advice, and the contents of any such advice, is not disclosed outside Government.

This convention protects the Law Officers’ ability as chief legal advisers to the Government to give full and frank legal advice and provides the fullest guarantee that government business will be conducted at all times in light of thorough and candid legal advice.

18th Jul 2022
To ask the Attorney General, what discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on the compatibility of the UK leaving the European Convention on Human Rights with the continued operation of the Good Friday Agreement.

By convention, whether the Law Officers have been asked to provide advice, and the contents of any such advice, is not disclosed outside Government.

This convention protects the Law Officers’ ability as chief legal advisers to the Government to give full and frank legal advice and provides the fullest guarantee that government business will be conducted at all times in light of thorough and candid legal advice.

18th Jul 2022
To ask the Attorney General, if she make assessment of the potential effect of the UK leaving the European Convention on Human Rights on the operation of the Good Friday Agreement.

By convention, whether the Law Officers have been asked to provide advice, and the contents of any such advice, is not disclosed outside Government.

This convention protects the Law Officers’ ability as chief legal advisers to the Government to give full and frank legal advice and provides the fullest guarantee that government business will be conducted at all times in light of thorough and candid legal advice.

15th Jul 2022
To ask the Attorney General, whether she was consulted by (a) Ministers or (b) officials in the Home Department prior to the Secretary of State for Justice's comments in the media on 16 June 2022 on the compatibility of the UK-Rwanda Migration Partnership with the UK's membership of the European Convention on Human Rights.

By convention, whether the Law Officers have been asked to provide advice, and the contents of any such advice, is not disclosed outside Government.

This convention protects the Law Officers’ ability as chief legal advisers to the Government to give full and frank legal advice and provides the fullest guarantee that government business will be conducted at all times in light of thorough and candid legal advice.

15th Jul 2022
To ask the Attorney General, what discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on the (a) application of legal professional privilege to (i) Ministers and (ii) Government employees and (b) the limits of that privilege.

By convention, whether the Law Officers have been asked to provide advice, and the contents of any such advice, is not disclosed outside Government.

This convention protects the Law Officers’ ability as chief legal advisers to the Government to give full and frank legal advice and provides the fullest guarantee that government business will be conducted at all times in light of thorough and candid legal advice.

15th Jul 2022
To ask the Attorney General, what discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on the likelihood of the Government being subject to claims for damages from bereaved families during or after the UK Covid-19 Inquiry.

By convention, whether the Law Officers have been asked to provide advice, and the contents of any such advice, is not disclosed outside Government.

This convention protects the Law Officers’ ability as chief legal advisers to the Government to give full and frank legal advice and provides the fullest guarantee that government business will be conducted at all times in light of thorough and candid legal advice.

15th Jul 2022
To ask the Attorney General, whether (a) she, (b) the Solicitor General or (c) his predecessor have had discussions with Cabinet colleagues on (i) the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, (ii) disclosures to that inquiry and (iii) potential restrictions on the release of sensitive covid-19 related information.

By convention, whether the Law Officers have been asked to provide advice, and the contents of any such advice, is not disclosed outside Government.

This convention protects the Law Officers’ ability as chief legal advisers to the Government to give full and frank legal advice and provides the fullest guarantee that government business will be conducted at all times in light of thorough and candid legal advice.

15th Jul 2022
To ask the Attorney General, whether (a) she, (b) the Solicitor General or (b) his predecessor have had discussions with the First Treasury Counsel on (i) the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, (ii) disclosures to that inquiry and (iii) potential restrictions on the release of sensitive covid-19 related information.

By convention, whether the Law Officers have been asked to provide advice, and the contents of any such advice, is not disclosed outside Government.

This convention protects the Law Officers’ ability as chief legal advisers to the Government to give full and frank legal advice and provides the fullest guarantee that government business will be conducted at all times in light of thorough and candid legal advice.

14th Jul 2022
To ask the Attorney General, whether Mr David Scullion was employed by her Department on a full-time special adviser contract as of 13 June 2022.

The Cabinet Office routinely publishes an annual report on the numbers and costs of special advisers, which is available on GOV.UK. As of 13 June 2022, David Scullion was employed part-time by the Attorney General’s Office.

6th Jul 2022
To ask the Attorney General, how many people held electronic purchasing cards that allowed them to make purchases against the budgets of (a) her office and (b) the Government Legal Department as of 31 March 2022.

The Attorney General’s Office holds (a) 1 government procurement card, (b) the Government Legal Department holds 41 government procurement cards.

1st Jul 2022
To ask the Attorney General, which unit of the Government Legal Department received her award for innovative legal advice at her Department’s 2022 awards ceremony; what subject area did that advice cover; and what the (a) nature and (b) cost was of that award.

Earlier this year The Attorney General launched a new award, as part of the Government Legal Department’s annual awards, to celebrate government lawyers who have provided innovative legal advice to support Government priorities. The aim is both to celebrate the excellent work of hard-working and talented lawyers serving the Government and the country, and to highlight the role that such lawyers play in solving hard problems and finding solutions to help Government serve people most effectively.

The award was won by a member of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’ Legal team, for their work on the Building Safety Bill. This will make an enormous difference to many thousands of people, including improving building safety and protecting leaseholders from bills of up to hundreds of thousands of pounds.

There is no cost associated with this award.

30th Jun 2022
To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 29 June 2022 to Question 24564, on Armed Conflict: Ukraine, on what occasions (a) she and (b) the Solicitor General have discussed the (i) collection of antemortem records of missing or at risk UK citizens in Ukraine and (ii) identification of deceased UK citizens in that country with the Ukrainian Prosecutor General or her ministers or officials.

The Government continues to liaise on various channels with the Ukrainian authorities to support effective identification and collection of evidence of atrocity crimes. It remains for the Ukrainian authorities to maintain any necessary records of those missing or at risk in Ukraine and to identify British nationals that pass away on Ukrainian territory. This particular subject has not arisen in direct discussions that the Law Officers have held as part of the ongoing dialogue with the Ukrainian Prosecutor General.

29th Jun 2022
To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 6 June to Question 7940 on Government Legal Department, when she intends to publish the updated Legal Risk Guidance for lawyers in government.

The Legal Risk Guidance for lawyers in government is important and used in all aspects of their work. The Attorney General recently refreshed, updated and broadened its application across Government in light of the collective experience of Ministers and lawyers of its practical application.

The guidance has been launched with lawyers across the Government Legal Profession and will be published very shortly.

The previous version is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-note-on-legal-risk

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
22nd Jun 2022
To ask the Attorney General, on how many occasions the Charity Commission asked her Department for a reference to the Charity Tribunal in each year since 2010; and how many and what proportion of those requests were (a) granted and (b) rejected.

As set out in the Attorney General’s written evidence to the Charities Bill Special Public Bill Committee on 6 October 2021, there have been three occasions on which the Charity Commission has asked for a reference to the Charity Tribunal. In two of these cases the Attorney General agreed with the Charity Commission and took the proceedings forward. In one case the Attorney General refused consent. There have been no further requests.

The full written evidence submission is available here.

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
9th Jun 2022
To ask the Attorney General, with reference to the Answer of 3 July 2013 to Question 162424, whether it is her assessment that the issue of the UK’s legal obligations under the Northern Ireland Protocol falls into the category of being a particularly complex and sensitive matter.

The Government published a legal statement on 13 June 2022 summarising its position that planned legislation to address elements of the Northern Ireland Protocol is lawful under international law. As the Government’s legal statement makes clear, this is a genuinely exceptional situation against the challenging, complex and unique circumstances of Northern Ireland. Whilst it would not be appropriate to comment specifically on the content of the advice or who has given it, the government commissions a range of advice from appropriate specialists, and we have done so in this case.

9th Jun 2022
To ask the Attorney General, how much has been spent from the public purse on the procurement of external legal advice by her Department in each month from the 1 June 2021 to 31 May 2022.

First Treasury Counsel is a senior self-employed advocate who undertakes civil litigation and advisory work for all Government departments. The Attorney General appoints First Treasury Counsel through a fair and open competition. First Treasury Counsel’s responsibilities are:

  • To be the Government’s main advocate in civil litigation affecting the Crown. First Treasury Counsel has responsibility for dealing with the wide range of litigation affecting the Government. First Treasury Counsel will help to shape the way that the Government handles its litigation and as a result will help to shape the way that public law develops.
  • To advise civil servants and Ministers in conference and in writing.
  • To play a key role in leading the Attorney General’s panels and to participate in the selection of panel members.
  • To speak at training events and conferences for members of the Government Legal Service.
  • To play an important role in advising the Government. It is therefore important that First Treasury Counsel is able to give sound, practical and robust legal advice to Ministers and can inspire their confidence.
  • To appear before a wide range of Courts in some of the most important public law cases of the day. First Treasury Counsel must be able to inspire the Judiciary’s confidence both as regards legal ability and integrity.

First Treasury Counsel is appointed on the basis that:

  • They must do exclusively Government work for the duration of their appointment;
  • No particular level of work or remuneration is guaranteed;
  • They are self-employed;
  • They must have dedicated administrative support within their chambers/office to support a very busy and varied practice as First Treasury Counsel; and
  • The period of appointment is indefinite and terminable by either side at any time.

Whether and how often the Attorney General seeks and receives external legal advice relates to her function as a Law Officer and chief legal adviser to the Government. It is a longstanding convention, accepted by governments of all parties, not to disclose whether the Law Officers have been asked to give legal advice, have given legal advice, or the contents of any such advice.

This convention protects the Law Officers’ ability to give full and frank legal advice on some of the most contentious and difficult issues the Government may consider.

Within the limits of that convention, it is possible to say that, due to the volume and significance of the litigation and legal issues where First Treasury Counsel is instructed for the government, the Attorney General or the members of her Office have frequent contact with First Treasury Counsel.

The Attorney General and the Attorney General’s Office are subject to the same requirements and oversight in relation to the use of public funds as any other minister or Government department, as set out in the relevant guidance from HM Treasury.

9th Jun 2022
To ask the Attorney General, when she last held a meeting in person with the First Treasury Counsel to discuss (a) priority issues within the remit of her Department and (b) his work responsibilities and performance.

First Treasury Counsel is a senior self-employed advocate who undertakes civil litigation and advisory work for all Government departments. The Attorney General appoints First Treasury Counsel through a fair and open competition. First Treasury Counsel’s responsibilities are:

  • To be the Government’s main advocate in civil litigation affecting the Crown. First Treasury Counsel has responsibility for dealing with the wide range of litigation affecting the Government. First Treasury Counsel will help to shape the way that the Government handles its litigation and as a result will help to shape the way that public law develops.
  • To advise civil servants and Ministers in conference and in writing.
  • To play a key role in leading the Attorney General’s panels and to participate in the selection of panel members.
  • To speak at training events and conferences for members of the Government Legal Service.
  • To play an important role in advising the Government. It is therefore important that First Treasury Counsel is able to give sound, practical and robust legal advice to Ministers and can inspire their confidence.
  • To appear before a wide range of Courts in some of the most important public law cases of the day. First Treasury Counsel must be able to inspire the Judiciary’s confidence both as regards legal ability and integrity.

First Treasury Counsel is appointed on the basis that:

  • They must do exclusively Government work for the duration of their appointment;
  • No particular level of work or remuneration is guaranteed;
  • They are self-employed;
  • They must have dedicated administrative support within their chambers/office to support a very busy and varied practice as First Treasury Counsel; and
  • The period of appointment is indefinite and terminable by either side at any time.

Whether and how often the Attorney General seeks and receives external legal advice relates to her function as a Law Officer and chief legal adviser to the Government. It is a longstanding convention, accepted by governments of all parties, not to disclose whether the Law Officers have been asked to give legal advice, have given legal advice, or the contents of any such advice.

This convention protects the Law Officers’ ability to give full and frank legal advice on some of the most contentious and difficult issues the Government may consider.

Within the limits of that convention, it is possible to say that, due to the volume and significance of the litigation and legal issues where First Treasury Counsel is instructed for the government, the Attorney General or the members of her Office have frequent contact with First Treasury Counsel.

The Attorney General and the Attorney General’s Office are subject to the same requirements and oversight in relation to the use of public funds as any other minister or Government department, as set out in the relevant guidance from HM Treasury.

9th Jun 2022
To ask the Attorney General, if she will publish the (a) description of responsibilities and (b) terms of reference under which the First Treasury Counsel is currently employed by her Department.

First Treasury Counsel is a senior self-employed advocate who undertakes civil litigation and advisory work for all Government departments. The Attorney General appoints First Treasury Counsel through a fair and open competition. First Treasury Counsel’s responsibilities are:

  • To be the Government’s main advocate in civil litigation affecting the Crown. First Treasury Counsel has responsibility for dealing with the wide range of litigation affecting the Government. First Treasury Counsel will help to shape the way that the Government handles its litigation and as a result will help to shape the way that public law develops.
  • To advise civil servants and Ministers in conference and in writing.
  • To play a key role in leading the Attorney General’s panels and to participate in the selection of panel members.
  • To speak at training events and conferences for members of the Government Legal Service.
  • To play an important role in advising the Government. It is therefore important that First Treasury Counsel is able to give sound, practical and robust legal advice to Ministers and can inspire their confidence.
  • To appear before a wide range of Courts in some of the most important public law cases of the day. First Treasury Counsel must be able to inspire the Judiciary’s confidence both as regards legal ability and integrity.

First Treasury Counsel is appointed on the basis that:

  • They must do exclusively Government work for the duration of their appointment;
  • No particular level of work or remuneration is guaranteed;
  • They are self-employed;
  • They must have dedicated administrative support within their chambers/office to support a very busy and varied practice as First Treasury Counsel; and
  • The period of appointment is indefinite and terminable by either side at any time.

Whether and how often the Attorney General seeks and receives external legal advice relates to her function as a Law Officer and chief legal adviser to the Government. It is a longstanding convention, accepted by governments of all parties, not to disclose whether the Law Officers have been asked to give legal advice, have given legal advice, or the contents of any such advice.

This convention protects the Law Officers’ ability to give full and frank legal advice on some of the most contentious and difficult issues the Government may consider.

Within the limits of that convention, it is possible to say that, due to the volume and significance of the litigation and legal issues where First Treasury Counsel is instructed for the government, the Attorney General or the members of her Office have frequent contact with First Treasury Counsel.

The Attorney General and the Attorney General’s Office are subject to the same requirements and oversight in relation to the use of public funds as any other minister or Government department, as set out in the relevant guidance from HM Treasury.

24th May 2022
To ask the Attorney General, with reference to the readout of the Cabinet meeting by the Prime Minister's spokesman on 24 May 2022, if she will publish the (a) revised guidance given to the Government Legal Department on the type of service it is tasked with providing to other departments and (b) previous guidance that it has replaced.

The Attorney General commissioned a review into the Government Legal Department in October 2020. This was an internal review and as such it is not suitable for publication.

The Legal Risk Guidance is a fundamental document lawyers in government use in all aspects of their work. It was recently refreshed in light of the collective experience of Ministers and lawyers of its practical application.

The updated guidance will be published shortly.

The previous version is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-note-on-legal-risk

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
24th May 2022
To ask the Attorney General, with reference to the readout of the Cabinet meeting by the Prime Minister's spokesman on 24 May 2022, who conducted the review into the performance of the Government Legal Department; what the terms of reference were for that review; and whether a copy of the review findings will be laid before Parliament.

The Attorney General commissioned a review into the Government Legal Department in October 2020. This was an internal review and as such it is not suitable for publication.

The Legal Risk Guidance is a fundamental document lawyers in government use in all aspects of their work. It was recently refreshed in light of the collective experience of Ministers and lawyers of its practical application.

The updated guidance will be published shortly.

The previous version is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-note-on-legal-risk

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
20th May 2022
To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 20 May 2022 to Question 2413, on Northern Ireland Protocol: Legal Opinion, whether she has asked the Prime Minister to initiate an investigation into how the fact and content of her advice on the Northern Ireland Protocol came to be reported in the media on 11 May 2022; and whether that reporting constituted a breach of paragraph 2.13 of the Ministerial Code.

It would not be appropriate to comment on this media speculation. It is a longstanding convention, accepted by governments of all parties, not to disclose whether the Law Officers have given legal advice or the contents of any advice. This convention protects the Law Officers’ ability to give full and frank legal advice on some of the most contentious and difficult issues the Government will be considering.

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
16th May 2022
To ask the Attorney General, whether she was personally involved in the most recent process of deciding which individual or organisation should be paid out of public funds for the provision of external legal advice on matters relating to the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Whether or not the Attorney General sought advice from external counsel in this case, and associated information, relates to her function as a Law Officer and chief legal adviser to the Government. It is a longstanding convention, accepted by governments of all parties, not to disclose whether the Law Officers have given legal advice or the contents of any advice. This convention protects the Law Officers’ ability to give full and frank legal advice on some of the most contentious and difficult issues the Government will be considering.

The Attorney General and the Attorney General’s Office are subject to the same requirements and oversight in relation to the use of public funds as any other minister and Government department respectively, as set out in relevant guidance from HM Treasury.

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
16th May 2022
To ask the Attorney General, whether details of the Government's most recent procurement of external legal advice on matters relating to the Northern Ireland Protocol have been published on the Contracts Finder website; and if she will publish (a) the award letter and (b) the statement of requirements arising from that procurement process.

Whether or not the Attorney General sought advice from external counsel in this case, and associated information, relates to her function as a Law Officer and chief legal adviser to the Government. It is a longstanding convention, accepted by governments of all parties, not to disclose whether the Law Officers have given legal advice or the contents of any advice. This convention protects the Law Officers’ ability to give full and frank legal advice on some of the most contentious and difficult issues the Government will be considering.

The Attorney General and the Attorney General’s Office are subject to the same requirements and oversight in relation to the use of public funds as any other minister and Government department respectively, as set out in relevant guidance from HM Treasury.

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
16th May 2022
To ask the Attorney General, whether the cost of the most recent external legal advice procured by the Government on matters relating to the Northern Ireland Protocol was above or below the level that would normally require a competitive tender process under the provisions of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, and associated guidance.

Whether or not the Attorney General sought advice from external counsel in this case, and associated information, relates to her function as a Law Officer and chief legal adviser to the Government. It is a longstanding convention, accepted by governments of all parties, not to disclose whether the Law Officers have given legal advice or the contents of any advice. This convention protects the Law Officers’ ability to give full and frank legal advice on some of the most contentious and difficult issues the Government will be considering.

The Attorney General and the Attorney General’s Office are subject to the same requirements and oversight in relation to the use of public funds as any other minister and Government department respectively, as set out in relevant guidance from HM Treasury.

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
11th May 2022
To ask the Attorney General, what proportion of total reported fraud cases have fallen under the remit of (a) the Serious Fraud Office and (b) other law enforcement agencies over the last twelve month period for which figures are available.

Neither of the Law Officers Department’s responsible for prosecuting fraud cases, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), hold data requested. Reported crime data is collated and held by the Home Office.

The SFO receives approximately 1,200 referrals of alleged criminality every year. These range in seriousness and come from a variety of sources, including the public, whistle-blowers and corporate referrals.

Every referral received is researched and/or assessed to help determine if it is a matter that the SFO should investigate.

The SFO only takes on only the most complex fraud and bribery cases. Should a referral not meet the reasonable suspicion threshold and the Director’s Statement of Principle, it may be referred to another law enforcement agency or discontinued.

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
11th May 2022
To ask the Attorney General, what the estimated value of fraud reported to the Serious Fraud Office has been in each of the last ten years.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) does not hold the data on the estimated value of fraud reported to the Office over the last 10 years.

Referrals received by the SFO, whilst alleging crime, often do not provide an estimate of loss or actual loss reported. Identifying the true value of reported fraud requires investigation.

The SFO is committed to supporting the victims of fraud, bribery or corruption.

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
11th May 2022
To ask the Attorney General, how many reports of (a) serious or complex fraud, (b) bribery and (c) corruption, as defined within the remit of the Serious Fraud Office, there have been in each of the last ten years.

The SFO receives approximately 1,200 referrals of alleged criminality every year. These range in seriousness and come from a variety of sources, including the public, whistle-blowers and corporate referrals.

Every referral received is researched and/or assessed to help determine if it is a matter that the SFO should investigate.

The SFO only takes on only the most complex fraud and bribery cases. Should a referral not meet the reasonable suspicion threshold and the Director’s Statement of Principle, it may be referred to another law enforcement agency or discontinued.

The Serious Fraud Office does not hold data on reported fraud cases to other law enforcement agencies.

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
11th May 2022
To ask the Attorney General, how many allegations of fraud have been reported to Serious Fraud Office in each of the last ten years.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) does not hold the data on the estimated value of fraud reported to the Office over the last 10 years.

Referrals received by the SFO, whilst alleging crime, often do not provide an estimate of loss or actual loss reported. Identifying the true value of reported fraud requires investigation.

The SFO receives approximately 1,200 referrals of alleged criminality every year. These range in seriousness and come from a variety of sources, including the public, whistle-blowers and corporate referrals.

Every referral the SFO receives is researched and/or assessed to help determine if it is a matter that the SFO should investigate.

The SFO only takes on only the most complex fraud and bribery cases. Should a referral not meet the reasonable suspicion threshold and the Director’s Statement of Principle, it may be referred to another law enforcement agency or discontinued.

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
11th May 2022
To ask the Attorney General, what the estimated value of the reports of serious or complex fraud, as defined within the remit of the Serious Fraud Office, has been in each of the last ten calendar years.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) does not hold the data on the estimated value of fraud reported to the Office over the last 10 years.

Referrals received by the SFO, whilst alleging crime, often do not provide an estimate of loss or actual loss reported. Identifying the true value of reported fraud requires investigation.

The SFO receives approximately 1,200 referrals of alleged criminality every year. These range in seriousness and come from a variety of sources, including the public, whistle-blowers and corporate referrals.

Every referral the SFO receives is researched and/or assessed to help determine if it is a matter that the SFO should investigate.

The SFO only takes on only the most complex fraud and bribery cases. Should a referral not meet the reasonable suspicion threshold and the Director’s Statement of Principle, it may be referred to another law enforcement agency or discontinued.

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
11th May 2022
To ask the Attorney General, what the individual value of each (a) fine and (b) Deferred Prosecution Agreement issued by the Serious Fraud Office was in the last ten years.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) opened a total of 49 criminal cases from January 2016 until December 2021. Ten (10) cases were opened in 2016, eleven (11) cases were opened in 2017, ten (10) cases were opened in 2018, five (5) case were opened in 2019, eight (8) cases were opened in 2020, and five (5) cases were opened in 2021.

These numbers do not include cases that are related to the SFO’s Proceeds of Crime, International Assistance and/or Mutual Legal Assistance efforts.

The below table shows the fines issued by the SFO since 2016:

Date of Outcome

Monetary value of fine or financial penalty

January 2016

£1,136,799

February 2016

£1,400,000

June 2016

£6,375,000

October 2017

£20,000

October 2017

£20,000

October 2017

£20,000

January 2019

£5,000

January 2019

£20,000

January 2019

£15,000

June 2019

£850,000

November 2019

£15,000,000

January 2020

£800

April 2021

£7,521,920

October 2021

£47,197,640

The SFO does not hold data on fines issued prior to 2016. These results do not include costs awarded to the SFO nor any confiscation orders.

Deferred Prosecution Agreements (DPAs) were introduced on 24 February 2014, under the provisions of Schedule 17 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013. They are available to the Crown Prosecution Service and the Serious Fraud Office. Since 2014 the SFO has entered in to a total of 12 DPAs.

Date of Outcome

Currency

Total (Per DPA)

November 2015

US$

32,576,197

July 2016

GBP£

6,553,085

January 2017

GBP£

510,252,645

April 2017

GBP£

132,062,451

July 2019

GBP£

22,900,000

October 2019

GBP£

2,069,861

January 2020

EUR€

990,963,712

July 2020

GBP£

44,400,000

October 2020

GBP£

2,979,686

July 2021

GBP£

103,310,424

July 2021

GBP£

1,994,071

July 2021

GBP£

515,994

The above includes all financial amounts within each DPA, which could consist of:

  • Financial Penalty
  • Disgorgement of Profits
  • Compensation
  • Cost Awards to the SFO

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
11th May 2022
To ask the Attorney General, how many investigations the Serious Fraud Office has opened in each calendar year between 1 January 2016 and 31 December 2021.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) opened a total of 49 criminal cases from January 2016 until December 2021. Ten (10) cases were opened in 2016, eleven (11) cases were opened in 2017, ten (10) cases were opened in 2018, five (5) case were opened in 2019, eight (8) cases were opened in 2020, and five (5) cases were opened in 2021.

These numbers do not include cases that are related to the SFO’s Proceeds of Crime, International Assistance and/or Mutual Legal Assistance efforts.

The below table shows the fines issued by the SFO since 2016:

Date of Outcome

Monetary value of fine or financial penalty

January 2016

£1,136,799

February 2016

£1,400,000

June 2016

£6,375,000

October 2017

£20,000

October 2017

£20,000

October 2017

£20,000

January 2019

£5,000

January 2019

£20,000

January 2019

£15,000

June 2019

£850,000

November 2019

£15,000,000

January 2020

£800

April 2021

£7,521,920

October 2021

£47,197,640

The SFO does not hold data on fines issued prior to 2016. These results do not include costs awarded to the SFO nor any confiscation orders.

Deferred Prosecution Agreements (DPAs) were introduced on 24 February 2014, under the provisions of Schedule 17 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013. They are available to the Crown Prosecution Service and the Serious Fraud Office. Since 2014 the SFO has entered in to a total of 12 DPAs.

Date of Outcome

Currency

Total (Per DPA)

November 2015

US$

32,576,197

July 2016

GBP£

6,553,085

January 2017

GBP£

510,252,645

April 2017

GBP£

132,062,451

July 2019

GBP£

22,900,000

October 2019

GBP£

2,069,861

January 2020

EUR€

990,963,712

July 2020

GBP£

44,400,000

October 2020

GBP£

2,979,686

July 2021

GBP£

103,310,424

July 2021

GBP£

1,994,071

July 2021

GBP£

515,994

The above includes all financial amounts within each DPA, which could consist of:

  • Financial Penalty
  • Disgorgement of Profits
  • Compensation
  • Cost Awards to the SFO

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
19th Apr 2022
To ask the Attorney General, what the average number of full time equivalent civil service staff employed by the (a) Government Legal Department and (b)Treasury Solicitor’s Office was in each financial year between 2010-11 and 2021-22.

The average number of whole-time equivalent persons employed during each financial year (for which data is available) in the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) and Government Legal Department (GLD) is as follows.

Attorney General’s Office:

Financial Year

Total

Permanent Staff

Others

Ministers

2010-11

(Data not held)*

2011-12

40

2012-13

44

40

2

2

2013-14

42

40

2

2014-15

40

38

2

2015-16

40

38

2

2016-17

40

38

2

2017-18

44

42

2

2018-19

46

39

5

2

2019-20

49

47

2

2020-21

50

46

2

2

Treasury Solicitor’s Office (from 2010-11 to 2014-15 inclusive) and Government Legal Department (from 2015-16 to 2020-21 inclusive):

Financial Year

Total

Permanent Staff

Others

2010-11

(Data not held)*

2011-12

987

2012-13

1,046

927

119

2013-14

1,283

1,090

193

2014-15

1,667

1,426

241

2015-16

1,838

1,663

175

2016-17

1,862

1,657

205

2017-18

2,157

1,905

252

2018-19

2,362

1,998

364

2019-20

2,519

2,196

323

2020-21

2,605

2,166

439

It is important to note that several legal advisory units from departments across the civil service were incorporated into the Treasury Solicitor’s Department (TSol) and GLD account for the majority of staffing increases in the years preceding and succeeding the name change from TSol to GLD on 1 April 2015.

* The earliest Annual Report available in which these figures are published, is for the 2012-13 financial year, which also included a total whole-time equivalent figure for TSol and AGO for 2011-12.

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
19th Apr 2022
To ask the Attorney General, what the average number of full time equivalent civil service staff employed in the Attorney General‘s Office was in each financial year between 2010-11 and 2021-22.

The average number of whole-time equivalent persons employed during each financial year (for which data is available) in the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) and Government Legal Department (GLD) is as follows.

Attorney General’s Office:

Financial Year

Total

Permanent Staff

Others

Ministers

2010-11

(Data not held)*

2011-12

40

2012-13

44

40

2

2

2013-14

42

40

2

2014-15

40

38

2

2015-16

40

38

2

2016-17

40

38

2

2017-18

44

42

2

2018-19

46

39

5

2

2019-20

49

47

2

2020-21

50

46

2

2

Treasury Solicitor’s Office (from 2010-11 to 2014-15 inclusive) and Government Legal Department (from 2015-16 to 2020-21 inclusive):

Financial Year

Total

Permanent Staff

Others

2010-11

(Data not held)*

2011-12

987

2012-13

1,046

927

119

2013-14

1,283

1,090

193

2014-15

1,667

1,426

241

2015-16

1,838

1,663

175

2016-17

1,862

1,657

205

2017-18

2,157

1,905

252

2018-19

2,362

1,998

364

2019-20

2,519

2,196

323

2020-21

2,605

2,166

439

It is important to note that several legal advisory units from departments across the civil service were incorporated into the Treasury Solicitor’s Department (TSol) and GLD account for the majority of staffing increases in the years preceding and succeeding the name change from TSol to GLD on 1 April 2015.

* The earliest Annual Report available in which these figures are published, is for the 2012-13 financial year, which also included a total whole-time equivalent figure for TSol and AGO for 2011-12.

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
19th Apr 2022
To ask the Attorney General, how many CPS (a) staff and (b) prosecutors work in the Serious Economic, Organised Crime and International Directorate as of 19 April 2022; and how many of those staff work primarily on issues of (i) international justice and organised crime, (ii) special crime and counter terrorism and (ii) fraud.

In April 2022, The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) launched a new Serious Economic, Organised Crime and International Directorate (SEOCID) which brings together specialists in economic crime, organised crime, proceeds of crime and international to deliver justice, combat crime across borders and take money from criminals.

This combined team of specialists will continue to work closely with investigators to disrupt the emerging threats of organised criminal gangs using cyber technology to exploit people, businesses, and the Government. Victims of complex SEOCID cases are often based in multiple jurisdictions. The directorate will work to improve their experience by ensuring investigators and prosecutors work closely and have a joint victim and witness strategy from the outset.

Establishing the new Serious Economic, Organised Crime and International Directorate is part of the CPS Economic Crime Strategy 2025.

The number of staff and prosecutors can be found in the table below:

Department

Head Count

FTE

HC of Prosecutors

FTE of Prosecutors

SERIOUS ECONOMIC ORGANISED CRIME INTERNATIONAL (SEOCID)

394

372.38

186.00

177.65

SPECIAL CRIME AND COUNTER TERRORISM DIVISION

146

140.29

69.00

67.10

Grand Total

540

512.66

255.00

244.76

NB: The data has been extracted from the CPS Oracle HR database and is accurate at point of enquiry on 21 April 2022. Consequent changes to data input may mean that this data will change at some point in the future.

*The system reports data as at the last day of the month rather than the first or any date in-between therefore the table is presented to the nearest reportable date to the questions asked.

*FTE figures have been rounded

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
19th Apr 2022
To ask the Attorney General, what the average number of full time equivalent civil service staff employed by the Crown Prosecution Service was in each financial year between 2010-11 and 2021-22.

The number of staff employed by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) during the periods specified is available in the table below. The data provided includes all staff grades full time equivalent averaged across each year. During this period the CPS has undertaken continuous improvement and modernisation programmes to improve efficiency and effectiveness. These included digitalisation, development of a national resourcing model, standard operating practices, resource efficiency measures, smarter/remote working practices, and establishment of remote teams. As a national service for England and Wales, the consequence of these measures is that we now have the ability to shift work to where capacity resides which is both much more efficient, and also fairer on the workforce.

Financial Year

Average Full Time Equivalent Staff

2010/11

7797

2011/12

7214

2012/13

6894

2013/14

6341

2014/15

5939

2015/16

5541

2016/17

5468

2017/18

5517

2018/19

5493

2019/20

5577

2020/21

5943

2021/22

6406

NB: The data has been extracted from the CPS Oracle HR database and is accurate at point of enquiry on 21 April 2022. Consequent changes to data input may mean that this data will change at some point in the future.

*The system reports data as at the last day of the month rather than the first or any date in-between therefore the table is presented to the nearest reportable date to the questions asked.

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
31st Mar 2022
To ask the Attorney General, with reference to the Public Sector Apprenticeships Target, how many apprentices were employed in (a) her office, (b) the Government Legal Department, and (c) the Crown Prosecution Service in the financial year 2021-22; and what proportion of the overall workforce did that represent in each case.

The Attorney General Office are working with the Government Legal Department and Crown Prosecution Service to finalise data on apprenticeships for 2021/22. Final figures are not yet available. The Cabinet Office, on behalf of the Civil Service, will be publishing a full breakdown of departmental performance on apprenticeships in the Autumn in line with previous years.

Data for all departments between 2017 and 2021 is available on gov.uk and shows the Attorney Generals departments recruited 278 apprentices, equivalent to 3.2% during 2020/21.

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
30th Mar 2022
To ask the Attorney General, how many CPS prosecutions there have been to date for the theft of goods by customers from retail and wholesale premises that took place in the financial years (a) 2017/18 and (b) 2020/21.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not maintain a central record of prosecutions for thefts from retail or wholesale premises. This information could only be obtained by an examination of CPS case files, which would incur disproportionate cost.

While the CPS does not centrally collate data showing the number of people prosecuted for thefts from shops, data is available showing the number of offences of shop theft, charged by way of Section 1 of the Theft Act 1968, in which a prosecution commenced at magistrates’ courts. The table below provides this information for the years 2017-18 and 2020-21.

2017-2018

2020-2021

Theft Act 1968 {1(1) and 7} - Theft from shops

101,435

47,601

Data Source: CPS Case Management Information System

The figures relate to the number of offences and not the number of individual defendants. It may be the case that an individual defendant is charged with more than one offence. No data are held on the final outcome or if the charged offence was the substantive charge at finalisation.

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
30th Mar 2022
To ask the Attorney General, how many CPS prosecutions there have been as of 30 March 2022 for assaults and threats against shop workers and owners that took place in the financial years (a) 2017-18 and (b) 2020-21.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not maintain a central record of prosecutions based on the occupation of complainants, including shopworkers who were assaulted or threatened. This information could only be obtained by an examination of CPS case files, which would incur disproportionate cost.

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
18th Mar 2022
To ask the Attorney General, if she will publish the joint statement she signed with Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova on UK support in holding Russia accountable for the crimes that it is committing on Ukrainian soil.

The Memorandum of Cooperation signed by the Attorney General and the Ukrainian Prosecutor General was published on Gov.uk on the 13th of March 2022.

The Memorandum is available here.

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
16th Mar 2022
To ask the Attorney General, on what occasions officials in her Department met with Treasury ministers or officials between 1 January 2017 and 16 March 2022 to discuss (a) cy- près schemes or (b) charitable contributions to reduce the national debt.

There have been no Ministerial-level meetings (either Minister-Minister or Minister-Officials) between the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) and Her Majesty’s Treasury (HMT) between 1 January 2017 and 16 March 2022 to discuss (a) cy-près schemes or (b) charitable contributions to reduce the national debt.

The AGO does not hold official records of any meetings at official level between AGO and HMT between the 1st of January 2017 and the 16th of March 2022.

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
16th Mar 2022
To ask the Attorney General, on what occasions the Solicitor General or his predecessors met with Treasury ministers or officials between 1 January 2017 and 16 March 2022 to discuss (a) cy- près schemes or (b) charitable contributions to reduce the national debt.

There have been no Ministerial-level meetings (either Minister-Minister or Minister-Officials) between the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) and Her Majesty’s Treasury (HMT) between 1 January 2017 and 16 March 2022 to discuss (a) cy-près schemes or (b) charitable contributions to reduce the national debt.

The AGO does not hold official records of any meetings at official level between AGO and HMT between the 1st of January 2017 and the 16th of March 2022.

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
16th Mar 2022
To ask the Attorney General, on what occasions she or her predecessors met with Treasury ministers or officials between 1 January 2017 and 16 March 2022 to discuss (a) cy-près schemes or (b) charitable contributions to reduce the national debt.

There have been no Ministerial-level meetings (either Minister-Minister or Minister-Officials) between the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) and Her Majesty’s Treasury (HMT) between 1 January 2017 and 16 March 2022 to discuss (a) cy-près schemes or (b) charitable contributions to reduce the national debt.

The AGO does not hold official records of any meetings at official level between AGO and HMT between the 1st of January 2017 and the 16th of March 2022.

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
3rd Mar 2022
To ask the Attorney General, which of the Crown Prosecution Service's dedicated divisions for (a) international justice and organised crime, (b) special crime and counter terrorism and (c) specialist fraud will be responsible for prosecuting the new offences that will be established in the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill.

In March 2021, the CPS launched its first ever Economic Crime Strategy to ensure we keep pace with the changing nature of crime. It is a high-level strategy which allows the flexibility to respond and adapt to new and emerging threats.

The CPS currently has a dedicated Specialist Fraud Division with specialist prosecutors to ensure it has the right skills and resources to prosecute complex economic crime cases, ranging from the prosecution of bankers and investment scams, to the prosecution of those who seek to defraud the taxpayer of millions of pounds.

With effect from the 1 April 2022, a new Serious Economic, Organised Crime and International Directorate will be launched, merging the Specialist Fraud Division and the International Justice and Organised Crime Division. This new directorate will provide more resilience and will be responsible for prosecuting the new offences established in the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill.

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
3rd Mar 2022
To ask the Attorney General, what assessment she has made of (a) the current capacity available and (b) the additional resources required for the Crown Prosecution Service to prosecute the new offences that will be established in the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill.

In March 2021, the CPS launched its first ever Economic Crime Strategy to ensure we keep pace with the changing nature of crime. It is a high-level strategy which allows the flexibility to respond and adapt to new and emerging threats.

The CPS currently has a dedicated Specialist Fraud Division with specialist prosecutors to ensure it has the right skills and resources to prosecute complex economic crime cases, ranging from the prosecution of bankers and investment scams, to the prosecution of those who seek to defraud the taxpayer of millions of pounds.

With effect from the 1 April 2022, a new Serious Economic, Organised Crime and International Directorate will be launched, merging the Specialist Fraud Division and the International Justice and Organised Crime Division. This new directorate will provide more resilience and will be responsible for prosecuting the new offences established in the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill.

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
3rd Mar 2022
To ask the Attorney General, how many offences have been recorded under the Modern Slavery Act 2015 in each year since 2015; and how many of those offences led to a (a) prosecution and (b) conviction.

Data on the number of offences recorded under the Modern Slavery Act 2015 is captured in police recorded crime data and this information is available from the Home Office. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not hold recorded crime data and therefore it is not possible to say how many recorded offences subsequently resulted in a prosecution or conviction.

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
1st Mar 2022
To ask the Attorney General, how many of the 1,109 convictions for rape recorded in the year ending March 2021 related to offences committed (a) before the year ending March 2018, (b) within the year 2018-19, and (c) within the year 2019-20.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not maintain a central record of the date an offence was committed. This information could only be obtained by an examination of CPS case files, which would incur disproportionate cost.

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
22nd Feb 2022
To ask the Attorney General, how many Deferred Prosecution Agreements the Serious Fraud Office signed between 25 April and 31 December 2013.

Between the 25th of April and the 31st of December 2013, no Deferred Prosecution Agreements (DPAs) were signed by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), as DPAs were only introduced on 24th of February 2014, under the provisions of Schedule 17 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013. Since then, the SFO has entered into a total of 12 DPAs.

During the period of the 25th of April 2013 and the 13th of December 2013, 9 SFO led prosecutions resulted in a conviction. All of these were brought against individuals. There were no prosecutions brought against corporate entities during this period.

Detailed information regarding SFO prosecutions and DPAs can be found on their website: https://www.sfo.gov.uk/.

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
22nd Feb 2022
To ask the Attorney General, how many prosecutions led by the Serious Fraud Office led to convictions against (a) corporate entities and (b) individuals between 25 April and 31 December 2013.

Between the 25th of April and the 31st of December 2013, no Deferred Prosecution Agreements (DPAs) were signed by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), as DPAs were only introduced on 24th of February 2014, under the provisions of Schedule 17 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013. Since then, the SFO has entered into a total of 12 DPAs.

During the period of the 25th of April 2013 and the 13th of December 2013, 9 SFO led prosecutions resulted in a conviction. All of these were brought against individuals. There were no prosecutions brought against corporate entities during this period.

Detailed information regarding SFO prosecutions and DPAs can be found on their website: https://www.sfo.gov.uk/.

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
22nd Feb 2022
To ask the Attorney General, how many Deferred Prosecution Agreements the Serious Fraud Office signed in each year since 2010.

Since Deferred Prosecution Agreements (DPAs) were introduced in 2014, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has signed a total of 12. The table below provides details of the number of DPAs signed each year since their introduction in 2014.

Year

2015

2016

2017

2019

2020

2021

Total

DPAs signed

1

1

2

2

3

3

12

Since 2010, 122 SFO led prosecutions have resulted in a conviction. The table below provides details of the number of prosecutions that led to a conviction in each year since 2010, and whether these relate to a corporate entity or an individual.

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

total

Corporate

1

1

1

1

1

1

2

8

Individuals

1

8

20

14

17

5

9

12

19

5

2

2

114

Total

2

8

20

14

18

6

10

13

20

5

2

4

122

In 2022, the SFO is taking forward 7 trials, involving 20 defendants charged against a total of 80 counts. The high volume of trials taking place this year is in part a result of trials not being able to go ahead during the pandemic.

Detailed information regarding SFO prosecutions and DPAs can be found on their website: https://www.sfo.gov.uk/.

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
22nd Feb 2022
To ask the Attorney General, how many prosecutions led by the Serious Fraud Office led to convictions against (a) corporate entities and (b) individuals in each year since 2010.

Since Deferred Prosecution Agreements (DPAs) were introduced in 2014, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has signed a total of 12. The table below provides details of the number of DPAs signed each year since their introduction in 2014.

Year

2015

2016

2017

2019

2020

2021

Total

DPAs signed

1

1

2

2

3

3

12

Since 2010, 122 SFO led prosecutions have resulted in a conviction. The table below provides details of the number of prosecutions that led to a conviction in each year since 2010, and whether these relate to a corporate entity or an individual.

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

total

Corporate

1

1

1

1

1

1

2

8

Individuals

1

8

20

14

17

5

9

12

19

5

2

2

114

Total

2

8

20

14

18

6

10

13

20

5

2

4

122

In 2022, the SFO is taking forward 7 trials, involving 20 defendants charged against a total of 80 counts. The high volume of trials taking place this year is in part a result of trials not being able to go ahead during the pandemic.

Detailed information regarding SFO prosecutions and DPAs can be found on their website: https://www.sfo.gov.uk/.

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
18th Feb 2022
To ask the Attorney General, on what dates each new investigation was opened by the Serious Fraud Office from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2021; and whether each of those investigations (a) was into a corporate or an individual and (b) is ongoing or complete.

Over the five-year period of 2016 to 2021, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) opened almost 50 cases. The SFO proactively publishes information about its criminal investigations on its website: https://www.sfo.gov.uk/our-cases/ whenever it is appropriate to do. This includes details on when the investigation was opened and whether it relates to individuals or a corporate body.

In order to protect the investigative process, it is not always possible - or even desirable - for the SFO to announce investigations prematurely. Because of the small number of live investigations that the SFO has open at any one time and the covert nature of many of them, disclosing a breakdown of numbers and the focus of each, could potentially compromise ongoing efforts.

The SFO investigates and prosecutes the most serious and complex cases of fraud, bribery, and corruption. The size and complexity of those cases, including the volume of victims and witnesses, means that it can take a number of years for a full investigation to be carried out.

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
18th Feb 2022
To ask the Attorney General, on what date each new Deferred Prosecution Agreement was signed by the Serious Fraud Office from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2021.

From 1st of January 2016 to 31st of December 2021, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) entered into a total of 11 Deferred Prosecution Agreements (DPAs). The table below provides details of the date each DPA was signed.

Case name

Date DPA was signed by the SFO

Sarclad Ltd

06/07/2016

Rolls Royce PLC

17/01/2017

Tesco PLC

10/04/2017

Serco

04/07/2019

Güralp Systems Ltd

22/10/2019

Airbus Group

31/01/2020

G4S

17/07/2020

Airline Services Limited

30/10/2020

Amec Foster Wheeler plc

01/07/2021

AB Ltd*

19/07/2021

CD Ltd*

19/07/2021

* reporting restrictions apply

Detailed information regarding the use of DPAs can be found on the SFO website:

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
18th Feb 2022
To ask the Attorney General, on what dates each new prosecution was brought forward by the Serious Fraud Office from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2021; and for each of those prosecutions (a) whether the prosecution was into a corporate or an individual and (a) what the outcome was.

From the 1st of January 2016 to 31st of December 2021, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has brought forward 103 prosecutions as a result of their criminal casework. The table below sets-out how many prosecutions were brought forward in each year, whether they relate to a corporate or an individual, and the final outcome. *

The cases investigated by the SFO are complex and it can take a number of years before any defendant(s) can be charged and a trial scheduled. Information relating to the exact date each investigation began is not readily available and providing this information would incur a disproportionate cost.

Corporate Individual
OutcomeOutcome
Yearguilty pleaDeferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA)DiscontinuedConviction after trialGuilty PleaAcquittedAwaiting TrialTotal
201611 799 27
201712111510131
2018 1115 8
2019 2 12229
202013 1418
202113 1 510
Total411220182622103

*We have used the term ‘brought forward’ to mean the date a charge was instigated against an individual or corporate.Detailed information regarding SFO prosecutions, including the date a charge was instigated can be found on their website: https://www.sfo.gov.uk/our-cases/

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
10th Feb 2022
To ask the Attorney General, with reference to transaction 232566 in the transparency data Complete transaction records 2021- 2022 25k and over November 2021, published on 9 February 2022, for what services EdenRed was awarded a £25,890 bonus payment by the Government Legal Department on 18 November 2021.

Edenred is the sole supplier of employee benefits and reward solutions under the Crown Commercial Service’s Employee Benefits Framework. Edenred supplies the Government Legal Department with both employee benefits and reward solutions, including childcare vouchers, a cycle to work scheme, payroll giving, employee discounts and reward and recognition bonuses. Edenred invoiced Government Legal Department £25,890 for providing reward and recognition bonuses to Government Legal Department, Attorney General’s Office and HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate employees during October 2021. Bonuses may take the form of paper vouchers, eGift Cards and Gift Cards.

334 bonuses of a value of between £30.00 and £100.00 were awarded to staff in October 2021, the average (mean) value of which was £73.79 and the most frequent (mode) value was £100.00. Employees receive the full value of the bonus and there is no additional cost for using the service.

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
10th Feb 2022
To ask the Attorney General, when she plans to publish her Department's transparency data for July, August, September and October 2021 which covers (a) complete transaction records for spends of £25,000 and over and (b) transparency GPC transactions for spends of over £500.

The material requested was published on the official government website on 13th December 2021.

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
27th Jan 2022
To ask the Attorney General, when her Department plans to update the register of the outcome of cases reviewed under the Unduly Lenient Sentence Scheme with her decisions in relation to the cases listed under unique reference numbers 672, 785, 803 and 811.

The decisions on these cases will be published in the next round of updates.

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
24th Jan 2022
To ask the Attorney General, how many staff the CPS employed (a) overall and (b) in the International Justice and Organised Crime Division, (c) in the Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division and (d) in the Specialist Fraud Division as of (i) 24 January 2022, (ii) 1 January 2022, (iii) 1 January 2021, (iv) 1 January 2020, (v) 1 January 2019, (vi) 1 January 2018, (vii) 1 January 2017, and (viii) 1 January 2016.

The Data set out in the table below shows CPS headcount (a) overall, (b) in the International Justice and Organised Crime Division, (c) in the Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division and (d) in the Specialist Fraud Division as close to those dates specified.

Year / CPS Overall Headcount

Team

CPS Prosecutor Headcount

31/12/2015* / 5922

ORGANISED CRIME

83

INTERNATIONAL

37

SPECIAL CRIME & COUNTER TERRORISM DIVISION

177

SPECIALIST FRAUD

224

31/12/2016* / 5954

ORGANISED CRIME

150

INTERNATIONAL

39

SPECIAL CRIME & COUNTER TERRORISM DIVISION

171

SPECIALIST FRAUD

210

31/12/2017* / 5989

INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE AND ORGANISED CRIME DIVISION

164

SPECIAL CRIME & COUNTER TERRORISM DIVISION

155

SPECIALIST FRAUD

221

31/12/2018* / 5946

INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE AND ORGANISED CRIME DIVISION

172

SPECIAL CRIME & COUNTER TERRORISM DIVISION

156

SPECIALIST FRAUD

207

31/12/2019* / 6066

INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE AND ORGANISED CRIME DIVISION

183

SPECIAL CRIME & COUNTER TERRORISM DIVISION

155

SPECIALIST FRAUD

180

31/12/2020* / 6594

INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE AND ORGANISED CRIME DIVISION

134

SPECIAL CRIME & COUNTER TERRORISM DIVISION

143

SPECIALIST FRAUD

182

31/12/2021* / 6888

INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE AND ORGANISED CRIME DIVISION

137

SPECIAL CRIME & COUNTER TERRORISM DIVISION

141

SPECIALIST FRAUD

167

NB: The CPS has undergone change to its team structures during the specified period. The International Justice and Organised Crime Division has been in existence since 2017. Therefore, staff headcount numbers for 2015 and 2016 relate to the previous structure in place at the time.

*The system reports data as at the last day of the month rather than the first or any date in-between therefore the table is presented to the nearest reportable date to the questions asked.

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
14th Jan 2022
To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 10 January 2021 to Question 98226 on Public Sector: Misconduct, on what date the Solicitor General's decision was communicated to (a) the family of Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry and (b) the officials responsible for publishing the outcome of unduly lenient sentence referrals.

The Solicitor General communicated his decision to officials on the morning of 24 December 2021. Where a referral is made to this office by a victim, their family or a Member of Parliament, the Law Officers communicate the outcome of their decision in writing. This case was referred by members of the public. Due to the volume of referrals received, we are unable to provide individual responses to members of the public. The outcomes of all decisions are communicated to the Crown Prosecution Service who in turn advise others concerned.

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
10th Jan 2022
To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 10 January 2021 to Question 98226 on Public Sector: Misconduct, what the average length of time is for decisions made on unduly lenient sentence referrals to be included in the regular updates of referral outcomes published by her Department.

There is no legal obligation to publish updates on the outcome of unduly lenient sentence referrals. The updates prepared by officials are checked manually and it is not always possible to meet the Attorney General’s aspiration for weekly editions, especially over the Christmas and New Year period. The Department does not hold information on the average length of time for updates

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
10th Jan 2022
To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 10 January 2021 to Question 98226 on Public Sector: Misconduct, why the Solicitor General's decision was not included in her Department's updates on the outcome of unduly lenient sentence referrals published on (a) 29 December, (b) 4 January and (c) 5 January 2022.

There is no legal obligation to publish updates on the outcome of unduly lenient sentence referrals. The updates prepared by officials are checked manually and it is not always possible to meet the Attorney General’s aspiration for weekly editions, especially over the Christmas and New Year period. The Department does not hold information on the average length of time for updates

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
5th Jan 2022
To ask the Attorney General, at what time and on what date the Solicitor General informed officials of his decision not to refer to the Court of Appeal the two cases of misconduct in a public office listed under unique reference number 731 in the register of cases reviewed under the Unduly Lenient Sentence Scheme.

The Solicitor General communicated his decision to officials on the morning of 24 December 2021.

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
14th Dec 2021
To ask the Attorney General, whether (a) she or (b) the Crown Prosecution Service have set a maximum limit on the amount of time criminal cases should await trial, to act as a target for capping and reducing the increase in waiting times.

Neither the Attorney General nor the Crown Prosecution Service set maximum limits for the number of criminal cases awaiting trial.

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
14th Dec 2021
To ask the Attorney General, whether (a) she or (b) the Crown Prosecution Service have set a maximum limit on the number of criminal cases awaiting trial, to act as a target for capping and reducing the current backlog of cases.

Neither the Attorney General nor the Crown Prosecution Service set maximum limits for the amount of time a criminal case should await trial.

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
10th Dec 2021
To ask the Attorney General, how many prosecutors were employed by the Crown Prosecution Service as of (a) 1 January 2017, (b) 1 January 2018, (c) 1 January 2019, (d) 1 January 2020, (e) 1 January 2021 and (f) 1 December 2021.

The number of prosecutors employed by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) are as follows:

Year***CPS Prosecutor Headcount
31/12/20162623
31/12/20172634
31/12/20182694
31/12/20192800
31/12/20203025
30/11/30213118

*The data has been extracted from the CPS Oracle HR database and is accurate at point of enquiry on 14th December 2021. Consequent changes to data input may mean that this data will change at some point in the future.

**The system reports data as at the last day of the month rather than the first therefore the table is presented to the nearest reportable date to the questions asked.

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
9th Dec 2021
To ask the Attorney General, whether she has (a) been asked to provide or (b) provided advice to Government colleagues since 1 December 2021 regarding the compliance of their Departments' with measures under the (a) 5 November – 2 December 2020 national lockdown; and (b) the 2 December 2020 – 4 January 2021 tiered covid regulations.

By convention, whether the Law Officers have been asked to provide advice, and the contents of any such advice, is not disclosed outside Government.

The Convention protects the Law Officers’ ability as chief legal adviser to the Government to give full and frank legal advice and provides the fullest guarantee that government business will be conducted at all times in light of thorough and candid legal advice.

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
9th Dec 2021
To ask the Attorney General, what advice she provided to Government colleagues regarding the compliance of their Departments with measures under the (a) 5 November – 2 December 2020 national lockdown; and (b) the 2 December 2020 – 4 January 2021 tiered covid regulations during the period of those restrictions.

By convention, whether the Law Officers have been asked to provide advice, and the contents of any such advice, is not disclosed outside Government.

The Convention protects the Law Officers’ ability as chief legal adviser to the Government to give full and frank legal advice and provides the fullest guarantee that government business will be conducted at all times in light of thorough and candid legal advice.

Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
9th Dec 2021
To ask the Attorney General, whether she plans to ensure full operational independence of the Government Legal Department in their assistance of the inquiry into the events in Downing Street on 18 December 2020 announced on 8 December 2021.

In my roles as chief legal adviser to the Government and sponsoring minister of the Government Legal Department (GLD), I oversee the provision of legal support by GLD to all of its client departments, including the Cabinet Office. When advising their clients, GLD lawyers provide advice in accordance with their professional duties and on behalf of the Treasury Solicitor, who is the head of the GLD. The Ministerial Code and Cabinet Manual set out the circumstances in which ministers and their policy officials consult the Law Officers on legal matters.

9th Dec 2021
To ask the Attorney General, whether she plans to oversee the Government Legal Department in their assistance of the inquiry into the events in Downing Street on 18 December 2020 announced on 8 December 2021.

In my roles as chief legal adviser to the Government and sponsoring minister of the Government Legal Department (GLD), I oversee the provision of legal support by GLD to all of its client departments, including the Cabinet Office. When advising their clients, GLD lawyers provide advice in accordance with their professional duties and on behalf of the Treasury Solicitor, who is the head of the GLD. The Ministerial Code and Cabinet Manual set out the circumstances in which ministers and their policy officials consult the Law Officers on legal matters.

13th Nov 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to page 19 of the Public Sector Fraud Authority Annual Report for 2022-23, published on 13 November 2023, how many investigations by public sector organisations arising from referrals received from the Covid Fraud Hotline by the Public Sector Fraud Authority's Intelligence Hub are ongoing.

5,124 referrals were made to the COVID Fraud Hotline during its time being operational from October 2020 through to the end of June 2023.

All 5,124 of these referrals were disseminated to the relevant department(s) or organisation(s) for consideration as of the end of June 2023.

Once Hotline intelligence is forwarded, the decision to investigate sits with the relevant organisation and the decision to charge rests with the Crown Prosecution Service.

As of October 2023 there were 20 Operations at various stages of the investigative process with the National Investigation Service (NATIS). As of 31/3/23 a further 83 intelligence reports originating from a C-19 Hotline submission were being investigated by the Insolvency Service, with the majority being focused on insolvent investigations and dissolved investigations.

The Public Sector Fraud Authority established last year works with stakeholders to track outcomes linked to the Hotline intelligence.

The value of intelligence is not only for progressing prosecutions. The Hotline intelligence has helped us better understand the threat across Government and informed the wider intelligence picture across public sector organisations. It has also contributed to media campaigns providing guidance in relation to Covid Pass fraud, vaccine fraud and phishing.

Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
8th Nov 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference his Department's statistics on Permanent and temporary civil servants by sex, age band and department: 2023, published on 31 October 2023, how many permanent civil servants excluding agencies worked for his Department on 31 March (a) 2011, (b) 2016 and (c) 2020.

On 2 October 2023, the Chancellor announced an immediate cap on civil servant headcount across Whitehall to stop any further expansion, increase efficiencies and boost productivity.

The Civil Service grew in size to manage the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the illegal war in the Ukraine but it is right that we reduce the size of the Civil Service over time as we drive up productivity and deliver efficiencies.

As part of this Government’s commitment to transparency, my Department publishes workforce statistics each month. Information about staffing levels since 2006 are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/payroll-costs-and-non-consolidated-pay-data

The data requested can be found at the following links

(a) March 2020, table 8

(b) March 2016, table 8

(c) March 2011, table 8

John Glen
Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
17th Oct 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the contracts agreed by his Department with (a) Alma Economics on 27 September 2023, procurement reference CCZZ23A21, and (b) Russell Reynolds Associates Ltd on 13 October 2023, procurement reference CCZX23A03, if he will publish the Schedule 20 annexes specifying the services to be delivered under each of those contracts.

In response to the detail requested relating to procurement reference CCZZ23A21 and CCZX23A03, and under section 43 of the FOIA, this information will not be disclosed as it is deemed commercially sensitive at this time. We have taken this approach as disclosing such information may undermine businesses' trust in us as a commercial partner.

Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
19th Sep 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the figure of 275 tonnes for CO2e emissions from domestic flights in 2021-22 on page 68 of his Department's Annual Report for 2021-22 and to the figure of 230 tonnes for CO2e emissions from domestic flights on page 43 of his Department's Annual Report for 2022-23, what the evidential basis is for the statement on that page of the Annual Report for 2022-23 that CO2e emissions from domestic flights in 2022-23 had increased from 2021-22.

The two sections in the respective annual reports referenced use different methodology and are not comparative.

The chart on page 41 of the 2022-23 annual report provides comparative Scope 3 emission data for all official domestic business travel from 2017-18 (baseline) to 2022-23 (showing a reduction of 72% compared to baseline).

Page 43 of the 2022-23 annual report provides commentary on the broader trends between the two years.

Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
19th Sep 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 6 December 2022 to Question 97501, what was the total value of non-cash vouchers awarded to staff working for his core Department as performance-related bonuses in 2022-23.

Bonuses paid out as non-cash vouchers is a standard practice across Government and has been for many years.

Attracting, retaining and motivating highly skilled individuals is essential for the Civil Service to deliver for the British people. This is why pay must be fair and competitive as well as affordable to the taxpayer. Performance-related bonuses and vouchers are a key part of this.

The total value of non-cash vouchers issued to Cabinet Office staff in 2022-23 was £920,190.

Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
19th Sep 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much his Department spent on outside catering services for events across the Downing Street and 70 Whitehall estate in (a) 2019-20, (b) 2021-22, (c) 2022-23 and (d) from 1 April to 19 September 2023.

The information is not centrally held in the form requested and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
12th Sep 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to Point 1 of his Department’s Freedom of Information response on 11 September 2023 to the Rt hon. Member for Islington South and Finsbury (reference 2023/09623), what the total spend was on (a) creative development, (b) media buying and (c) other miscellaneous services relating to the Help for Households campaign in the months of (i) April, (ii) May, (iii) June, (iv) July, and (v) August 2023.

The Cabinet Office has had no funding allocated to the Help for Households campaign so far in this financial year.

Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
7th Sep 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much his Department spent on gym (a) facilities and (b) equipment in each of the last five financial years.

Departmental spend on gym equipment is factored into facilities management. To calculate this spend specifically would incur a disproportionate cost to the department.

Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
7th Sep 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to his Department’s enabling agreement with Corporate Travel Management (North) Ltd. for the provision of public sector air capability (reference CCYZ20A01), what number of (a) club, (b) business and (c) economy seats were provided in the configuration for the A321neoLR plane wet-leased from Titan Airways between the periods (i) 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022, (ii) 4 April to 8 June 2022, and (iii) 1 October 2022 to 1 September 2023.

The reconfiguration of seating arrangements enabled greater passenger capacity and more versatile seating. These efficiencies have allowed larger delegations, such as for trips to key international summits, to travel on a single flight. Delegations frequently include members of the media.

Economy Seats

Business Seats

Conference Table Seats

Total No. of Seats

1 April 2021 - 31 March 2022

12

44

8

64

4 April to 2022 - 8 June 2022

12

44

8

64

1 October 2022 - 1 September 2023

36

36

8

80

The MSN 10238 airframe does not have any club seats within its configuration.

More broadly, I would note that foreign travel is a vital part of diplomacy. It is in the national interest that Government Ministers and delegations can travel abroad to pursue UK interests and develop international relationships through closer economic, security and development ties. This has been the case under successive administrations of all parties. Information on the cost of overseas Ministerial travel is routinely published on gov.uk (including the number of officials who accompanied the Minister if non-scheduled travel was used).

Given the Rt Hon Member’s keen interest in overseas travel, I would also point her and her staff to the frequent use of non-scheduled / charter flights under the last Labour Government, including by Gordon Brown

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ministers-overseas-travel

Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
5th Sep 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to section four, paragraphs (i) to (ii) of the variation made to his Department’s enabling agreement with Corporate Travel Management (North) Ltd. for the provision of public sector air capability on 8 June 2022, reference CCYZ20A01, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of the proposed (a) switch of aircraft and (b) livery in which the new aircraft will be provided.

The amendment to the definition of the aircraft covers the switch of airframe from Manufacturer's Serial Number (MSN)10238 to MSN 8830. This switch of airframe is contractually due to take place on or before 30 September 2023.


There is no further cost to the public purse to cover both (a) the switch of aircraft and (b) the livery in which the new aircraft will be provided.

Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
5th Sep 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to section four, paragraph (i) of the variation made to his Department’s enabling agreement with Corporate Travel Management (North) Ltd. for the provision of public sector air capability on 8 June 2022, reference CCYZ20A01, what (a) the amendment is to be made to the definition of aircraft in that agreement and (b) the switch of aircraft that is to take place on or before 30 September 2023.

The amendment to the definition of the aircraft covers the switch of airframe from Manufacturer's Serial Number (MSN)10238 to MSN 8830. This switch of airframe is contractually due to take place on or before 30 September 2023.


There is no further cost to the public purse to cover both (a) the switch of aircraft and (b) the livery in which the new aircraft will be provided.

Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
5th Sep 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office,with reference to page 25 of the Department for Education's consolidated annual report and accounts 2022 to 2023 published 18 July 2023, how many occasions did the Civil Service Board meet to discuss the risks arising from the presence of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) across the public estate in (a) 2021-22 and (b) 2022-23.

The Civil Service Board comprises senior civil servants from a range of Departments. It had deep dive discussion on property issues in which the presence of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) was raised on one occasion in 2022 and a further occasion in 2023.

Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
18th Jul 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the contract awarded by the Crown Commercial Service to Bramble Hub Ltd on 23 March (procurement reference CCZZ23A03), if he will publish the list of agreed requirements to be delivered by the contractor as set out in Call-Off Schedule 20 of that contract.

The statement of requirements is publicly available on Contracts Finder and can be found at the following link:

https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/notice/22ac15f8-2d01-4531-b3f1-13b7c8f295df?origin=SearchResults&p=1

Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
17th Jul 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 3 July to Question 191720 on Cabinet Office: OMD Group, what amounts of public money were identified in Paragraph 6.2.5.2 of Call-Off Schedule 20 of Contract Reference CCIT23A11 as (a) the total media spend by the National Security Communications Team in financial year 2022-23 and (b) the potential media spend by that team in financial year 2023-24.

This information will not be disclosed as it is deemed commercially sensitive. We have taken this approach as disclosing such information may undermine businesses' trust in us as a commercial partner.

Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
17th Jul 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 3 July to Question 191720 on Cabinet Office: OMD Group, what amount of public money was identified in Paragraph 6.2.4.2 of Call-Off Schedule 20 of Contract Reference CCIT23A11 as the anticipated total media spend for GREAT campaigns each year over the course of the contract.

This information will not be disclosed as it is deemed commercially sensitive. We have taken this approach as disclosing such information may undermine businesses' trust in us as a commercial partner.

Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
17th Jul 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 3 July to Question 191720 on Cabinet Office: OMD Group, what amount of public money was identified in Paragraph 6.2.3.4 of Call-Off Schedule 20 of Contract Reference CCIT23A11 as the total media spend on campaigns developed by the Government Communications Service International in financial year 2022-23.

This information will not be disclosed as it is deemed commercially sensitive. We have taken this approach as disclosing such information may undermine businesses' trust in us as a commercial partner.

Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
17th Jul 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 3 July to Question 191720 on Cabinet Office: OMD Group, what amounts of public money were identified in Paragraph 6.2.2.1 of Call-Off Schedule 20 of Contract Reference CCIT23A11 as (a) the forecast total spending on the Help for Households campaign up to March 2023 and (b) the current monthly paid media budgets for campaigns developed by the Government Communications Service across broadcast, digital and partnership channels.

This information will not be disclosed as it is deemed commercially sensitive. We have taken this approach as disclosing such information may undermine businesses' trust in us as a commercial partner.

Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
13th Jul 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department’s publication of the numbers and costs of special advisers on 19 December 2018, what the net costs were of severance payments to special advisers in financial year 2017/18.

This information is not held centrally.

13th Jul 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much was spent from the public purse on the (a) design and (b) production of the lectern used by the Prime Minister at his press conference at the NATO summit in Lithuania on 12 July; which company was responsible for its (i) design and (ii) production, and how many models of the lectern have been purchased.

This lectern is owned by the British Embassy in Vilnius and I understand was purchased prior to 2010, and at least 20 years ago. The Cabinet Office would not hold procurement details regarding production and design from that time.

As previously stated, lecterns are used and repurposed across government buildings.

Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
10th Jul 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department’s publication entitled Special adviser data releases: numbers and costs, October 2013, published on 25 October 2013, how much of the total pay bill for special advisers in the 2012-13 period was made up of severance payments.

The Cabinet Office publishes an annual report on special advisers, and far more detail is transparently provided than ever issued under the last Labour Government, and far more than is published by the Labour-led Welsh Government.

As set out in the July 2023 annual report, laid in the House today, special advisers represent just 0.02 per cent of the Civil Service workforce.

Special advisers are classed as temporary civil servants. They receive a severance payment if their appointment automatically ends when their appointing Minister ceases to hold ministerial office. This reflects the lack of any formal notice period. The substantive contractual provisions in the Model Contract are the same as under previous Administrations of all political colours, including the last Labour Government. They also reflect the statutory provisions set out in the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010, as legislated for under the last Labour Government.

For example, £1 million in then-prices was paid in severance payments in 2007-08 (as per out in 17 November 2008, Official Report, Col. 244W) and £1.8 million in April-May 2010 (as set out in 28 October 2010, Official Report, Col. 18WS).

With regards to the specific questions asked:

  • The £7.2 million figure in the 2012-13 annual report includes all salary costs, including severance costs, however the amount relating specifically to severance was not reported.

  • No severance was paid in 2013-14.

  • The 2015-16 annual report covered the period April 2015 through 13 July 2016, to cover the paybill costs until the end of the David Cameron Administration. The severance figures reported covered this entire period rather than the financial year.

  • In 2018-19, £208,000 of severance was paid, as per the annual report.

  • In 2019-20, the £2.7million severance figure stated in the annual report is net of repayments.

Given the Rt Hon Member has such an interest in special adviser severance payments, the Labour Party should state how much Short Money, Cranborne Money and Policy Development Grant has been spent on severance payments following multiple changes to Labour Party leaders and the Shadow Cabinet in this time period.


10th Jul 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department’s publication entitled Special adviser data releases: numbers and costs, November 2014, published on 18 December 2014, how much of the £8.4 million pay bill for special advisers was made up of severance payments in the 2013-14 financial year.

The Cabinet Office publishes an annual report on special advisers, and far more detail is transparently provided than ever issued under the last Labour Government, and far more than is published by the Labour-led Welsh Government.

As set out in the July 2023 annual report, laid in the House today, special advisers represent just 0.02 per cent of the Civil Service workforce.

Special advisers are classed as temporary civil servants. They receive a severance payment if their appointment automatically ends when their appointing Minister ceases to hold ministerial office. This reflects the lack of any formal notice period. The substantive contractual provisions in the Model Contract are the same as under previous Administrations of all political colours, including the last Labour Government. They also reflect the statutory provisions set out in the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010, as legislated for under the last Labour Government.

For example, £1 million in then-prices was paid in severance payments in 2007-08 (as per out in 17 November 2008, Official Report, Col. 244W) and £1.8 million in April-May 2010 (as set out in 28 October 2010, Official Report, Col. 18WS).

With regards to the specific questions asked:

  • The £7.2 million figure in the 2012-13 annual report includes all salary costs, including severance costs, however the amount relating specifically to severance was not reported.

  • No severance was paid in 2013-14.

  • The 2015-16 annual report covered the period April 2015 through 13 July 2016, to cover the paybill costs until the end of the David Cameron Administration. The severance figures reported covered this entire period rather than the financial year.

  • In 2018-19, £208,000 of severance was paid, as per the annual report.

  • In 2019-20, the £2.7million severance figure stated in the annual report is net of repayments.

Given the Rt Hon Member has such an interest in special adviser severance payments, the Labour Party should state how much Short Money, Cranborne Money and Policy Development Grant has been spent on severance payments following multiple changes to Labour Party leaders and the Shadow Cabinet in this time period.


10th Jul 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department’s publication entitled list of special advisers in post as at 21 December 2016, published 21 December 2016, what amount of the (a) pay bill and (b) severance payments was spent in the 2015-16 financial year.

The Cabinet Office publishes an annual report on special advisers, and far more detail is transparently provided than ever issued under the last Labour Government, and far more than is published by the Labour-led Welsh Government.

As set out in the July 2023 annual report, laid in the House today, special advisers represent just 0.02 per cent of the Civil Service workforce.

Special advisers are classed as temporary civil servants. They receive a severance payment if their appointment automatically ends when their appointing Minister ceases to hold ministerial office. This reflects the lack of any formal notice period. The substantive contractual provisions in the Model Contract are the same as under previous Administrations of all political colours, including the last Labour Government. They also reflect the statutory provisions set out in the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010, as legislated for under the last Labour Government.

For example, £1 million in then-prices was paid in severance payments in 2007-08 (as per out in 17 November 2008, Official Report, Col. 244W) and £1.8 million in April-May 2010 (as set out in 28 October 2010, Official Report, Col. 18WS).

With regards to the specific questions asked:

  • The £7.2 million figure in the 2012-13 annual report includes all salary costs, including severance costs, however the amount relating specifically to severance was not reported.

  • No severance was paid in 2013-14.

  • The 2015-16 annual report covered the period April 2015 through 13 July 2016, to cover the paybill costs until the end of the David Cameron Administration. The severance figures reported covered this entire period rather than the financial year.

  • In 2018-19, £208,000 of severance was paid, as per the annual report.

  • In 2019-20, the £2.7million severance figure stated in the annual report is net of repayments.

Given the Rt Hon Member has such an interest in special adviser severance payments, the Labour Party should state how much Short Money, Cranborne Money and Policy Development Grant has been spent on severance payments following multiple changes to Labour Party leaders and the Shadow Cabinet in this time period.


10th Jul 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department's publication entitled Annual Report on Special Advisers 2018, published on 19 December 2018, what was the cost of severance payments made to special advisers in the 2018-19 financial year.

The Cabinet Office publishes an annual report on special advisers, and far more detail is transparently provided than ever issued under the last Labour Government, and far more than is published by the Labour-led Welsh Government.

As set out in the July 2023 annual report, laid in the House today, special advisers represent just 0.02 per cent of the Civil Service workforce.

Special advisers are classed as temporary civil servants. They receive a severance payment if their appointment automatically ends when their appointing Minister ceases to hold ministerial office. This reflects the lack of any formal notice period. The substantive contractual provisions in the Model Contract are the same as under previous Administrations of all political colours, including the last Labour Government. They also reflect the statutory provisions set out in the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010, as legislated for under the last Labour Government.

For example, £1 million in then-prices was paid in severance payments in 2007-08 (as per out in 17 November 2008, Official Report, Col. 244W) and £1.8 million in April-May 2010 (as set out in 28 October 2010, Official Report, Col. 18WS).

With regards to the specific questions asked:

  • The £7.2 million figure in the 2012-13 annual report includes all salary costs, including severance costs, however the amount relating specifically to severance was not reported.

  • No severance was paid in 2013-14.

  • The 2015-16 annual report covered the period April 2015 through 13 July 2016, to cover the paybill costs until the end of the David Cameron Administration. The severance figures reported covered this entire period rather than the financial year.

  • In 2018-19, £208,000 of severance was paid, as per the annual report.

  • In 2019-20, the £2.7million severance figure stated in the annual report is net of repayments.

Given the Rt Hon Member has such an interest in special adviser severance payments, the Labour Party should state how much Short Money, Cranborne Money and Policy Development Grant has been spent on severance payments following multiple changes to Labour Party leaders and the Shadow Cabinet in this time period.


10th Jul 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to page 4 of the Annual Report on Special Advisers 2020, published on 15 December 2020, how much of the £2.7 million in severance payments paid to special advisers between 1 April 2019 and 31 March 2020 was repaid by individuals who were reappointed after the election.

The Cabinet Office publishes an annual report on special advisers, and far more detail is transparently provided than ever issued under the last Labour Government, and far more than is published by the Labour-led Welsh Government.

As set out in the July 2023 annual report, laid in the House today, special advisers represent just 0.02 per cent of the Civil Service workforce.

Special advisers are classed as temporary civil servants. They receive a severance payment if their appointment automatically ends when their appointing Minister ceases to hold ministerial office. This reflects the lack of any formal notice period. The substantive contractual provisions in the Model Contract are the same as under previous Administrations of all political colours, including the last Labour Government. They also reflect the statutory provisions set out in the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010, as legislated for under the last Labour Government.

For example, £1 million in then-prices was paid in severance payments in 2007-08 (as per out in 17 November 2008, Official Report, Col. 244W) and £1.8 million in April-May 2010 (as set out in 28 October 2010, Official Report, Col. 18WS).

With regards to the specific questions asked:

  • The £7.2 million figure in the 2012-13 annual report includes all salary costs, including severance costs, however the amount relating specifically to severance was not reported.

  • No severance was paid in 2013-14.

  • The 2015-16 annual report covered the period April 2015 through 13 July 2016, to cover the paybill costs until the end of the David Cameron Administration. The severance figures reported covered this entire period rather than the financial year.

  • In 2018-19, £208,000 of severance was paid, as per the annual report.

  • In 2019-20, the £2.7million severance figure stated in the annual report is net of repayments.

Given the Rt Hon Member has such an interest in special adviser severance payments, the Labour Party should state how much Short Money, Cranborne Money and Policy Development Grant has been spent on severance payments following multiple changes to Labour Party leaders and the Shadow Cabinet in this time period.


28th Jun 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish the statement of requirements for the provision of media planning agency procurement to be delivered under the terms of the contract CCIT23A11 agreed between his Department and OMD Group Ltd on 5 May 2023.

The statement of requirements is publicly available on Contracts Finder and can be found at the following link:

https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/notice/e9ef9bd3-69f4-4371-97d0-a00853bf4fb4?origin=SearchResults&p=1

Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
28th Jun 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish the total (a) number and (b) value of contracts arranged under Crown Commercial Service frameworks (i) RM3774 and (ii) RM6125 in each of the last five financial years.

This information is publicly available on Contracts Finder. Individual contracts are between customer authorities and suppliers directly, and it is the responsibility of customer authorities to publish contracting information on Contracts Finder and/or other transparency platforms.

Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
28th Jun 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish the statement of requirements for the provision of advertising, media-buying and creative services to be delivered under the terms of the contract CCCS22A10 agreed between his Department and Peoplescout Ltd on 15 May 2023.

The statement of requirements is publicly available on Contracts Finder and can be found at the following link:

https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/notice/49a728c8-1eca-4b96-8114-ba3e5555e5a3?origin=SearchResults&p=1

Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
27th Jun 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 19 June to Question 189509 on Prime Minister: Aviation, in which section of his Department's quarterly ministerial transparency data can details of domestic flights taken by the Prime Minister be found.

I would like to clarify the response to Question 189509, quarterly ministerial transparency data includes details of overseas travel.

The Government's position on domestic flights is set out in the answer of 24 February 2023, PQ 143904.



Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
14th Jun 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to sub-target two of the Greening Government Commitments reporting requirements for 2021 to 2025 last updated on 15 December 2022, whether his Department follows the encouragement in that guidance to (a) monitor and (b) report on the number of domestic flights for which his Department is responsible each year.

The Cabinet Office’s reporting on the Greening Government Commitments are set out in the cross-government annual reports, published on gov.uk (most recently in April 2023).

14th Jun 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many domestic flights for the purposes of government business were taken by the Prime Minister in the (a) 2019-20, (b) 2020-21, (c) 2021-22 and (d) 2022-23 financial years.

Cabinet Office ministers’ transparency data, including details of flights taken by the Prime Minister, is published on GOV.UK on a quarterly basis.

I would also refer the Rt Hon Member to the answers of Official Report, 24 February 2023, PQ 143904 and of Official Report, 12 June 2023, PQ 188221

Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
7th Jun 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many domestic flights were undertaken by his Department in financial years (a) 2021-22 and (b) 2022-23; and how many of those flights were by helicopter in each of those years.

The requested information is not centrally held, and complying with this request would incur a disproportionate cost to the department. Comprehensive details of Senior Officials’ Business Expenses, encompassing domestic flights are available on GOV.UK.

Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
7th Jun 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to Table 2 of the Greening Government Commitments Annual Report 2020-21, published in April 2023, how many of the 90 domestic flights for which his Department was responsible were undertaken by helicopter.in financial year 2020-21.

The requested information is not centrally held, and complying with this request would incur a disproportionate cost to the department. Comprehensive details of Senior Officials’ Business Expenses, encompassing domestic flights are available on GOV.UK.

Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
25th May 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 18 October 2022 to Question 59556, to which Ministers has the Prime Minister assigned use of the official residences at (a) 1 Carlton Gardens, (b) the three flats in Admiralty House, (c) the Dorneywood estate and (d) the Chevening estate.

As has been the case under successive administrations, the Prime Minister allocates official residences to ministers, either on the grounds of security or to allow them to better perform their official duties. The following official residences are formally allocated to Ministers:

  • Flats above 10 and 11 Downing Street, which are allocated to the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer respectively;

  • Hillsborough Castle and Stormont which are available for Ministers in the Northern Ireland Office while on duty in Northern Ireland;

  • 1 Carlton Gardens, which is allocated to the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities;

  • The Chequers and Dorneywood estates are owned and managed by trustees and are available to Ministers for both official and private use and are allocated to the Prime Minister and Chancellor respectively; and

  • The Chevening estate is allocated to the Foreign Secretary; the Chevening Trust is however currently undertaking works to the building.

Admiralty House is part of the Government estate and has rooms that are used as residential accommodation as required.

25th May 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much his Department spent on (a) IT and communications equipment, (b) chairs, desks and other furniture and (c) electronic fans, heaters and other equipment used for temperature control, to enable staff in his core Department to work from home during the financial years (i) 2020-21, (ii) 2021-22 and (iii) 2022-23.

Provision of equipment is a health and safety requirement for all employers, including Government, business and political parties, to enable employees to work safely and comfortably.

The requested information is not centrally held, and complying with this request would incur a disproportionate cost to the department. As we do not differentiate between home and office purchases in our accounting systems so the information is not readily available.

Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
9th May 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 3 May 2023 to Question 183041 on Minister without Portfolio, whether the Minister without Portfolio has purchased a decommissioned ministerial red box for his own personal use from (a) her Department, (b) the former Department for International Trade, and (c) the former Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, since 1 January 2018.

No.

I would also refer the Rt Hon Member to the report in The Times of 1 April 2013 ("ex-Ministers buy last grip on power") which indicated over 40 Ministers purchased Ministerial boxes after the 2010 general election.

Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
9th May 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many ministerial red boxes belonging to his Department have (a) been reported missing or lost or (b) had their security features removed in order that they can be purchased for personal use by former ministers from 1 May 2018 to 30 April 2023.

The following table includes the recorded number of missing or lost ministerial red boxes by the Cabinet Office and the recorded number of red boxes which have had their security features removed between 1 May 2018 to 30 April 2023.

1 May 2018 - 30 April 2023

Reported missing or lost

0

Had security features removed for personal use

0

I would also refer the Rt Hon Lady to my previous answer to her (UIN 183041) and reiterate that purchasing and repairing red boxes and folders is a routine Government practice under successive administrations, including the last Labour Government.


Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
27th Apr 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, (a) when, (b) for what purpose and (c) at what cost to the public purse the Minister without Portfolio was provided with a ministerial red box.

The Minister without Portfolio has not been provided with a ministerial red box in respect of his current ministerial role. There is therefore no cost to the public purse.

More widely however, purchasing and repairing red boxes and folders is a routine Government practice under successive administrations, including the last Labour Government.

Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
17th Apr 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether former Prime Ministers in receipt of the Public Duty Costs Allowance were required to notify his Department by 31 March of the total costs they intended to claim in the 2022/23 claim year; and whether any costs to be claimed in the 2022/23 claim year were notified to his Department after that date.

In the 2022/23 financial year, all PDCA claims from the offices of the former Prime Ministers were received by the department in time for our 31st March financial cut off.

Full disclosure of the 2022/23 amounts will be published in the Cabinet Office Annual Report and Account 2022-23 which will be published later in the year.

Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
17th Apr 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 28 March to Question 169228 on Cabinet Office: Aviation, on how many occasions (a) the Prime Minister and (b) his predecessors travelled overseas on non-scheduled flights with members of (i) the media and (ii) business delegations in the travelling party since 1 January 2021.

Details on overseas flights by the Prime Minister are published in the Government’s quarterly transparency data, which can be found on gov.uk.

There have been no business delegations travelling with the Prime Minister since 2018. Notwithstanding, the Prime Minister over this period (subject to restrictions during the covid pandemic) will have undertaken a number of business engagements and receptions with business whilst on overseas visits, to help secure investment into the UK and support UK businesses in exporting abroad. For example, during the UK-France Summit last month, the Prime Minister and President Macron met with businesses from both sides of the Channel.

There were 21 overseas visits where representatives of the media accompanied the delegation.

30th Mar 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 28 March 2023 to Question 166164 on Government Departments: Staff, how many and what proportion of respondents to the most recent Leesman office survey undertaken by his Department (a) agreed and (b) disagreed with the statements about their main workplace that (i) it enables me to work productively, (ii) it supports me sharing ideas and knowledge amongst colleagues, (iii) it creates an enjoyable environment to work in, (iv) it contributes to a sense of community at work, and (v) it's a place I'm proud to bring visitors to.

  1. The most recent Leesman office survey was conducted in November 2022. The number of respondents that answered either agree or disagree to the questions listed is set out in the table below:

Question

No. Respondent Agree (figures are aggregate by response of Strongly Agree, Agree or Slightly Agree)

No. Respondent Disagree (figures are aggregate by response of Strongly Disagree, Disagree or Slightly Disagree)

it enables me to work productively

1250 (76.31%)

258 (15.75%)

it supports me sharing ideas and knowledge amongst colleagues

1214 (74.57%)

206 (12.65%)

it creates an enjoyable environment to work in

1239 (75.69%)

202 (12.34%)

it contributes to a sense of community at work

1177 (71.99%)

250 (15.29%)

it's a place I'm proud to bring visitors to

1101 (67.67%)

192 (11.80%)

Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
30th Mar 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 28 March 2023 to Question 166164 on Government Departments: Staff, how many and what proportion of respondents to the most recent Leesman office survey undertaken by his Department (a) agreed and (b) disagreed with the statements about their main workplace that (i) it enables me to work productively, (ii) it supports me sharing ideas and knowledge amongst colleagues, (iii) it creates an enjoyable environment to work in, (iv) it contributes to a sense of community at work, and (v) it's a place I'm proud to bring visitors to.

  1. The most recent Leesman office survey was conducted in November 2022. The number of respondents that answered either agree or disagree to the questions listed is set out in the table below:

Question

No. Respondent Agree (figures are aggregate by response of Strongly Agree, Agree or Slightly Agree)

No. Respondent Disagree (figures are aggregate by response of Strongly Disagree, Disagree or Slightly Disagree)

it enables me to work productively

1250 (76.31%)

258 (15.75%)

it supports me sharing ideas and knowledge amongst colleagues

1214 (74.57%)

206 (12.65%)

it creates an enjoyable environment to work in

1239 (75.69%)

202 (12.34%)

it contributes to a sense of community at work

1177 (71.99%)

250 (15.29%)

it's a place I'm proud to bring visitors to

1101 (67.67%)

192 (11.80%)

Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
30th Mar 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 28 March 2023 to Question 166164 on Government Departments: Staff, what the overall rating out of 100 recorded was in the most recent Leesman office surveys undertaken through the Government Property Agency by the (a) Cabinet Office, (b) Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, (c) Department for Education, (d) Department for International Trade, (e) Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, (f) Department for Work and Pensions, (g) Treasury, (h) Home Office, (i) Ministry of Defence, and (j) Ministry of Justice.

  1. The results from the most recent Leesman surveys participated by those departments listed is set out in the table below:

Department

Date of participation of most recent Leesman survey

Leesman Index Score (out of 100)

Cabinet Office

November 2022

68.7

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

November 2022

74.9

Department for International Trade

November 2022

69.5

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

November 2022

70.9

HM Treasury

November 2022

73.1

Ministry of Justice

November 2022

60.0

Department for Education

September 2022

49.4

Ministry of Defence

September 2022

65.5

Department for Work and Pensions

September 2021

54.6

Home Office

July 2021

52.8

Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
30th Mar 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 28 March 2023 to Question 166164 on Government Departments: Staff, what the overall rating out of 100 recorded was in the most recent Leesman office surveys undertaken by (a) the Asylum, Protection and Enforcement Directorate, (b) the Immigration Enforcement Directorate, (c) Border Force, (d) HM Passport Office and (e) UK Visas and Immigration.

  1. The results from the most recent Leesman surveys participated by those departments listed is set out in the table below:

Department

Date of participation of most recent Leesman survey

Leesman Index Score (out of 100)

Asylum, Protection and Enforcement Directorate

July 2021

55.3

Immigration Enforcement Directorate

July 2021

55.9

Border Force

July 2021

44.7


UK Visas and Immigration


July 2021


52.8

HM Passport Office

January 2021

56.7

GPA has launched 10 office based surveys with Leesman, starting in January 2021.

All the departments from the July 2021 survey were from 3 buildings the GPA were exiting as part of the Croydon hub. The buildings surveyed were: Apollo House, Lunar House, Metro Point.

The January 2021 survey (HMPO) was a survey of one of the buildings GPA surveyed to exit for the Peterborough hub. The building that score relates to is Aragon Court, Peterborough.

In both these surveys (Croydon and Peterborough) the surveys were pre-occupancy. GPA were surveying the old estate that the department was or is exiting. In these examples, low scores are helpful as they demonstrate the case for needing these new hubs which GPA is creating. GPA will survey the new hubs once people have moved in - Peterborough will be surveyed later in 2023.

Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
29th Mar 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 28 March to Question 169228, on how many occasions the (a) Minister and (b) his predecessors have travelled overseas on non-scheduled flights with members of (i) the media and (ii) business delegations in the travelling party since 1 January 2021.

I refer the Hon. lady to my response of 28 March to PQ 169228.

In relation to the Office of the Prime Minister, I refer also to my answer of Hon. lady to PQ 181016.

20th Mar 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many overseas flights were made by Ministers in his Department using non-scheduled air transport in each year from 2016 to 2022 inclusive; and on how many such flights were members of (a) the media and (b) business delegations included in the travelling party.

The requested information is not centrally held. Details of Ministerial and Senior Officials’ flights are available on GOV.UK

It is important that Ministers are able to work while they are travelling to make best use of their time. To facilitate this, the department always seeks best value for money for the taxpayer. This has been the case under successive administrations of all parties.

15th Mar 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the press release entitled The GPA rated best UK public sector workplace experience, published by the Government Property Agency on 15 March 2023, which (a) Departments and (b) executive agencies have undertaken Leesman Office surveys since 1 January 2020 to assess the views of their staff concerning the main offices in which they work.

  1. GPA has launched 9 office based surveys with Leesman, starting in January 2021. The full list of departments, agencies and bodies as listed as such on the UK Government Departments, agencies and public bodies website (https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations) that have taken part in Leesman surveys through GPA can be found below:

  • Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service

  • Cabinet Office

  • Care Quality Commission

  • Companies House

  • Consumer Council For Water

  • Criminal Cases Review Commission

  • Crown Commercial Service

  • Crown Prosecution Service

  • Defence Equipment and Support

  • Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

  • Department for Education

  • Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs

  • Department for International Trade

  • Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

  • Department for Work & Pensions

  • Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency

  • Environment Agency

  • Government Internal Audit Agency

  • Government Legal Department

  • Government Property Agency

  • Health and Safety Executive

  • Health Education England

  • Health Research Authority

  • HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS)

  • HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS)

  • HM Treasury

  • Home Office

  • Homes England

  • Infrastructure and Projects Authority

  • Joint Nature Conservation Committee

  • Legal Aid Agency

  • Ministry of Defence (MOD)

  • Ministry of Justice

  • Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government

  • Natural England

  • NHS

  • NHS England

  • Office for National Statistics

  • Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted)

  • Office of Rail and Road

  • Parliamentary & Health Service Ombudsman

  • Regulator of Social Housing

  • Serious Fraud Office

  • Small Business Commissioner

  • Submarine Delivery Agency (SDA)

  • Trade Remedies Authority

  • UK Health Security Agency

Other organisations/groups:

  • Asylum Protection

  • Border Force

  • Government Art collection

  • HM Passport Office

  • Immigration Enforcement (IE)

  • Office for Health Improvement and Disparities

  • Pubs Code Adjudicator

  • Single Competent Authority (SCA)

  • UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI)

Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
21st Feb 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether any officials, advisers or ministers from his Department have held discussions with representatives of (a) the Qatari government, (b) the consortium led by Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani or (c) Manchester United Football Club on that consortium's proposed takeover of that club.

Neither Cabinet Office Ministers nor Officials have held meetings with the Government of Qatar, the consortium led by Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani, or Manchester United Football Club to discuss the takeover of the club.

This is a matter for the owners and potential purchasers to resolve, including meeting any relevant requirement of the league in which they compete.

6th Feb 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to his Department’s publication of government procurement card spending over £500 in 2021, what services were purchased from (a) McConnell Chartered Surveyors on 25 February 2021, and (b) The Private Therapy Clinic on 3 June 2021; and for what purpose were they required.

Transaction (a) is in relation to a workplace adjustment for a member of staff.

Transaction (b) also relates to a workplace adjustment for a member of staff.

Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
6th Feb 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to his Department’s publication of government procurement card spending over £500 in 2020, what goods or services were purchased from (a) Instant Removal Quotes on 29 April 2020 and (b) We Brand 4 You on 22 December 2020; and for what purpose were they required.

Transaction (a) was for the transport of hardware between Cabinet Office hub locations as part of an office rationalisation.

Transaction (b) was for the equipping of COBR conference rooms.

Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
6th Feb 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to his Department’s publication of government procurement card spending over £500 for April 2022, what items were purchased from (a) Go Outdoors Retail Ltd and (b) Decathlon UK Ltd; and for what purpose were they required.

Items under the spend referenced were purchased by the COBR Unit for national resilience and emergency planning purposes.

Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
6th Feb 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to his Department’s publication of government procurement card spending over £500 for December 2021, what items were purchased for £1,941.60 under transaction reference 9764897355 on 23 December 2021; and for what purpose were they required.

Transaction 9764897355 was for the purchase of Challenge Coins for the Fraud, Error, Debt and Grants Function. These were used for the Counter Fraud Function’s diplomatic work, where they were awarded to fellow counter fraud experts in partner countries and other government organisations in recognition of excellent service to countering fraud. This formed part of the Government’s ongoing work to build constructive relationships with international partners, which are vital to tackling global fraud and safeguarding British people from fraud.

Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
6th Feb 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department’s publication of government procurement card spending over £500 for November 2021, for how many (a) nights and (b) individuals was £9,237.56 spent on accommodation at the Tianjin Binhai Yihao Jiudian hotel in Tianjin, China, on 8 November 2021; and for what purpose was it required.

The COP President Designate and his delegation of 10 officials spent two nights in the Tianjin Binhai Yihao Jiudian hotel in Tianjin, China from 5-6th September 2021 as part of talks with the Chinese Government.

The delegation was required in Chinese Government approved hotel accommodation, and was subject to rigorous COVID protocols at a time when travel to China was severely restricted.

The trip was a key event in the COP26 President Designate’s negotiations with the Chinese government, and was an important part of the UK’s successful leadership of COP26 in Glasgow.

Costs for the trip were also declared in the Cabinet Office Ministerial Transparency return for the second quarter of 2021. This information is available in the public domain on GOV.UK.

Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
6th Feb 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to his Department’s publication of government procurement card spending over £500 in August 2019, what items were purchased from Majestic Wine on 14 August 2019; and for what purpose were they required.

As has been the case under successive Administrations, refreshments are allowed to be purchased for use at official government functions held for external guests. Due to the passage of almost four years since the transactions were made, the itemised information requested is not held.

Given the Rt Hon Member’s personal interest in Majestic Wine, I would also point her to examples of such routine spending from the last Labour Government, as evident from the £2,430 bills of 19 January 2009, Official Report, Col. 1089W; the £8,286 bill of 24 February 2009, Official Report, Col. 707W; and the £6,614 bills revealed at 13 September 2011, Official Report, Col. 1093W.

Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
3rd Feb 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what were the (a) staffing costs and (b) other running costs for the Government Consulting Hub in financial years (i) 2019-20, (ii) 2020-21, (iii) 2021-22, and (iv) 2022-23 up to the end of January 2023.

Total costs for the Government Consulting Hub were £5.535m, with the unit operating on a full cost recovery basis, charging fees to departments for work undertaken and an annual levy from each department from which the Playbook, knowledge exchange and capability programmes were delivered on their behalf. The estimated positive fee differential associated with Government Departments using GCH for consultancy rather than external suppliers was £4.3 million, a saving which accrued to the commissioning departments.

In January 2023, in line with the objective to develop capability in-house within departments the Hub closed and is settling its finances. The Triage service has been transferred to the Crown Commercial Service. The Consultancy Playbook will be embedded into a suite of playbooks owned by the Commercial function. The GCH consultancy skills capability programme, supporting civil servants to adopt consultancy type skills where appropriate, has now onboarded to Civil Service Learning.

By improving these skills across the public sector, we continue to ensure the Government is only using consultants when absolutely necessary, improving efficiency and saving taxpayers’ money.

Staff costs (£)

Other running costs (£)

2019-20

0

0

2020-21

10,350.98

60,176.50

2021-22

2,127,106.41

192,448.70

2022-23 (forecast)

2,852,039.33

293,124.19

30th Jan 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to his Department’s publication of government procurement card spending over £500 in February 2022, what goods or services were purchased from (a) Fraser Hart on 7 February 2022, (b) EB Bespoke Cabinet on 8 February 2022, and (c) The Gestalt Centre Ltd. on 8 February 2022, and for what purpose were they required.

Transaction (a) was a fraudulent transaction. The full amount was refunded and card cancelled after being reported to the card issuer and was not perpetrated by a civil servant. Internal Cabinet Office fraud reporting protocols were followed from the outset.

Transaction (b) The training was purchased for LGBT+ mental health interventions as part of the then D&I priorities plan.

Transaction (c) was for modules of the Gestalt Centre’s Group Facilitation Certification for individual staff learning and development.

Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
18th Jan 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 17 January 2023 to Question 118912 Cabinet Office: Electronic Purchasing Card Solution, whether the 9,164 transactions were all of a value less than £500.

I have asked officials to review the figure provided, and can confirm that there were 9,164 transactions with a value less than £500.

Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
16th Jan 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department's publication of spending over £500 with a Government procurement card, for how many (a) individuals and (b) nights and in which cities accommodation was purchased at the Four Seasons Hotel on (i) 4 January 2021, (ii) 23 September 2021 and (iii) 8 November 2021; and what the purpose was for each of those stays at those hotels.

(i) The COP26 President, the Rt Hon Alok Sharma MP, three of his Private Office, and the UK COP26 Envoy stayed at the Four Seasons Hotel in Seoul, South Korea for two nights in October 2020 to meet with government ministers, parliamentarians, businesses and international organisations.

(ii) Accommodation was purchased at the Four Seasons Hotel in Amman on 23 September 2021 for the Acting National Security Adviser and two NSA officials for two nights each. The purpose was to attend a UK-Jordan Strategic Dialogue.

(iii) The COP26 President stayed in the Four Seasons Hotel in Seoul for two nights accompanied by three members of his Private Office during a trip to South Korea. The purpose of the trip was to meet with senior Korean government ministers, Civil Society private sector organisations in relation to driving forward the COP26 President Designate’s climate priorities ahead of the UK led COP26 Summit in Glasgow.

9th Jan 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department’s publication of spending over £500 with a Government procurement card for the month of September 2021, last updated on 24 November 2022, whether he intends to publish information for the posting date of transactions in that month in the normal date format.

I am grateful that you have brought this administrative error to my attention. I have asked my officials to correct the published data at the earliest opportunity.

9th Jan 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department’s publication of spending over £500 with a Government procurement card in July 2021, for how many (a) individuals and (b) nights accommodation was purchased at the Athenaeum London on 23 July 2021; and what the purpose was for that stay at that hotel.

Although the Rt Hon Lady asks about a transaction that took place in July 2021, that is, in fact, the date the transaction was cleared from the Cabinet Office’s expenses system.

A procurement card was used by the then Deputy National Security Adviser Paddy McGuiness to host a lunch for 9 guests at the Athenaeum on the 29th September, 2017. The Deputy National Security adviser hosted French diplomatic guests, for a working lunch, ahead of a PM-level UK-France Summit that took place in January 2018.

9th Jan 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department’s publication of spending over £500 with a Government procurement card, for how many (a) individuals and (b) nights his Department purchased accommodation at the Hilton Hotel Berlin on 8 November 2021; and what the purpose was for the stay at that hotel.

The COP26 President and four of his Private Office stayed in the Hilton Hotel Berlin for two nights to attend the Petersberg Dialogue international ministerial climate summit.

9th Jan 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 16 December 2022 to Question 106390, how many purchases with a value less than £500 were made against his Department’s budget through a Government procurement card in 2021.

In the calendar year 2021, there were 9,164 transactions on Government procurement cards held by the Cabinet Office.

9th Jan 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department’s publication of spending over £500 with a Government procurement card in November 2021, for how many (a) individuals and (b) nights his Department purchased accommodation at the Park Inn hotel for £2,488.00 on 9 November 2021; and what the purpose was for the stay at that hotel.

This transaction was for UK Security Vetting car parking and training facility space for 18 new joiners and 2 trainers during the period from 08 December 2020 to 22 January 2021.

The training was provided to new case workers on how to process vetting casework. The sensitive nature of the training necessitated its provision in person. The in-person nature of the activity also helped ensure the appropriate handling of vetting policy, process and information.

9th Jan 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department’s publication of government procurement card spending over £500 for June 2021, what services were supplied by Speakers Corner on 3 June 2021; to what team within his Department were they supplied; and for what purpose they were required.

Speakers Corner supplied a speaker for a reception event for of the annual internship programmes run by the Civil Service Fast Stream.

The speaker was paid to offer their perspective on successful career strategies and skills development, complementing internal Civil Service inputs. They were hired to demonstrate that the Civil Service is keen to incorporate a wider, outward looking viewpoint.

Although the Civil Service Fast Stream used external speakers to support its internship programmes - as in this instance - this is no longer the case and the Fast Stream now sources all speakers internally.

9th Jan 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department’s Greening Government Commitments for 2021-25, how many tonnes of food waste were produced from his Departmental estate in financial year (a) 2021-22 and (b) 2022-23 up to the end of December 2022.

In line with the Greening Government Commitments, Cabinet Office has committed to measure and report on food waste, for estates with over 50 FTE (full time equivalent staff) and or over 500m2 floor area offering a food service.


The requested information for 2021-2022 will be published in the Greening Government Commitments Annual Report for 2021-2022, due later this year. The data for April 1st 2022 to December 31st 2022 will be published in the Annual Report covering 2022-2023.

9th Jan 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many cases were recorded in central government of the inappropriate use of electronic purchasing cards in (a) 2019-20, (b) 2020-21 and (c) 2021-22; and how many of those cases resulted in criminal prosecutions.

Each department's finance team is responsible for the monitoring and oversight of electronic purchasing cards issued by their department. Where misappropriation occurs consideration should be given to Civil Service procedures. If this leads to the dismissal of a Civil Servant, cases may be referred to the Internal Fraud Hub, run by the Public Sector Fraud Authority.

For the period in question, there were no reported cases of internal misuse of an electronic purchasing card within the Cabinet Office. There were, however, over this period, a small number of cases of external electronic purchasing card fraud in this period (where an external fraudster has secured credit card information).

Details of these cases were reported to the relevant authorities and all lost funds were recovered by the Cabinet Office in full.

9th Jan 2023
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department’s publication of spending over £500 with a Government procurement card, for how many (a) individuals and (b) nights his Department purchase accommodation at the Enterprise Hotel for (i) £1,151.10 on 1 November 2021 and (ii) £ 6,519.91 on 13 December 2021; and what the purpose was for those stays at that hotel.

These transactions relate to accommodation at the Enterprise Hotel in Milan for the COP26 President, the Rt Hon Alok Sharma MP, and members of the COP26 Unit. Delegates attended the Youth4Climate event held between 28 September 2021 and 30 September 2021, and the pre-COP summit held between 30 September 2021 and 2 October 2021. The room rate was €163 per night.

20th Dec 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what (a) cross-departmental steering groups and (b) other arrangements are in place to provide oversight and guidance on the use of electronic purchasing cards by central government departments.

Purchase to Pay (P2P) is one of the 12 areas of the finance taxonomy governed by the Finance Global Design Principles. These Principles are a set of common processes and procedures which are used by departments to ensure consistency across government and facilitate greater sharing of expertise. The cross-department P2P network supports direction giving and guidance in this area, including for EPCs.

Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
20th Dec 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether it is his Department's policy that government procurement cards should not be used for purchases (a) of alcohol and (b) that could be made via an alternative compliant purchasing route.

The Pan-government procurement card policy does not itself prohibit the purchase of alcohol using a procurement card; however it does state that procurement cards must never be used to make purchases contrary to departments’ strategies and purchasing policies.

Guidance is provided to departments on the consumption of alcohol in the workplace and departments must ensure that they have policies in place to implement this.

Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
16th Dec 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much was spent by the GREAT campaign on advertising and other promotional activity at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar between 1 November and 20 December 2022.

Cabinet Office publishes expenditure, including on the GREAT campaign, on a rolling monthly basis on gov.uk as part of routine government transparency arrangements. This can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cabinet-office-spend-data.

16th Dec 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to his Department’s publication of spend control approvals data for July to September 2022, what the nature and purpose are of the activity approved for procurement in relation to (a) workplace facilities on 15 July 2022 and (b) workplace performance on 22 July 2022.

The work approved on 13 July refers to the Building Works and Projects, which will be used for the provision of building works to support a greater focus on Life Cycle Replacement (LCR) and Net Carbon Zero (NCZ) projects throughout the Government Property Agency (GPA)’s office estate in England. The term ‘taxi rank’ is used to refer to the manner in which small contracts are awarded which reflects a ‘next in line’ process.

The activity approved for procurement on 15 July is for the provision of hard and soft facilities management for the GPA Estate where needed. These procurements are to appoint suppliers from multiple lots, resulting in six regionally structured contracts for the provision of these services.

The activity approved for procurement on 22 July is for a company to provide a management service for our facilities management supply chain. This centralised performance management function will manage the flow of data and the performance of the supply chain on behalf of the GPA.

Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
16th Dec 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to his Department’s publication of spend control approvals data for July to September 2022, where the taxi ranks building work approved for procurement on 13 July 2022 will take place; and what the purpose of that work will be.

The work approved on 13 July refers to the Building Works and Projects, which will be used for the provision of building works to support a greater focus on Life Cycle Replacement (LCR) and Net Carbon Zero (NCZ) projects throughout the Government Property Agency (GPA)’s office estate in England. The term ‘taxi rank’ is used to refer to the manner in which small contracts are awarded which reflects a ‘next in line’ process.

The activity approved for procurement on 15 July is for the provision of hard and soft facilities management for the GPA Estate where needed. These procurements are to appoint suppliers from multiple lots, resulting in six regionally structured contracts for the provision of these services.

The activity approved for procurement on 22 July is for a company to provide a management service for our facilities management supply chain. This centralised performance management function will manage the flow of data and the performance of the supply chain on behalf of the GPA.

Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
16th Dec 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 16 December to Question 107062 on Cabinet Office: Electronic Purchasing Card Solution, which Minister made the overseas visit referred to in that answer; and to which country did that visit take place.

The transaction was for PCR testing for the COP26 President, Rt Hon Alok Sharma MP, and five staff members during a ministerial visit to Jamaica, as part of his work to deliver the UK's COP objectives.

12th Dec 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to his Department’s publication of government procurement card spending over £500 for March 2022, for which individuals was accommodation purchased at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel on (a) 7 March and (b) 15 March 2022; and what was the purpose of those stays at that hotel.

These transactions are for accommodation for a total of six members of staff, including the COP Envoy and the COP President, for three nights during a ministerial visit to Vietnam from 15-18 February in order to pursue a Just Energy Transition Partnership with Vietnam.

9th Dec 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to his department’s publication of spending over £500 by government procurement card for the month of November 2021, for what purpose his department paid £746.39 to Windsor Wellness Centre on 8 November 2021.

This transaction was for PCR testing for six staff members during an overseas ministerial visit.

8th Dec 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to his department’s publication of government procurement card spending over £500 for the month of September 2022, for what purpose was Murray Chauffeur Services Ltd. paid £4,218 on 27 September.

This transaction was for a series of group transport journeys to and from airports, relating to official overseas travel.

8th Dec 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what his Department spent in 2021 on purchasing goods and services with a value of less than £500 on a government procurement card.

The Cabinet Office used Government Procurement Cards to buy £675,243.02 worth of goods and services with a value of less than £500 during 2021.

8th Dec 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to his department’s publication of government procurement card spending over £500 for the months of July and August 2022, what items were purchased from (a) Hotline.co.uk on 29 July and (b) Big Bear Promo on 18 August; and for what purpose those items were used.

The transaction on 29 July was the purchase of 500 Public Sector Fraud Authority (PSFA) branded notebooks, for its launch in August.

The transaction on 18 August was for 500 Government Property Agency branded fidget cubes, which were used as part of a Civil Service Live activity.

28th Nov 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 18 October 2022 to Question 59556, which Government Ministers currently use for residential purposes the properties at (a) 1 Carlton Gardens, (b) the three flats in Admiralty House, (c) the Dorneywood estate and (d) the Chevening estate.

I would refer the Rt Hon Member to Question 59556.

The Prime Minister allocates official residences to ministers, either on the grounds of security or to allow them to better perform their official duties. Further details will be set out in due course.

28th Nov 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what was the total value of non-cash vouchers awarded to staff working for his Department as performance-related bonuses in (a) 2017-18, (b) 2018-19, (c) 2019-20, (d) 2020-21 and (e) 2021-22.

The value of non-cash vouchers awarded to Cabinet Office staff as performance related bonuses is as follows:

2017-18 - £56,473.65

2018-19 - £110,020.50

2019-20 - £244,985.00

2020-21 - £414,400.00

2021-22 - £581,615.00

These figures are not in the Annual Reports and Accounts or not broken down.

28th Nov 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the (a) key datasets and (b) other deliverables are that will be obtained through the contract agreed by his Department with Telefonica on 14 September 2022 with procurement reference C2289; if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of that contract; and if he will publish the business case for that contract.

The datasets, deliverables and business justification for this contract will not be published, nor a separate assessment prepared, on security grounds. This procurement activity relates to the National Situation Centre, which is exempt from publishing Commercially Sensitive documents under National Security Exemptions. This procurement activity is exempt under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, Sections 23 (Security Bodies) and 24 (National Security), and also under Public Contracts Regulations 2015, Section 15 (National Security).

The National Situation Centre’s business justification, which will not be published in full for the reasons listed above, included the following requirements for this contract:

  1. Anonymised and aggregated people count estimates at low levels of geography

  2. Data down to equally-sized geographic areas (for example grids or hexagons). These areas should be reasonably low levels of geography, such as having a radius of 500m or smaller.

  3. Ideally, in addition to the above, data provided at MSOA (Middle Layer Super Output Area) level of detail or more geographically granular

  4. Data anonymised and aggregated (no private/personal data to be collected or communicated from the supplier)

  5. Minimum coverage of 30% of the UK population and data weighted/aggregated up to population level

  6. No more than 15 minute latency period

  7. Underlying data delivered through API and CSV file formats

  8. Access to real-time data in front-end map format via a portal

  9. Must cover the UK (including Scotland)

  10. Total contract value to not exceed £803,500 (Ex VAT)

  11. A reasonable baseline figure for people counts. This may be average hourly people counts in a given area for historic and current months.

  12. Derived products must be shareable across resilience and operational partners

Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
28th Nov 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department is taking steps to obtain insights on the (a) movement, (b) demography, (c) mobility-patterns and (d) behaviour of the proportion of the UK population whose data will not be covered by the contract agreed by his Department with Telefonica on 14 September 2022 with procurement reference C2289.

The department is not taking any steps to obtain insights on the movement, demography, mobility-patterns and behaviour of the proportion of the UK population whose data will not be covered by the contract at present. The data obtained through the contract, which covers 30% of the UK population, may be weighted and aggregated up to population level.

Alex Burghart
Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
9th Nov 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 8 November to Question 77335 on Cabinet Office: Redundancy Pay, how many special advisers working in his Department had their employment terminated, after their appointing minister ceased to hold office, from 29 June to 9 November 2022; at what pay band each was employed; and whether each had been in post for (a) 0-3 months, (b) 3-6 months, (c) 6-12 months or (d) more than 12 months.

In line with the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 and the Model Contract for Special Advisers, a Special Adviser's appointment automatically terminates following a change of Administration, when their appointing Minister leaves office, or in the event of a General Election. Under these circumstances, Special Advisers are contractually entitled to a severance payment. Special Advisers who are later re-appointed to Government must repay their severance pay, less the amount of salary that they would have been paid had they been employed during the period between their termination and their re-appointment.

The contracts of all Special Advisers in the Cabinet Office were automatically terminated on the change of Administration. As per the Model Contract, Special Advisers are entitled to receive three months' pay if termination occurs at any time during the first year of service, with an additional month’s pay for each completed year of service after the first year, subject to an overall maximum of six months’ pay. Where individuals were immediately re-appointed, severance was not payable.

Information on Special Adviser numbers and costs, including pay bands, is published annually in the Annual Report on Special Advisers as per the requirements of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010.

7th Nov 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 20 October 2022 to Question 63982 on Landmark Information Group: Contracts, for what reason he listed twelve requirements in that answer when the answer also said that the Statement of Requirements shall not be published on security grounds.

The “Statement of Requirements for Points of Interest Data for the National Situation Centre” is an internal procurement document, a section of which details the National Situation Centre’s requirements for Points of Interest Data. This section (the 12 requirements) are not exempt from publication on Security Grounds, whereas the full Statement of Requirements is.

This procurement activity relates to The National Situation Centre, which is exempt from publishing Commercially Sensitive documents under National Security Exemptions. Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, Sections 23 (Security Bodies) and 24 (National Security) apply. Under Public Contracts Regulations 2015, Section 15 (National Security) applies.

2nd Nov 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what (a) funding and (b) numbers of full-time equivalent staff have been allocated to the work of the Government Strategic Management Office (GSMO) over the course of financial years (i) 2020-21, (ii) 2021-22 and (iii) 2022-23; and if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of the GSMO since the start of the financial year 2020-21.

The Government Strategic Management Office (GSMO) was created in the summer of 2021 when the former Prime Minister’s Implementation Unit was disbanded on the creation of the No.10 Delivery Unit. The details you have requested are below.

Since its creation, GSMO has worked with HM Treasury and No.10 to improve the collection, assessment and distribution of data on the Prime Minister’s top priority projects and programmes and departmental plans to achieve the government’s outcomes.

Period

Funding

FTE

2020-21

N/A

N/A

2021-22

£1.2m

10

2022-23

£1.1m

11


2nd Nov 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what total amount of money has been paid out by his Department in severance payments for former (a) Ministers and (b) special advisers since 29 June 2022; how much of that money has subsequently been repaid to his Department as a result of individuals (A) rejecting the payment or (B) returning to new roles; and in how many cases where individuals were in post for (I) 0-3 months, (II) 3-6 months, (III) 6-12 months and (IV) more than 12 months has their full severance payment been retained as of 2 November 2022.

The Provision of severance payments for Ministers leaving office is set out in legislation. Details of the payments made to ministers when leaving office are published in departments’ annual reports and accounts.

Similarly, the provision of severance payments for special advisers is set out in the Model Contract, which is available on gov.uk, including provisions for repayment of severance if reappointed. The cost of severance payments made to special advisers across government is published annually by the Cabinet Office.

31st Oct 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much money from the public purse his Department spent on (a) staff activity, (b) IT costs and (c) external marketing costs related to the creation, maintenance and promotion of the GOV.UK Verify scheme; and how many accounts have been set up under the GOV.UK Verify scheme, in each financial year from the start of 2014-15 up to the end of October 2022.

GOV.UK Verify continues to provide a service for its 7 remaining services and their users, ahead of the system’s retirement in April 2023. More than 10 million GOV.UK Verify accounts have been created over its lifetime.

The amount spent on staff activity in each financial year - primarily comprising pay, pension contributions, training and travel - is shown below:

● 2014-2015: £4.4m

● 2015-2016: £4.3m

● 2016-2017: £5.3m

● 2017-2018: £11.9m

● 2018-2019: £5.3m

● 2019-2020: £8.2m

● 2020-2021: £5.8m

● 2021-2022: £7.4m

● 2022-2023 (to date): £0.2m

The IT-related costs of developing, operating and maintaining GOV.UK Verify, which include payments to Verify’s external identity providers, are as follows:

● 2014-2015: £7.6m

● 2015-2016: £13.4m

● 2016-2017: £18.4m

● 2017-2018: £23.6m

● 2018-2019: £28.7m

● 2019-2020: £9.2m

● 2020-2021: £9.2m

● 2021-2022: £8.7m

● 2022-2023 (to 30/09/22): £2.0m

External marketing costs relating to GOV.UK Verify are not recorded separately.

The number of GOV.UK Verify accounts created in each financial year is as follows:

● 2014-2015: 31,650

● 2015-2016: 649,386

● 2016-2017: 720,943

● 2017-2018: 938,827

● 2018-2019: 1,824,384

● 2019-2020: 2,478,953

● 2020-2021: 1,770,435

● 2021-2022: 1,415,907

● 2022-2023 (until the end of September 2022): 288,528

27th Oct 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much his Department spent on (a) staff activity related to the review of retained EU law, (b) IT costs related to the maintenance of the retained EU law database and (c) staff activity related to the passage of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill in (i) the 2021-22 financial year, and (ii) the 2022-23 financial year as of 30 September 2022.

Information on the staff activity related to the review of retained EU law or the passage of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill in financial years 2021-22 and 2022-23 is not held centrally.

The Retained EU law dashboard was made and has been maintained by the Government Strategic Management Office and is hosted on Tableau Public, which is a free platform for hosting public dashboards.

20th Oct 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when he plans to answer Question 47403 on Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Special Advisers, tabled by the Rt hon. Member for Islington South and Finsbury on 5 September 2022, on whether (a) Mr Adam Jones, (b) Ms Sophie Jarvis, (c) Mr Jamie Hope, (d) Mr Reuben Solomon and (e) Ms Sarah Ludlow were continuously employed by the Cabinet Office on full-time special adviser contracts to work at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office between 7 July 2022 and 2 September 2022.

I refer the Rt hon. Member to PQ 47403, answered on 25 October.

Chris Philp
Minister of State (Home Office)
17th Oct 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will (a) publish the statement of requirements for the contract reference C2264 awarded to Landmark Information Group on 5 October and published by his Department on 10 October 2022 and (b) explain the purpose of that contract.

a) The Statement of Requirements for Points of Interest Data for the National Situation Centre states the following requirement:

  1. Points of interest data covering the whole of the UK including Northern Ireland.

  2. In-depth tagging of types of location, allowing us to differentiate between types of premises in the event of a crisis.

  3. Information to be quality assured quarterly to ensure accuracy and establish a level of confidence in the information provided.

  4. Level of accuracy - the information provided to clearly communicate where premises are registered as dual purpose (commercial business parks, and buildings of multiple occupancy). Where multiple of the same business are located within close proximity.

  5. Information provided to be in the form of CSV files with any aggregate results able to be shared across government departments at the discretion of the customer.

  6. Information ingestion to be automatable as far as reasonably practicable, supplier support for this automation is essential to delivery to tight timescales of response, the level of support

  7. Points of Interest data for a comprehensive list of locations is provided in a range of geolocational formats including file Geodatabase (.gdb), Shapefile (.shp) and simple text file (.csv).

  8. Quarterly updates are provided as standard with the data provided as a secure web link.

  9. Supplier to provide an attribute table for locations including information as identified by the WatchKeepers that provides suitable context information to inform a crisis response.

  10. Information regularly updated against available sources, such as yellow pages, Companies House and other public sources to ensure information being provided is up to date and accurate.

  11. Referencing to be compatible across Defra, MOD and BEIS systems - these departments are critical partners in the crisis response/information sharing network and using the same referencing information is required to limit system lag, and to ensure clarity across multiple partners. Being able to use the same location referencing layout as partners is an essential requirement.

  12. Updates to location data, provided by the customer are to be only accessible to approved government partners.

The Statement of Requirements shall not be published on Security Grounds. This procurement activity relates to The National Situation Centre, which is exempt from publishing Commercially Sensitive documents under National Security Exemptions.

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, Sections 23 (Security Bodies) and 24 (National Security) apply. Under Public Contracts Regulations 2015, Section 15 (National Security) applies.

b) The National Situation Centre provides situational awareness to senior officials and ministers during civil contingency and national security crisis events. The purpose of this contract is to provide SitCen with detailed, accurate data on premises across the UK, allowing us to identify with confidence risks to individuals and businesses. Open source alternatives are not accurate enough for this purpose.

Chris Philp
Minister of State (Home Office)
17th Oct 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will (a) publish the statement of requirements for the contract reference CCZZ22A09 awarded to Basis Social on 30 September and published by his Department on 12 October 2022 and (b) explain the purpose of that contract.

It is Cabinet Office policy to publish Contracts with a value of over £10,000 on Contracts Finder within 30 days of Contract Award. Cabinet Office intends to publish the Statements of Requirements for this Contract within that timeframe.

The purpose of the contract is for qualitative analysis of terminology relating to people’s ethnic identity. It will focus on the opinions of people from different ethnic groups exploring what is or isn’t inclusive and how to most appropriately reflect their ethnic identity. The findings will be used as part of the evidence base for the development of a number of key outputs including:

  • harmonised ethnicity classifications for use by the Government Statistical Service

  • and recommendations which will encourage responsible and accurate reporting on race issues.

Chris Philp
Minister of State (Home Office)
10th Oct 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 21 September to Question 48294 on 10 Downing Street, (a) who paid for the lectern to be (i) transported to the governing party’s conference in Birmingham for the Prime Minister’s speech on 5 October and (ii) returned to Downing Street following that speech and (b) whether the lectern is now considered to be owned by the Cabinet Office, the governing party, or the Prime Minister herself.

As set out in my previous answer, PQ 48294, the use of the lectern has been kindly provided by the Conservative Party, who own the item. The Conservative Party funded its transport to the recent party conference. The Government badge, when used for government events, is owned by HM Government.

Edward Argar
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
10th Oct 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, which government ministers currently use for residential purposes the properties at (a) 1 Carlton Gardens, (b) the three flats in Admiralty House, (c) the Dorneywood estate and (d) the Chevening estate.

Official residences are assigned to ministers at the discretion of the Prime Minister, either on the grounds of security or to allow them to better perform their official duties. Further details will be set out in due course.

Chris Philp
Minister of State (Home Office)
20th Sep 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the reporting requirements set out in his Department’s contract with Corporate Travel Management (North) Ltd., reference CCTM19A03, what (a) the average ticket price for bookings of (i) air and (ii) rail and (b) the average room rate for bookings of accommodation was in each reporting year of the contract.

This enabling agreement is the framework document for the call off contract to provide Ministerial Air Charter Transport. The contracting authority for the call off contract is the Cabinet Office on behalf of His Majesty's Government. The Framework Agreement (RM6016) is held by Crown Commercial Service on behalf of His Majesty's Government.

All responses under the contract reference CCTM19A03 refer to Air Charter Travel only.

Contract CCTM19A03 does not cater for ticket bookings of any sort.

Edward Argar
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
20th Sep 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the reporting requirements set out in his Department’s contract with Corporate Travel Management (North) Ltd., reference CCTM19A03, what the total number of non arrivals was that resulted in an accommodation venue applying charges in each reporting year of the contract.

This enabling agreement is the framework document for the call off contract to provide Ministerial Air Charter Transport. The contracting authority for the call off contract is the Cabinet Office on behalf of His Majesty's Government. The Framework Agreement (RM6016) is held by Crown Commercial Service on behalf of His Majesty's Government.

All responses under the contract reference CCTM19A03 refer to Air Charter Travel only.

Contract CCTM19A03 does not cater for accommodation/ venue bookings.

Edward Argar
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
20th Sep 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the reporting requirements set out in his Department’s contract with Corporate Travel Management (North) Ltd., reference CCTM19A03, what the total number of first class bookings was for rail bookings in each reporting year of the contract.

This enabling agreement is the framework document for the call off contract to provide Ministerial Air Charter Transport. The contracting authority for the call off contract is the Cabinet Office on behalf of His Majesty's Government. The Framework Agreement (RM6016) is held by Crown Commercial Service on behalf of His Majesty's Government.

All responses under the contract reference CCTM19A03 refer to Air Charter Travel only.

Contract CCTM19A03 does not cater for rail bookings.

Edward Argar
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
20th Sep 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the reporting requirements set out in his Department’s contract with Corporate Travel Management (North) Ltd., reference CCTM19A03, what the total (a) value and (b) volume of missed savings was for (i) air, (ii) rail, (iii) accommodation and (iv) booking fees in each reporting year of the contract.

This enabling agreement is the framework document for the call off contract to provide Ministerial Air Charter Transport. The contracting authority for the call off contract is the Cabinet Office on behalf of His Majesty's Government. The Framework Agreement (RM6016) is held by Crown Commercial Service on behalf of His Majesty's Government.

All responses under the contract reference CCTM19A03 refer to Air Charter Travel only.

There are no missed savings as the contract references ‘no use, no fee’.

Edward Argar
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
20th Sep 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the reporting requirements set out in his Department’s contract with Corporate Travel Management (North) Ltd., reference CCTM19A03, what the total (a) spend and (b) number of transactions was for (i) air, (ii) rail, (iii) accommodation and (iv) booking fees in each reporting year of the contract.

This enabling agreement is the framework document for the call off contract to provide Ministerial Air Charter Transport. The contracting authority for the call off contract is the Cabinet Office on behalf of His Majesty's Government. The Framework Agreement (RM6016) is held by Crown Commercial Service on behalf of His Majesty's Government.

All responses under the contract reference CCTM19A03 refer to Air Charter Travel only.

(i) £1,259,382.20 total spend across 19 flights taken since the start of the contract.

(ii, iii) This contract does not support bookings for rail and accommodation.

(iv) Booking fees amounted to £50,515.99 of the total spend quoted above across the 19 flights since the start of the contract.

Edward Argar
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
20th Sep 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish the list of management information requirements set out in Schedule 13 of his Department's contract with Corporate Travel Management (North) Ltd., reference CCYZ20A01 NEWMAT PM-R.

The management information requirements included in the Cabinet Office's contract with Corporate Travel Management are exactly as set out in Schedule 13 of the CCS PSTVS commercial agreement (which is publicly available via the CCS website within document RM6016: Commercial agreement redacted version v1.; page 215).

Edward Argar
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
20th Sep 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, which ten people had the highest (a) spend and (b) number of journeys by (i) air and (ii) rail in each year of his Department’s contract with Corporate Travel Management (North) Ltd., reference CCTM19A03.

This information can be found within the Departmental Quarterly Transparency reports.

This enabling agreement is the framework document for the call off contract to provide Ministerial Air Charter Transport. The contracting authority for the call off contract is the Cabinet Office on behalf of His Majesty’s Government. The Framework Agreement (RM6016) is held by Crown Commercial Service on behalf of His Majesty’s Government.

All responses under the contract reference CCTM19A03 refer to Air Charter Travel only.

Edward Argar
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
20th Sep 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the top ten routes by (a) spend and (b) number of journeys were for (i) air and (ii) rail in each year of his Department’s contract with Corporate Travel Management (North) Ltd., reference CCTM19A03.

Nil - all flights were to different destinations/ itineraries.

This enabling agreement is the framework document for the call off contract to provide Ministerial Air Charter Transport. The contracting authority for the call off contract is the Cabinet Office on behalf of His Majesty’s Government. The Framework Agreement (RM6016) is held by Crown Commercial Service on behalf of His Majesty’s Government.

All responses under the contract reference CCTM19A03 refer to Air Charter Travel only.

Edward Argar
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
20th Sep 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the total number of bookings made outside of his Department’s travel policy for (a) air, (b) rail, (c) accommodation and (d) booking fees was in each year of his Department’s contract with Corporate Travel Management (North) Ltd., reference CCTM19A03.

Nil - all in accordance with extant departmental policy.

This enabling agreement is the framework document for the call off contract to provide Ministerial Air Charter Transport. The contracting authority for the call off contract is the Cabinet Office on behalf of His Majesty’s Government. The Framework Agreement (RM6016) is held by Crown Commercial Service on behalf of His Majesty’s Government.

All responses under the contract reference CCTM19A03 refer to Air Charter Travel only.



Edward Argar
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
20th Sep 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the (a) number of, (b) value of refunds from and (c) value of non-refundable expenditure resulting from cancellations was for (i) air, (ii) rail, (iii) accommodation, and (iv) booking fees in each year of his Department’s contract with Corporate Travel Management (North) Ltd., reference CCTM19A03.

There are no refunds as the contract references ‘no use, no fee’.

This enabling agreement is the framework document for the call off contract to provide Ministerial Air Charter Transport. The contracting authority for the call off contract is the Cabinet Office on behalf of His Majesty’s Government. The Framework Agreement (RM6016) is held by Crown Commercial Service on behalf of His Majesty’s Government.

All responses under the contract reference CCTM19A03 refer to Air Charter Travel only.

Edward Argar
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
20th Sep 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the reporting requirements set out in his Department’s contract with Corporate Travel Management (North) Ltd, reference CCTM19A03, what were the total costs incurred in each reporting year of the contract in instances where the cost of cancellation or refunds in relation to accommodation, and fees incurred in administering the cancellation or refunds, outweighed the original transaction cost.

Contract CCTM19A03 does not cater for accommodation bookings.

This enabling agreement is the framework document for the call off contract to provide Ministerial Air Charter Transport. The contracting authority for the call off contract is the Cabinet Office on behalf of His Majesty’s Government. The Framework Agreement (RM6016) is held by Crown Commercial Service on behalf of His Majesty’s Government.

All responses under the contract reference CCTM19A03 refer to Air Charter Travel only.

Edward Argar
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
20th Sep 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the reporting requirements set out in his Department’s contract with Corporate Travel Management (North) Ltd., reference CCTM19A03, what the (a) number of and (b) amount of spending on out of policy bookings of accommodation was in each reporting year of the contract, broken down by the reason codes defined in Annex 1 of Contract 3, Schedule 2, Services Part A: Specification of Requirements.

Contract CCTM19A03 does not cater for accommodation bookings.

This enabling agreement is the framework document for the call off contract to provide Ministerial Air Charter Transport. The contracting authority for the call off contract is the Cabinet Office on behalf of His Majesty’s Government. The Framework Agreement (RM6016) is held by Crown Commercial Service on behalf of His Majesty’s Government.

All responses under the contract reference CCTM19A03 refer to Air Charter Travel only.

Edward Argar
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
20th Sep 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the reporting requirements set out in his Department’s contract with Corporate Travel Management (North) Ltd., reference CCTM19A03, if he will set out the travellers with the ten highest (a) spend and (b) number of room nights in each reporting year of the contract.

Contract CCTM19A03 does not cater for accommodation bookings.

This enabling agreement is the framework document for the call off contract to provide Ministerial Air Charter Transport. The contracting authority for the call off contract is the Cabinet Office on behalf of His Majesty’s Government. The Framework Agreement (RM6016) is held by Crown Commercial Service on behalf of His Majesty’s Government.

All responses under the contract reference CCTM19A03 refer to Air Charter Travel only.

Edward Argar
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
20th Sep 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, which ten venues had the highest (a) accommodation spend and (b) number of room nights booked in each year of his Department’s contract with Corporate Travel Management (North) Ltd., reference CCTM19A03.

Contract CCTM19A03 does not cater for accommodation bookings.

This enabling agreement is the framework document for the call off contract to provide Ministerial Air Charter Transport. The contracting authority for the call off contract is the Cabinet Office on behalf of His Majesty’s Government. The Framework Agreement (RM6016) is held by Crown Commercial Service on behalf of His Majesty’s Government.

All responses under the contract reference CCTM19A03 refer to Air Charter Travel only.

Edward Argar
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
20th Sep 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, which ten locations had the highest (a) accommodation spend and (b) number of room nights booked in each year of his Department’s contract with Corporate Travel Management (North) Ltd., reference CCTM19A03; and what the average room rate was in each location.

Contract CCTM19A03 does not cater for accommodation bookings.

This enabling agreement is the framework document for the call off contract to provide Ministerial Air Charter Transport. The contracting authority for the call off contract is the Cabinet Office on behalf of His Majesty’s Government. The Framework Agreement (RM6016) is held by Crown Commercial Service on behalf of His Majesty’s Government.

All responses under the contract reference CCTM19A03 refer to Air Charter Travel only.

Edward Argar
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
20th Sep 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the reporting requirements set out in his Department’s contract with Corporate Travel Management (North) Ltd., reference CCTM19A03, what the (a) number and (b) amount of spending on out of policy bookings was for rail in each reporting year of the contract by the reason codes defined in Annex 1 of Contract 3, Schedule 2, Services Part A: Specification of Requirements.

Contract CCTM19A03 does not cater for rail bookings.

This enabling agreement is the framework document for the call off contract to provide Ministerial Air Charter Transport. The contracting authority for the call off contract is the Cabinet Office on behalf of His Majesty’s Government. The Framework Agreement (RM6016) is held by Crown Commercial Service on behalf of His Majesty’s Government.

All responses under the contract reference CCTM19A03 refer to Air Charter Travel only.

Edward Argar
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
20th Sep 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the reporting requirements set out in his Department’s contract with Corporate Travel Management (North) Ltd., reference CCTM19A03, what the split by (a) total spend and (b) volume was of (i) UK domestic, (ii) short haul or (iii) long haul flights by air in each reporting year of the contract.

Total Spend: £1,259,382.20

Breakdown of Spend

Volume Of Spend

Number of flights

UK Domestic

£79,284.55

6%

5

Europe

£538,164.40

43%

11

Rest Of World

£641,933.20

51%

3

This enabling agreement is the framework document for the call off contract to provide Ministerial Air Charter Transport. The contracting authority for the call off contract is the Cabinet Office on behalf of His Majesty’s Government. The Framework Agreement (RM6016) is held by Crown Commercial Service on behalf of His Majesty’s Government.

All responses under the contract reference CCTM19A03 refer to Air Charter Travel only.

Edward Argar
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
20th Sep 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many and what proportion of journeys by air were under 300 miles in each year of his Department’s contract with Corporate Travel Management (North) Ltd., reference CCTM19A03.

16% - 3 out of the 19 charter flights since the start of the contract were under 300 miles.

This enabling agreement is the framework document for the call off contract to provide Ministerial Air Charter Transport. The contracting authority for the call off contract is the Cabinet Office on behalf of His Majesty’s Government. The Framework Agreement (RM6016) is held by Crown Commercial Service on behalf of His Majesty’s Government.

All responses under the contract reference CCTM19A03 refer to Air Charter Travel only.

Edward Argar
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
20th Sep 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the reporting requirements set out in his Department’s contract with Corporate Travel Management (North) Ltd., reference CCTM19A03, what (a) the top ten suppliers were by (i) spend and (ii) number of journeys in each reporting year of the contract for air; and (b) what their average fares were in those years.

CTM is the sole supplier under this contract. They subcontract with appropriate Air Operators to provide best value for money/ operation; utility/ service for each tasking.

This enabling agreement is the framework document for the call off contract to provide Ministerial Air Charter Transport. The contracting authority for the call off contract is the Cabinet Office on behalf of His Majesty’s Government. The Framework Agreement (RM6016) is held by Crown Commercial Service on behalf of His Majesty’s Government.

All responses under the contract reference CCTM19A03 refer to Air Charter Travel only.

Edward Argar
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
20th Sep 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, on how many occasions the provision of mandatory training for his Departmental staff regarding their obligations under the Equality Act 2010 has been cited by his Department as a defence against Section 109 proceedings since the commencement of that Act.

The information is not collected centrally by the Cabinet Office, and any retained records do not identify cases where Section 109 has been relied on. Nor do they readily identify whether mandatory training in relation to obligations under the Equality Act formed part of that defence or if it has ever been relied on.

There are publicly available judgments from Cabinet Office Employment Tribunal, on the GOV.UK website, that can be located here.

Edward Argar
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
6th Sep 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the lectern used by the Prime Minister at her speech at 10 Downing Street on 6 September 2022, (a) by whom the lectern was supplied, (b) how much from the public purse was spent on its design and production, (c) when the Government decided to commission it and (d) by whom the decision to commission was made.

There was no cost to the public purse; the lectern was provided by the governing party. The HM Government badge was an existing one owned by the Government.

Edward Argar
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
5th Sep 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many payments were fraudulently charged to the budgets of (a) his Department and (b) Downing Street using electronic purchasing cards in the financial years (i) 2019-20, (ii) 2020-21 and (iii) 2021-22; and what was the total value of fraudulent payments (A) made and (B) recovered in each of those years.

For the purposes of reporting Cabinet Office and Downing Street are the same entity so separate figures cannot be provided.

It is cardholders and their line managers duty to check all ePCS transactions promptly and notify the bank of any fraudulent activity. The total value of fraud reported through the use of purchasing cards is as below.

Year

Number of Cases

Value

Value Recovered

2019/20

4

£931.09

£931.09

2020/21

1

£707.00

£707.00

2021/22

0

0

0

Edward Argar
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
5th Sep 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether (a) Mr Adam Jones, (b) Ms Sophie Jarvis, (c) Mr Jamie Hope, (d) Mr Reuben Solomon and (e) Ms Sarah Ludlow were continuously employed by the Cabinet Office on full-time special adviser contracts to work at his Department between the dates of 7 July and 2 September 2022.

The named individuals were continuously employed by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office as special advisers on full-time contracts between 7 July and 2 September 2022.

As per the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers, special advisers may have involvement in political activity in their own time, outside office hours.

Departmental special advisers were also permitted to take unpaid leave to take part in a leadership campaign, subject to Ministerial approval. In this case, all these individuals took unpaid leave for the duration of the campaign, meaning there was no cost to the taxpayer for any such activity.

These are long-standing arrangements, and reflect the substantive rules put in place for the Labour Party leadership election under the last Labour Government (as evident from Library deposited papers DEP 06/2344 and DEP 07/1292).

Chris Philp
Minister of State (Home Office)
18th Jul 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many special advisers appointed by the Cabinet Office to assist his predecessor are entitled to severance payments in financial year 2022-23 under the terms set out in Paragraph 14c of the model contract for special advisers; and what total costs will be incurred by his Department as a result.

Special advisers are employed by the department to which they were appointed to assist their minister, as such the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s special advisers are employed by HM Treasury; the administration of special advisers is however overseen by the Cabinet Office.

Under paragraph 14b of the Model Contract for Special Advisers, a special adviser’s employment is automatically terminated when their appointing minister ceases to hold the ministerial office to which they were appointed to assist them. Paragraph 14c of the Model Contract details the conditions that apply should a special adviser’s employment end, including eligibility for any severance payments. Paragraph 14c of the Model Contract also sets out that special advisers who are later re-appointed to government must repay their severance pay, less the amount of salary they would have been paid had they been employed during the period between their termination and their re-appointment.

These arrangements have been in place under successive administrations.

Pursuant to the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 and as part of the government’s policy on open data and transparency, the Cabinet Office routinely publishes an annual report on the numbers and costs of special advisers. The total cost of exit packages, including severance payments, for special advisers are published annually.

15th Jul 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Government has sought external legal advice on disclosures to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry.

The Covid-19 Inquiry will play a key role in learning lessons from the pandemic. The final Terms of Reference for the Inquiry were published in June. The Prime Minister accepted all of Baroness Hallett’s recommendations.

The Government does not comment on legal advice it may have received. We will meet our obligations to the Inquiry in full.

The Government is committed to working with the Inquiry to ensure that Baroness Hallett is able to conduct a thorough investigation into the preparations for and the response to the pandemic.

15th Jul 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Government is using a traffic light ranking system to assess disclosures to the Covid-19 Public Inquiry.

The Covid-19 Inquiry will play a key role in learning lessons from the pandemic. The final Terms of Reference for the Inquiry were published in June. The Prime Minister accepted all of Baroness Hallett’s recommendations.

The Government does not comment on legal advice it may have received. We will meet our obligations to the Inquiry in full.

The Government is committed to working with the Inquiry to ensure that Baroness Hallett is able to conduct a thorough investigation into the preparations for and the response to the pandemic.

12th Jul 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 12 July to Question 29976, for what reason his Department made payments of (a) £600 to the Active Bystander Training Company on 11 April 2022 and (b) £1,140 to the Plain English Campaign on 19 April 2022.

Purchases questioned were made using the Department’s Electronic Purchasing Card Solution (ePCS), which is our preferred method for low value expenditure.

The requested items were purchased for:

  1. Training for 40 staff on how to challenge unacceptable behaviour, with the aim of improving gender equality.

  2. Training for new team members on how to draft high quality responses to public and ministerial correspondence.

12th Jul 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, in the context of his Department's National Fraud Initiative, what estimate his Department has made or commissioned of the total financial cost of fraud in the UK against (a) individuals, (b) businesses and (c) the Government in (i) financial year 2020-21, (ii) calendar year 2021 and (iii) financial year 2021-22; and if he will make a statement.

The National Fraud Initiative (NFI) does not enable government to estimate the total financial cost of fraud in the UK as it only targets a subset of fraud risks and organisations. In financial years 20/21 and 21/22 (the last 2 year NFI programme cycle) NFI reported savings for government of £384m and £32m for the private sector. However, this only represents the fraud prevented and detected as a result of the NFI.

Government does not have the breakdown of the cost of fraud as requested. However, total fraud in the public sector is estimated to be a minimum of £29 billion per year (pre COVID-19).

6th Jul 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people held electronic purchasing cards that allowed them to make purchases against the budgets of (a) his Department and (b) 10 Downing Street as of 31 March 2022.

As of 31 March 2022, the Department had 283 cardholders.

For management and staffing purposes the Prime Minister’s Office is an integral part of the Cabinet Office. It is not possible to provide a separate figure.

4th Jul 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many members of (a) his Department's and (b) 10 Downing Street staff have received training from the (i) Active Bystander Training Company and (ii) Plain English Campaign in the 12 months up to the end of June 2022; and what grades those staff were at the time of receiving that training.

This information is not held centrally.

Cabinet Office has a comprehensive corporate learning and development offer designed to give staff the knowledge and skills required for a modern civil service. Courses offered by the (a) Active Bystander Training Company and (b) Plain English Campaign are not part of the formal corporate learning and development offer provided by Cabinet Office. Over the past 12 months Business Units within the department may have independently procured these training offers.

I can however confirm that neither of these training offers have been run in 10 Downing Street over the past 12 months.

4th Jul 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what products were purchased by his Department from (a) B-Loony Ltd on 3 May 2022 for a cost of £1,188.00, (b) Workwear Express Ltd on 19 April 2022 for a cost of £1,485, (c) Total Merchandise Ltd on 8 April 2022 for a cost of £2,314.67 and (d) One Stop Badges Ltd on 8 and 15 March 2022 for a combined cost of £3,252.00.

Purchases questioned were made using the Department’s Electronic Purchasing Card Solution (ePCS), which is our preferred method for low value expenditure.

The requested items were purchased for:

  1. Branded sashes for staff delivering Civil Service Live.

  2. Branded workwear to aid the ready identification of secretariat staff during emergency responses and exercises.

  3. Merchandise for distribution to members of the Government Geography Profession,

  4. Branded badges for staff delivering COP26.

7th Jun 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the (a) procurement reference, (b) start date, (c) end date and (d) maximum value, inclusive of VAT, is of the contract that his Department has agreed with Manning Gottlieb OMD for the provision of strategic media activation services under the terms of the Crown Commercial Service's media services framework agreement reference RM6123.

The Media Services (RM6123) framework agreement includes the provision of strategic media activation services (LOT1) and was put in place following a competitive tender in December 2021. Customers can use this framework agreement through a call-off contract. Manning Gottlieb OMD is the supplier.

The framework commenced on 14th December 2021 and is due to end on 13th December 2025.

The specific contract details for the Government Communication Service, based in the Cabinet Office is as follows:
Contract Reference number: CCTS22A37, Start Date: 24 May 2022, Expiry Date: 01 July 2022 and Total Contract Value: £1.5m.

7th Jun 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what total cost to the public purse, inclusive of VAT, was incurred by his Department between May 2018 and May 2022 for media buying services provided under the Crown Commercial Service's media buying framework agreement reference RM6003, exclusive of any procurement of media buying services related to the covid-19 outbreak.

The Media Buying framework agreement (RM6003) started on 7th November 2018 and ended on 21st May 2022.

The framework agreement was awarded to OMD Group Ltd (OmniGov) following a competitive tendering process in 2018.

During the requested period (May 2018 to May 2022), the Government Communication Service in the Cabinet Office had a total spend of £101,852,321.90 (excluding COVID-19 spend) through this framework.

25th May 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Answer of 28 January 2022 to Question 111521 on 10 Downing Street: Taxis, whether any vehicles were ordered on Downing Street's mini-cab account to take Downing Street staff to their homes or other locations between 8pm and 4am on the nights of (a) 13 November and (b) 17 December 2020.

There were no journeys other than one for a shift worker, similar to that outlined in my answer to the Rt Hon Member of 28 January 2022, UIN 111521.

This was not related to any gathering covered in the report of the Second Permanent Secretary, and the journey was in line with Cabinet Office travel policy guidance.

25th May 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 24 May 2022 to Question 2427 on 10 Downing Street: Taxis, for what reason his Department does not maintain records for the costs incurred on Downing Street's travel account for mini-cabs; and what steps he is taking to effectively ensure value for public money in the use of that account in the absence of such records.

As I outlined in my previous answer, the information requested by the Rt Hon Member is not centrally held in the form requested, and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

All expenditure is in line with the Cabinet Office’s Travel and Expenses Policy. It states that such travel expenses may be claimed by staff where:

  • “you are outside of normal working hours (before 6am and after 9pm)

  • no other suitable method of public transport is available, and

  • travel by private vehicle or self-drive hire car is not possible and/or is not cost-effective, and either:

  • you are transporting heavy luggage or official business equipment, or

  • the saving of official time is important and can be justified on cost grounds.”

To assist the Rt Hon Member’s scrutiny, as I have noted in previous answers, there was no such spending by Downing Street staff in relation to gatherings in the recent report by the Second Permanent Secretary.

18th May 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Answer of 16 December 2008 to Question 242512 on District Heating: Whitehall, what total costs were charged to Government Departments by the Government Property Agency in (a) 2019-20, (b) 2020-21 and (c) 2021-22 for the provision of heating through the Whitehall District Heating System.

Whitehall District Heating has been renamed and is now called the Whitehall Boiler System. A number of departmental buildings have transferred ownership to the Government Property Agency and the details of buildings served by the Whitehall Boiler System are provided in the table below.

Building

Department

MOD Main Building

Ministry of Defence

Government Office Great George Street

Government Property Agency

70 Whitehall

Government Property Agency

10 Downing Street

Government Property Agency

Admiralty House

Government Property Agency

King Charles Street

Government Property Agency

Old Admiralty Building

Government Property Agency

Horse Guards

Ministry of Defence

Dover House

Government Property Agency

Northumberland House

Wellcome Trust

22-26 Whitehall

Government Property Agency

55 Whitehall

Government Property Agency

Banqueting House

Historic Royal Palaces

Gwydyr House

Government Property Agency

36 Whitehall

Government Property Agency

Civil Service Club

Civil Service Club

The total costs that were charged to Government Departments by the Government Property Agency for the provision of heating from the Whitehall Boiler System is as follows;

(a) 2019-20: £1.7m

(b) 2020-21: £1.5m

(c) 2021-22: £2.0m

These costs include standing charges for the operation and maintenance of the Whitehall Boiler System along with the cost of actual heat consumed by each building.

18th May 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Answer of 15 December 2008 to Question 242509 on District Heating: Whitehall, if he will publish the list of (a) Departments and (b) Government buildings served by the Whitehall District Heating System as of 31 March 2022.

Whitehall District Heating has been renamed and is now called the Whitehall Boiler System. A number of departmental buildings have transferred ownership to the Government Property Agency and the details of buildings served by the Whitehall Boiler System are provided in the table below.

Building

Department

MOD Main Building

Ministry of Defence

Government Office Great George Street

Government Property Agency

70 Whitehall

Government Property Agency

10 Downing Street

Government Property Agency

Admiralty House

Government Property Agency

King Charles Street

Government Property Agency

Old Admiralty Building

Government Property Agency

Horse Guards

Ministry of Defence

Dover House

Government Property Agency

Northumberland House

Wellcome Trust

22-26 Whitehall

Government Property Agency

55 Whitehall

Government Property Agency

Banqueting House

Historic Royal Palaces

Gwydyr House

Government Property Agency

36 Whitehall

Government Property Agency

Civil Service Club

Civil Service Club

The total costs that were charged to Government Departments by the Government Property Agency for the provision of heating from the Whitehall Boiler System is as follows;

(a) 2019-20: £1.7m

(b) 2020-21: £1.5m

(c) 2021-22: £2.0m

These costs include standing charges for the operation and maintenance of the Whitehall Boiler System along with the cost of actual heat consumed by each building.

18th May 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 17 May 2022 to Question 662, if he will make an estimate of the cost of fraud to the public sector in (a) 1984, (b) 1994, (c) 2004, and (d) 2014.

Data on public sector fraud prior to 2016 is unavailable.

16th May 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 16 May 2022 to Question 114, if he will publish the total cost to the public purse of vehicles ordered on Downing Street's travel account for mini-cabs from January 2020 to December 2021 in whatever form, and over whatever accounting periods, the records of those costs are monitored and maintained.

I refer the Rt Hon Member to my previous answer of 16 May 2022 to PQ 114.

10th May 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what total cost to the public purse was of vehicles ordered on Downing Street's travel account for mini-cabs in each month of (a) 2019-20, (b) 2020-21 and (c) 2021-22.

This information is not centrally held in the form requested, and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

10th May 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Answer of 27 April to Question 155612 on Senior Civil Servants: Free School Meals, when information from the finalised annual Senior Civil Service Database for 1 April 2022 will be available; and whether the response rates to questions relating to socioeconomic background in that database are expected to reach acceptable quality thresholds.

At this time we are unable to confirm when information on Free School Meals will be available from the April 2022 SCS Database, and whether declaration rates for broader SEB measures will reach acceptable quality thresholds.

The Cabinet Office continues to work with departments to increase response rates across socio-economic background measures.

25th Apr 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the total gross value added to the UK economy was from agriculture, forestry and fishing industries during the financial year (a) 2020-21 and (b) 2021-22.

It has not proved possible to respond to the Rt hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

25th Apr 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people in the UK were employed in agriculture, forestry and fishing industries at the end of the financial year (a) 2020-21 and (b) 2021-22.

It has not proved possible to respond to the Rt hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

22nd Apr 2022
To ask the Minister of the Cabinet Office, what the total gross value added to the UK economy was from semi-processed food industries during the financial year (a) 2020-21 and (b) 2021-22.

It has not proved possible to respond to the Rt hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

22nd Apr 2022
To ask the Minister of the Cabinet Office, how many people in the UK were employed in the semi-processed food industries at the end of the financial years (a) 2020-21 and (b) 2021-22.

It has not proved possible to respond to the Rt hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

20th Apr 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Senior Civil Service database maintained by his department, what proportion of senior civil servants employed across all Government departments at the end of March 2022, described their gender as (a) male and (b) female.

The Declaration on Government Reform and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, 2022-2025, commits the Government to drawing on talent from all backgrounds. Representation is increasing and whilst this trend is positive, we remain committed to improving representation across the broadest range of diversity across our workforce and in particular at our most senior grades.

To build on the progress made over recent years and target where improvement is still needed, the Government will take a holistic approach to SCS recruitment to identify and remove barriers to underrepresented groups entering and progressing in the SCS. There are a number of initiatives aimed at supporting colleagues to reach the Senior Civil Service from a diverse range of backgrounds including the Civil Service Fast Stream, Future Leaders Scheme and Senior Leaders Scheme.

Information on the diversity of the Senior Civil Service for 2022, sourced from the SCS Database, is not yet available. In responding to these PQs we have, therefore, used the latest available finalised annual SCS Database which is as at 1 April 2021.

All figures are a percentage of only those SCS that have made a positive declaration (i.e. they do not include prefer not to say, not known or not applicable responses in the denominator).

SCS by ethnicity, as at 1 April 2021

Ethnicity

Percentage of SCS (where ethnicity is known)

White

91.8%

Black

1.4%

Asian

4.2%

Mixed

1.8%

Other

0.8%

SCS by age, as at 1 April 2021

Age category

Percentage of SCS (where age is known)

Below 35

4.8%

35-44

34.1%

45-54

38.4%

55-64

21.5%

65+

1.1%

SCS by sex, as at 1 April 2021

The SCS Database currently only captures data on the sex of individuals. As at 1 April 2021, 47.3% of SCS members, where sex has been provided, were reported as women, with 52.7% reported as men. At present, data is not collected in the SCS database on gender.

Entry year to the Civil Service for SCS, as at 1 April 2021

Date of entry

Percentage of SCS (where entry date known)

Before 1980

1.1%

1980-89

11.9%

1990-99

16.9%

2000-2009

37.7%

2010 or later

32.4%

SCS who were members of the Fast Stream, as of 1 April 2021

As at 1 April 2021, 20.4% of SCS members, where Fast Stream status has been provided, responded that they were successful in the Central Fast Stream selection process. This figure will also include members that were successful in applying to the Central Fast Stream after their initial entry to the Civil Service.

SCS holding university degrees, as of 1 April 2021

As at 1 April 2021, 11.2% of SCS, where degree status is known, did not have a university degree.

For those with a degree, where degree status and University is known:

  • 80.1% did not obtain their first degree at Oxford or Cambridge University,

  • 63.1% did not obtain their first degree at a non-oxbridge Russell Group university, and

  • 56.8% did not obtain their first degree at a non-Russell Group UK university, and

  • 98.0% did not obtain their first degree at a non-UK university.

SCS by socio-economic background, as of 1 April 2021

Response rates in the SCS Database to questions relating to Socio Economic Background are currently below acceptable quality thresholds. It is therefore not possible to provide data on SCS by :

  • Self-declared socio-economic background;

  • Formal educational qualification of parents;

  • Type of secondary school attended;

  • Parental occupation; and

  • Eligibility for free school meals.

20th Apr 2022
To ask the Prime Minister, what the total cost to the public purse was incurred from the ordering of vehicles on Downing Street's travel account for mini-cabs in each month of (a) 2019-20, (b) 2020-21 and (c) 2021-22.

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

19th Apr 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, for what reasons (a) Airbus A321 flight registration G-GBNI was re-painted in UK government livery and (b) Airbus A321 flight registration G-XATW had its UK government livery removed during their respective visits to Southend Airport from 29 March to 3 April and 3 to 12 April; and what costs to the public purse arose from making those changes.

G-GBNI was painted with the ‘Global UK’ livery and G-XATW had this livery removed during the visits to Southend Airport as part of a planned exchange of two identical airframes in line with contractual agreements/obligations.

HM Government has only leased one airframe and I can confirm that there was no extra cost to the taxpayer.

19th Apr 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the cost to the public purse has been as at 19 April 2022 in terms of (a) staff hours and (b) other resources committed to the leak enquiry being conducted into the source of reports of (a) the non-domiciled status of the wife of the Chancellor of the Exchequer published in the media on 6 April 2022, and (b) the Green Card status of the Chancellor of the Exchequer and his wife published in the media on 7 April 2022.

It is a long-established practice of Her Majesty's Government not to comment on whether a leak inquiry has been established, its conduct or outcome.

19th Apr 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Senior Civil Service database maintained by his Department, what proportion of senior civil servants employed across all Government departments at the end of March 2022, said that at the time they were aged 14, they had at least one parent working in (a) a higher managerial, administrative or professional occupation, (b) an intermediate occupation or (c) a routine or manual occupation.

The Declaration on Government Reform and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, 2022-2025, commits the Government to drawing on talent from all backgrounds. Representation is increasing and whilst this trend is positive, we remain committed to improving representation across the broadest range of diversity across our workforce and in particular at our most senior grades.

To build on the progress made over recent years and target where improvement is still needed, the Government will take a holistic approach to SCS recruitment to identify and remove barriers to underrepresented groups entering and progressing in the SCS. There are a number of initiatives aimed at supporting colleagues to reach the Senior Civil Service from a diverse range of backgrounds including the Civil Service Fast Stream, Future Leaders Scheme and Senior Leaders Scheme.

Information on the diversity of the Senior Civil Service for 2022, sourced from the SCS Database, is not yet available. In responding to these PQs we have, therefore, used the latest available finalised annual SCS Database which is as at 1 April 2021.

All figures are a percentage of only those SCS that have made a positive declaration (i.e. they do not include prefer not to say, not known or not applicable responses in the denominator).

SCS by ethnicity, as at 1 April 2021

Ethnicity

Percentage of SCS (where ethnicity is known)

White

91.8%

Black

1.4%

Asian

4.2%

Mixed

1.8%

Other

0.8%

SCS by age, as at 1 April 2021

Age category

Percentage of SCS (where age is known)

Below 35

4.8%

35-44

34.1%

45-54

38.4%

55-64

21.5%

65+

1.1%

SCS by sex, as at 1 April 2021

The SCS Database currently only captures data on the sex of individuals. As at 1 April 2021, 47.3% of SCS members, where sex has been provided, were reported as women, with 52.7% reported as men. At present, data is not collected in the SCS database on gender.

Entry year to the Civil Service for SCS, as at 1 April 2021

Date of entry

Percentage of SCS (where entry date known)

Before 1980

1.1%

1980-89

11.9%

1990-99

16.9%

2000-2009

37.7%

2010 or later

32.4%

SCS who were members of the Fast Stream, as of 1 April 2021

As at 1 April 2021, 20.4% of SCS members, where Fast Stream status has been provided, responded that they were successful in the Central Fast Stream selection process. This figure will also include members that were successful in applying to the Central Fast Stream after their initial entry to the Civil Service.

SCS holding university degrees, as of 1 April 2021

As at 1 April 2021, 11.2% of SCS, where degree status is known, did not have a university degree.

For those with a degree, where degree status and University is known:

  • 80.1% did not obtain their first degree at Oxford or Cambridge University,

  • 63.1% did not obtain their first degree at a non-oxbridge Russell Group university, and

  • 56.8% did not obtain their first degree at a non-Russell Group UK university, and

  • 98.0% did not obtain their first degree at a non-UK university.

SCS by socio-economic background, as of 1 April 2021

Response rates in the SCS Database to questions relating to Socio Economic Background are currently below acceptable quality thresholds. It is therefore not possible to provide data on SCS by :

  • Self-declared socio-economic background;

  • Formal educational qualification of parents;

  • Type of secondary school attended;

  • Parental occupation; and

  • Eligibility for free school meals.

19th Apr 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Senior Civil Service database maintained by his Department, what proportion of senior civil servants employed across all Government departments at the end of March 2022 said that at the time they were aged 18 they had at least one parent who had obtained (a) a university degree or (b) qualifications below degree level as their highest educational qualification.

The Declaration on Government Reform and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, 2022-2025, commits the Government to drawing on talent from all backgrounds. Representation is increasing and whilst this trend is positive, we remain committed to improving representation across the broadest range of diversity across our workforce and in particular at our most senior grades.

To build on the progress made over recent years and target where improvement is still needed, the Government will take a holistic approach to SCS recruitment to identify and remove barriers to underrepresented groups entering and progressing in the SCS. There are a number of initiatives aimed at supporting colleagues to reach the Senior Civil Service from a diverse range of backgrounds including the Civil Service Fast Stream, Future Leaders Scheme and Senior Leaders Scheme.

Information on the diversity of the Senior Civil Service for 2022, sourced from the SCS Database, is not yet available. In responding to these PQs we have, therefore, used the latest available finalised annual SCS Database which is as at 1 April 2021.

All figures are a percentage of only those SCS that have made a positive declaration (i.e. they do not include prefer not to say, not known or not applicable responses in the denominator).

SCS by ethnicity, as at 1 April 2021

Ethnicity

Percentage of SCS (where ethnicity is known)

White

91.8%

Black

1.4%

Asian

4.2%

Mixed

1.8%

Other

0.8%

SCS by age, as at 1 April 2021

Age category

Percentage of SCS (where age is known)

Below 35

4.8%

35-44

34.1%

45-54

38.4%

55-64

21.5%

65+

1.1%

SCS by sex, as at 1 April 2021

The SCS Database currently only captures data on the sex of individuals. As at 1 April 2021, 47.3% of SCS members, where sex has been provided, were reported as women, with 52.7% reported as men. At present, data is not collected in the SCS database on gender.

Entry year to the Civil Service for SCS, as at 1 April 2021

Date of entry

Percentage of SCS (where entry date known)

Before 1980

1.1%

1980-89

11.9%

1990-99

16.9%

2000-2009

37.7%

2010 or later

32.4%

SCS who were members of the Fast Stream, as of 1 April 2021

As at 1 April 2021, 20.4% of SCS members, where Fast Stream status has been provided, responded that they were successful in the Central Fast Stream selection process. This figure will also include members that were successful in applying to the Central Fast Stream after their initial entry to the Civil Service.

SCS holding university degrees, as of 1 April 2021

As at 1 April 2021, 11.2% of SCS, where degree status is known, did not have a university degree.

For those with a degree, where degree status and University is known:

  • 80.1% did not obtain their first degree at Oxford or Cambridge University,

  • 63.1% did not obtain their first degree at a non-oxbridge Russell Group university, and

  • 56.8% did not obtain their first degree at a non-Russell Group UK university, and

  • 98.0% did not obtain their first degree at a non-UK university.

SCS by socio-economic background, as of 1 April 2021

Response rates in the SCS Database to questions relating to Socio Economic Background are currently below acceptable quality thresholds. It is therefore not possible to provide data on SCS by :

  • Self-declared socio-economic background;

  • Formal educational qualification of parents;

  • Type of secondary school attended;

  • Parental occupation; and

  • Eligibility for free school meals.

19th Apr 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Senior Civil Service database maintained by his Department, what proportion of senior civil servants employed across all Government departments at the end of March 2022 said that at the time they were aged 18, they did not have a parent with formal educational qualifications.

The Declaration on Government Reform and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, 2022-2025, commits the Government to drawing on talent from all backgrounds. Representation is increasing and whilst this trend is positive, we remain committed to improving representation across the broadest range of diversity across our workforce and in particular at our most senior grades.

To build on the progress made over recent years and target where improvement is still needed, the Government will take a holistic approach to SCS recruitment to identify and remove barriers to underrepresented groups entering and progressing in the SCS. There are a number of initiatives aimed at supporting colleagues to reach the Senior Civil Service from a diverse range of backgrounds including the Civil Service Fast Stream, Future Leaders Scheme and Senior Leaders Scheme.

Information on the diversity of the Senior Civil Service for 2022, sourced from the SCS Database, is not yet available. In responding to these PQs we have, therefore, used the latest available finalised annual SCS Database which is as at 1 April 2021.

All figures are a percentage of only those SCS that have made a positive declaration (i.e. they do not include prefer not to say, not known or not applicable responses in the denominator).

SCS by ethnicity, as at 1 April 2021

Ethnicity

Percentage of SCS (where ethnicity is known)

White

91.8%

Black

1.4%

Asian

4.2%

Mixed

1.8%

Other

0.8%

SCS by age, as at 1 April 2021

Age category

Percentage of SCS (where age is known)

Below 35

4.8%

35-44

34.1%

45-54

38.4%

55-64

21.5%

65+

1.1%

SCS by sex, as at 1 April 2021

The SCS Database currently only captures data on the sex of individuals. As at 1 April 2021, 47.3% of SCS members, where sex has been provided, were reported as women, with 52.7% reported as men. At present, data is not collected in the SCS database on gender.

Entry year to the Civil Service for SCS, as at 1 April 2021

Date of entry

Percentage of SCS (where entry date known)

Before 1980

1.1%

1980-89

11.9%

1990-99

16.9%

2000-2009

37.7%

2010 or later

32.4%

SCS who were members of the Fast Stream, as of 1 April 2021

As at 1 April 2021, 20.4% of SCS members, where Fast Stream status has been provided, responded that they were successful in the Central Fast Stream selection process. This figure will also include members that were successful in applying to the Central Fast Stream after their initial entry to the Civil Service.

SCS holding university degrees, as of 1 April 2021

As at 1 April 2021, 11.2% of SCS, where degree status is known, did not have a university degree.

For those with a degree, where degree status and University is known:

  • 80.1% did not obtain their first degree at Oxford or Cambridge University,

  • 63.1% did not obtain their first degree at a non-oxbridge Russell Group university, and

  • 56.8% did not obtain their first degree at a non-Russell Group UK university, and

  • 98.0% did not obtain their first degree at a non-UK university.

SCS by socio-economic background, as of 1 April 2021

Response rates in the SCS Database to questions relating to Socio Economic Background are currently below acceptable quality thresholds. It is therefore not possible to provide data on SCS by :

  • Self-declared socio-economic background;

  • Formal educational qualification of parents;

  • Type of secondary school attended;

  • Parental occupation; and

  • Eligibility for free school meals.

19th Apr 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Senior Civil Service database maintained by his Department, what proportion of senior civil servants employed across all Government departments at the end of March 2022 said they had attended (a) state-funded non-selective secondary school, (b) a state-funded secondary school selective on the basis of academic, faith or other grounds and (c) an independent secondary school.

The Declaration on Government Reform and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, 2022-2025, commits the Government to drawing on talent from all backgrounds. Representation is increasing and whilst this trend is positive, we remain committed to improving representation across the broadest range of diversity across our workforce and in particular at our most senior grades.

To build on the progress made over recent years and target where improvement is still needed, the Government will take a holistic approach to SCS recruitment to identify and remove barriers to underrepresented groups entering and progressing in the SCS. There are a number of initiatives aimed at supporting colleagues to reach the Senior Civil Service from a diverse range of backgrounds including the Civil Service Fast Stream, Future Leaders Scheme and Senior Leaders Scheme.

Information on the diversity of the Senior Civil Service for 2022, sourced from the SCS Database, is not yet available. In responding to these PQs we have, therefore, used the latest available finalised annual SCS Database which is as at 1 April 2021.

All figures are a percentage of only those SCS that have made a positive declaration (i.e. they do not include prefer not to say, not known or not applicable responses in the denominator).

SCS by ethnicity, as at 1 April 2021

Ethnicity

Percentage of SCS (where ethnicity is known)

White

91.8%

Black

1.4%

Asian

4.2%

Mixed

1.8%

Other

0.8%

SCS by age, as at 1 April 2021

Age category

Percentage of SCS (where age is known)

Below 35

4.8%

35-44

34.1%

45-54

38.4%

55-64

21.5%

65+

1.1%

SCS by sex, as at 1 April 2021

The SCS Database currently only captures data on the sex of individuals. As at 1 April 2021, 47.3% of SCS members, where sex has been provided, were reported as women, with 52.7% reported as men. At present, data is not collected in the SCS database on gender.

Entry year to the Civil Service for SCS, as at 1 April 2021

Date of entry

Percentage of SCS (where entry date known)

Before 1980

1.1%

1980-89

11.9%

1990-99

16.9%

2000-2009

37.7%

2010 or later

32.4%

SCS who were members of the Fast Stream, as of 1 April 2021

As at 1 April 2021, 20.4% of SCS members, where Fast Stream status has been provided, responded that they were successful in the Central Fast Stream selection process. This figure will also include members that were successful in applying to the Central Fast Stream after their initial entry to the Civil Service.

SCS holding university degrees, as of 1 April 2021

As at 1 April 2021, 11.2% of SCS, where degree status is known, did not have a university degree.

For those with a degree, where degree status and University is known:

  • 80.1% did not obtain their first degree at Oxford or Cambridge University,

  • 63.1% did not obtain their first degree at a non-oxbridge Russell Group university, and

  • 56.8% did not obtain their first degree at a non-Russell Group UK university, and

  • 98.0% did not obtain their first degree at a non-UK university.

SCS by socio-economic background, as of 1 April 2021

Response rates in the SCS Database to questions relating to Socio Economic Background are currently below acceptable quality thresholds. It is therefore not possible to provide data on SCS by :

  • Self-declared socio-economic background;

  • Formal educational qualification of parents;

  • Type of secondary school attended;

  • Parental occupation; and

  • Eligibility for free school meals.

19th Apr 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Senior Civil Service database maintained by his Department, what proportion of senior civil servants employed across all Government departments at the end of March 2022 (a) do not have a university degree or (b) did not obtain their first degree at (i) Oxford or Cambridge University, (ii) a non-Oxbridge Russell Group university, (iii) a non-Russell Group UK university and (iv) a non-UK university.

The Declaration on Government Reform and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, 2022-2025, commits the Government to drawing on talent from all backgrounds. Representation is increasing and whilst this trend is positive, we remain committed to improving representation across the broadest range of diversity across our workforce and in particular at our most senior grades.

To build on the progress made over recent years and target where improvement is still needed, the Government will take a holistic approach to SCS recruitment to identify and remove barriers to underrepresented groups entering and progressing in the SCS. There are a number of initiatives aimed at supporting colleagues to reach the Senior Civil Service from a diverse range of backgrounds including the Civil Service Fast Stream, Future Leaders Scheme and Senior Leaders Scheme.

Information on the diversity of the Senior Civil Service for 2022, sourced from the SCS Database, is not yet available. In responding to these PQs we have, therefore, used the latest available finalised annual SCS Database which is as at 1 April 2021.

All figures are a percentage of only those SCS that have made a positive declaration (i.e. they do not include prefer not to say, not known or not applicable responses in the denominator).

SCS by ethnicity, as at 1 April 2021

Ethnicity

Percentage of SCS (where ethnicity is known)

White

91.8%

Black

1.4%

Asian

4.2%

Mixed

1.8%

Other

0.8%

SCS by age, as at 1 April 2021

Age category

Percentage of SCS (where age is known)

Below 35

4.8%

35-44

34.1%

45-54

38.4%

55-64

21.5%

65+

1.1%

SCS by sex, as at 1 April 2021

The SCS Database currently only captures data on the sex of individuals. As at 1 April 2021, 47.3% of SCS members, where sex has been provided, were reported as women, with 52.7% reported as men. At present, data is not collected in the SCS database on gender.

Entry year to the Civil Service for SCS, as at 1 April 2021

Date of entry

Percentage of SCS (where entry date known)

Before 1980

1.1%

1980-89

11.9%

1990-99

16.9%

2000-2009

37.7%

2010 or later

32.4%

SCS who were members of the Fast Stream, as of 1 April 2021

As at 1 April 2021, 20.4% of SCS members, where Fast Stream status has been provided, responded that they were successful in the Central Fast Stream selection process. This figure will also include members that were successful in applying to the Central Fast Stream after their initial entry to the Civil Service.

SCS holding university degrees, as of 1 April 2021

As at 1 April 2021, 11.2% of SCS, where degree status is known, did not have a university degree.

For those with a degree, where degree status and University is known:

  • 80.1% did not obtain their first degree at Oxford or Cambridge University,

  • 63.1% did not obtain their first degree at a non-oxbridge Russell Group university, and

  • 56.8% did not obtain their first degree at a non-Russell Group UK university, and

  • 98.0% did not obtain their first degree at a non-UK university.

SCS by socio-economic background, as of 1 April 2021

Response rates in the SCS Database to questions relating to Socio Economic Background are currently below acceptable quality thresholds. It is therefore not possible to provide data on SCS by :

  • Self-declared socio-economic background;

  • Formal educational qualification of parents;

  • Type of secondary school attended;

  • Parental occupation; and

  • Eligibility for free school meals.

19th Apr 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Senior Civil Service database maintained by his Department, what proportion of senior civil servants employed across all Government departments at the end of March 2022 started their civil service career (a) before 1980, (b) between 1980-89, (c) between 1990-1999, (d) between 2000-2009 and (e) in 2010 or later.

The Declaration on Government Reform and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, 2022-2025, commits the Government to drawing on talent from all backgrounds. Representation is increasing and whilst this trend is positive, we remain committed to improving representation across the broadest range of diversity across our workforce and in particular at our most senior grades.

To build on the progress made over recent years and target where improvement is still needed, the Government will take a holistic approach to SCS recruitment to identify and remove barriers to underrepresented groups entering and progressing in the SCS. There are a number of initiatives aimed at supporting colleagues to reach the Senior Civil Service from a diverse range of backgrounds including the Civil Service Fast Stream, Future Leaders Scheme and Senior Leaders Scheme.

Information on the diversity of the Senior Civil Service for 2022, sourced from the SCS Database, is not yet available. In responding to these PQs we have, therefore, used the latest available finalised annual SCS Database which is as at 1 April 2021.

All figures are a percentage of only those SCS that have made a positive declaration (i.e. they do not include prefer not to say, not known or not applicable responses in the denominator).

SCS by ethnicity, as at 1 April 2021

Ethnicity

Percentage of SCS (where ethnicity is known)

White

91.8%

Black

1.4%

Asian

4.2%

Mixed

1.8%

Other

0.8%

SCS by age, as at 1 April 2021

Age category

Percentage of SCS (where age is known)

Below 35

4.8%

35-44

34.1%

45-54

38.4%

55-64

21.5%

65+

1.1%

SCS by sex, as at 1 April 2021

The SCS Database currently only captures data on the sex of individuals. As at 1 April 2021, 47.3% of SCS members, where sex has been provided, were reported as women, with 52.7% reported as men. At present, data is not collected in the SCS database on gender.

Entry year to the Civil Service for SCS, as at 1 April 2021

Date of entry

Percentage of SCS (where entry date known)

Before 1980

1.1%

1980-89

11.9%

1990-99

16.9%

2000-2009

37.7%

2010 or later

32.4%

SCS who were members of the Fast Stream, as of 1 April 2021

As at 1 April 2021, 20.4% of SCS members, where Fast Stream status has been provided, responded that they were successful in the Central Fast Stream selection process. This figure will also include members that were successful in applying to the Central Fast Stream after their initial entry to the Civil Service.

SCS holding university degrees, as of 1 April 2021

As at 1 April 2021, 11.2% of SCS, where degree status is known, did not have a university degree.

For those with a degree, where degree status and University is known:

  • 80.1% did not obtain their first degree at Oxford or Cambridge University,

  • 63.1% did not obtain their first degree at a non-oxbridge Russell Group university, and

  • 56.8% did not obtain their first degree at a non-Russell Group UK university, and

  • 98.0% did not obtain their first degree at a non-UK university.

SCS by socio-economic background, as of 1 April 2021

Response rates in the SCS Database to questions relating to Socio Economic Background are currently below acceptable quality thresholds. It is therefore not possible to provide data on SCS by :

  • Self-declared socio-economic background;

  • Formal educational qualification of parents;

  • Type of secondary school attended;

  • Parental occupation; and

  • Eligibility for free school meals.

19th Apr 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Senior Civil Service database maintained by his Department, what proportion of senior civil servants employed across all Government departments at the end of March 2022 were aged (a) below 35 years old, (b) 35-44 years old, (c) 45-54 years old, (d) 55-64 years old and (e) in 2010 or later.

The Declaration on Government Reform and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, 2022-2025, commits the Government to drawing on talent from all backgrounds. Representation is increasing and whilst this trend is positive, we remain committed to improving representation across the broadest range of diversity across our workforce and in particular at our most senior grades.

To build on the progress made over recent years and target where improvement is still needed, the Government will take a holistic approach to SCS recruitment to identify and remove barriers to underrepresented groups entering and progressing in the SCS. There are a number of initiatives aimed at supporting colleagues to reach the Senior Civil Service from a diverse range of backgrounds including the Civil Service Fast Stream, Future Leaders Scheme and Senior Leaders Scheme.

Information on the diversity of the Senior Civil Service for 2022, sourced from the SCS Database, is not yet available. In responding to these PQs we have, therefore, used the latest available finalised annual SCS Database which is as at 1 April 2021.

All figures are a percentage of only those SCS that have made a positive declaration (i.e. they do not include prefer not to say, not known or not applicable responses in the denominator).

SCS by ethnicity, as at 1 April 2021

Ethnicity

Percentage of SCS (where ethnicity is known)

White

91.8%

Black

1.4%

Asian

4.2%

Mixed

1.8%

Other

0.8%

SCS by age, as at 1 April 2021

Age category

Percentage of SCS (where age is known)

Below 35

4.8%

35-44

34.1%

45-54

38.4%

55-64

21.5%

65+

1.1%

SCS by sex, as at 1 April 2021

The SCS Database currently only captures data on the sex of individuals. As at 1 April 2021, 47.3% of SCS members, where sex has been provided, were reported as women, with 52.7% reported as men. At present, data is not collected in the SCS database on gender.

Entry year to the Civil Service for SCS, as at 1 April 2021

Date of entry

Percentage of SCS (where entry date known)

Before 1980

1.1%

1980-89

11.9%

1990-99

16.9%

2000-2009

37.7%

2010 or later

32.4%

SCS who were members of the Fast Stream, as of 1 April 2021

As at 1 April 2021, 20.4% of SCS members, where Fast Stream status has been provided, responded that they were successful in the Central Fast Stream selection process. This figure will also include members that were successful in applying to the Central Fast Stream after their initial entry to the Civil Service.

SCS holding university degrees, as of 1 April 2021

As at 1 April 2021, 11.2% of SCS, where degree status is known, did not have a university degree.

For those with a degree, where degree status and University is known:

  • 80.1% did not obtain their first degree at Oxford or Cambridge University,

  • 63.1% did not obtain their first degree at a non-oxbridge Russell Group university, and

  • 56.8% did not obtain their first degree at a non-Russell Group UK university, and

  • 98.0% did not obtain their first degree at a non-UK university.

SCS by socio-economic background, as of 1 April 2021

Response rates in the SCS Database to questions relating to Socio Economic Background are currently below acceptable quality thresholds. It is therefore not possible to provide data on SCS by :

  • Self-declared socio-economic background;

  • Formal educational qualification of parents;

  • Type of secondary school attended;

  • Parental occupation; and

  • Eligibility for free school meals.

19th Apr 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Senior Civil Service database maintained by his department, what proportion of senior civil servants employed across all Government departments at the end of March 2022, started their civil service career as members of the Civil Service Fast Stream.

The Declaration on Government Reform and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, 2022-2025, commits the Government to drawing on talent from all backgrounds. Representation is increasing and whilst this trend is positive, we remain committed to improving representation across the broadest range of diversity across our workforce and in particular at our most senior grades.

To build on the progress made over recent years and target where improvement is still needed, the Government will take a holistic approach to SCS recruitment to identify and remove barriers to underrepresented groups entering and progressing in the SCS. There are a number of initiatives aimed at supporting colleagues to reach the Senior Civil Service from a diverse range of backgrounds including the Civil Service Fast Stream, Future Leaders Scheme and Senior Leaders Scheme.

Information on the diversity of the Senior Civil Service for 2022, sourced from the SCS Database, is not yet available. In responding to these PQs we have, therefore, used the latest available finalised annual SCS Database which is as at 1 April 2021.

All figures are a percentage of only those SCS that have made a positive declaration (i.e. they do not include prefer not to say, not known or not applicable responses in the denominator).

SCS by ethnicity, as at 1 April 2021

Ethnicity

Percentage of SCS (where ethnicity is known)

White

91.8%

Black

1.4%

Asian

4.2%

Mixed

1.8%

Other

0.8%

SCS by age, as at 1 April 2021

Age category

Percentage of SCS (where age is known)

Below 35

4.8%

35-44

34.1%

45-54

38.4%

55-64

21.5%

65+

1.1%

SCS by sex, as at 1 April 2021

The SCS Database currently only captures data on the sex of individuals. As at 1 April 2021, 47.3% of SCS members, where sex has been provided, were reported as women, with 52.7% reported as men. At present, data is not collected in the SCS database on gender.

Entry year to the Civil Service for SCS, as at 1 April 2021

Date of entry

Percentage of SCS (where entry date known)

Before 1980

1.1%

1980-89

11.9%

1990-99

16.9%

2000-2009

37.7%

2010 or later

32.4%

SCS who were members of the Fast Stream, as of 1 April 2021

As at 1 April 2021, 20.4% of SCS members, where Fast Stream status has been provided, responded that they were successful in the Central Fast Stream selection process. This figure will also include members that were successful in applying to the Central Fast Stream after their initial entry to the Civil Service.

SCS holding university degrees, as of 1 April 2021

As at 1 April 2021, 11.2% of SCS, where degree status is known, did not have a university degree.

For those with a degree, where degree status and University is known:

  • 80.1% did not obtain their first degree at Oxford or Cambridge University,

  • 63.1% did not obtain their first degree at a non-oxbridge Russell Group university, and

  • 56.8% did not obtain their first degree at a non-Russell Group UK university, and

  • 98.0% did not obtain their first degree at a non-UK university.

SCS by socio-economic background, as of 1 April 2021

Response rates in the SCS Database to questions relating to Socio Economic Background are currently below acceptable quality thresholds. It is therefore not possible to provide data on SCS by :

  • Self-declared socio-economic background;

  • Formal educational qualification of parents;

  • Type of secondary school attended;

  • Parental occupation; and

  • Eligibility for free school meals.

19th Apr 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Senior Civil Service database maintained by his Department, what proportion of senior civil servants employed across all government Departments at the end of March 2022, described themselves as coming from a lower socio-economic background.

The Declaration on Government Reform and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, 2022-2025, commits the Government to drawing on talent from all backgrounds. Representation is increasing and whilst this trend is positive, we remain committed to improving representation across the broadest range of diversity across our workforce and in particular at our most senior grades.

To build on the progress made over recent years and target where improvement is still needed, the Government will take a holistic approach to SCS recruitment to identify and remove barriers to underrepresented groups entering and progressing in the SCS. There are a number of initiatives aimed at supporting colleagues to reach the Senior Civil Service from a diverse range of backgrounds including the Civil Service Fast Stream, Future Leaders Scheme and Senior Leaders Scheme.

Information on the diversity of the Senior Civil Service for 2022, sourced from the SCS Database, is not yet available. In responding to these PQs we have, therefore, used the latest available finalised annual SCS Database which is as at 1 April 2021.

All figures are a percentage of only those SCS that have made a positive declaration (i.e. they do not include prefer not to say, not known or not applicable responses in the denominator).

SCS by ethnicity, as at 1 April 2021

Ethnicity

Percentage of SCS (where ethnicity is known)

White

91.8%

Black

1.4%

Asian

4.2%

Mixed

1.8%

Other

0.8%

SCS by age, as at 1 April 2021

Age category

Percentage of SCS (where age is known)

Below 35

4.8%

35-44

34.1%

45-54

38.4%

55-64

21.5%

65+

1.1%

SCS by sex, as at 1 April 2021

The SCS Database currently only captures data on the sex of individuals. As at 1 April 2021, 47.3% of SCS members, where sex has been provided, were reported as women, with 52.7% reported as men. At present, data is not collected in the SCS database on gender.

Entry year to the Civil Service for SCS, as at 1 April 2021

Date of entry

Percentage of SCS (where entry date known)

Before 1980

1.1%

1980-89

11.9%

1990-99

16.9%

2000-2009

37.7%

2010 or later

32.4%

SCS who were members of the Fast Stream, as of 1 April 2021

As at 1 April 2021, 20.4% of SCS members, where Fast Stream status has been provided, responded that they were successful in the Central Fast Stream selection process. This figure will also include members that were successful in applying to the Central Fast Stream after their initial entry to the Civil Service.

SCS holding university degrees, as of 1 April 2021

As at 1 April 2021, 11.2% of SCS, where degree status is known, did not have a university degree.

For those with a degree, where degree status and University is known:

  • 80.1% did not obtain their first degree at Oxford or Cambridge University,

  • 63.1% did not obtain their first degree at a non-oxbridge Russell Group university, and

  • 56.8% did not obtain their first degree at a non-Russell Group UK university, and

  • 98.0% did not obtain their first degree at a non-UK university.

SCS by socio-economic background, as of 1 April 2021

Response rates in the SCS Database to questions relating to Socio Economic Background are currently below acceptable quality thresholds. It is therefore not possible to provide data on SCS by :

  • Self-declared socio-economic background;

  • Formal educational qualification of parents;

  • Type of secondary school attended;

  • Parental occupation; and

  • Eligibility for free school meals.

19th Apr 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Senior Civil Service database maintained by his Department, what proportion of senior civil servants employed across all Government departments at the end of March 2022, describe their ethnicity as (a) White, (b) Black, (c) Asian and (d) Mixed Race.

The Declaration on Government Reform and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, 2022-2025, commits the Government to drawing on talent from all backgrounds. Representation is increasing and whilst this trend is positive, we remain committed to improving representation across the broadest range of diversity across our workforce and in particular at our most senior grades.

To build on the progress made over recent years and target where improvement is still needed, the Government will take a holistic approach to SCS recruitment to identify and remove barriers to underrepresented groups entering and progressing in the SCS. There are a number of initiatives aimed at supporting colleagues to reach the Senior Civil Service from a diverse range of backgrounds including the Civil Service Fast Stream, Future Leaders Scheme and Senior Leaders Scheme.

Information on the diversity of the Senior Civil Service for 2022, sourced from the SCS Database, is not yet available. In responding to these PQs we have, therefore, used the latest available finalised annual SCS Database which is as at 1 April 2021.

All figures are a percentage of only those SCS that have made a positive declaration (i.e. they do not include prefer not to say, not known or not applicable responses in the denominator).

SCS by ethnicity, as at 1 April 2021

Ethnicity

Percentage of SCS (where ethnicity is known)

White

91.8%

Black

1.4%

Asian

4.2%

Mixed

1.8%

Other

0.8%

SCS by age, as at 1 April 2021

Age category

Percentage of SCS (where age is known)

Below 35

4.8%

35-44

34.1%

45-54

38.4%

55-64

21.5%

65+

1.1%

SCS by sex, as at 1 April 2021

The SCS Database currently only captures data on the sex of individuals. As at 1 April 2021, 47.3% of SCS members, where sex has been provided, were reported as women, with 52.7% reported as men. At present, data is not collected in the SCS database on gender.

Entry year to the Civil Service for SCS, as at 1 April 2021

Date of entry

Percentage of SCS (where entry date known)

Before 1980

1.1%

1980-89

11.9%

1990-99

16.9%

2000-2009

37.7%

2010 or later

32.4%

SCS who were members of the Fast Stream, as of 1 April 2021

As at 1 April 2021, 20.4% of SCS members, where Fast Stream status has been provided, responded that they were successful in the Central Fast Stream selection process. This figure will also include members that were successful in applying to the Central Fast Stream after their initial entry to the Civil Service.

SCS holding university degrees, as of 1 April 2021

As at 1 April 2021, 11.2% of SCS, where degree status is known, did not have a university degree.

For those with a degree, where degree status and University is known:

  • 80.1% did not obtain their first degree at Oxford or Cambridge University,

  • 63.1% did not obtain their first degree at a non-oxbridge Russell Group university, and

  • 56.8% did not obtain their first degree at a non-Russell Group UK university, and

  • 98.0% did not obtain their first degree at a non-UK university.

SCS by socio-economic background, as of 1 April 2021

Response rates in the SCS Database to questions relating to Socio Economic Background are currently below acceptable quality thresholds. It is therefore not possible to provide data on SCS by :

  • Self-declared socio-economic background;

  • Formal educational qualification of parents;

  • Type of secondary school attended;

  • Parental occupation; and

  • Eligibility for free school meals.

19th Apr 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Senior Civil Service database maintained by his Department, what proportion of senior civil servants employed across all Government departments at the end of March 2022 said they had been eligible for free school meals during their school years.

The Declaration on Government Reform and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, 2022-2025, commits the Government to drawing on talent from all backgrounds. Representation is increasing and whilst this trend is positive, we remain committed to improving representation across the broadest range of diversity across our workforce and in particular at our most senior grades.

To build on the progress made over recent years and target where improvement is still needed, the Government will take a holistic approach to SCS recruitment to identify and remove barriers to underrepresented groups entering and progressing in the SCS. There are a number of initiatives aimed at supporting colleagues to reach the Senior Civil Service from a diverse range of backgrounds including the Civil Service Fast Stream, Future Leaders Scheme and Senior Leaders Scheme.

Information on the diversity of the Senior Civil Service for 2022, sourced from the SCS Database, is not yet available. In responding to these PQs we have, therefore, used the latest available finalised annual SCS Database which is as at 1 April 2021.

All figures are a percentage of only those SCS that have made a positive declaration (i.e. they do not include prefer not to say, not known or not applicable responses in the denominator).

SCS by ethnicity, as at 1 April 2021

Ethnicity

Percentage of SCS (where ethnicity is known)

White

91.8%

Black

1.4%

Asian

4.2%

Mixed

1.8%

Other

0.8%

SCS by age, as at 1 April 2021

Age category

Percentage of SCS (where age is known)

Below 35

4.8%

35-44

34.1%

45-54

38.4%

55-64

21.5%

65+

1.1%

SCS by sex, as at 1 April 2021

The SCS Database currently only captures data on the sex of individuals. As at 1 April 2021, 47.3% of SCS members, where sex has been provided, were reported as women, with 52.7% reported as men. At present, data is not collected in the SCS database on gender.

Entry year to the Civil Service for SCS, as at 1 April 2021

Date of entry

Percentage of SCS (where entry date known)

Before 1980

1.1%

1980-89

11.9%

1990-99

16.9%

2000-2009

37.7%

2010 or later

32.4%

SCS who were members of the Fast Stream, as of 1 April 2021

As at 1 April 2021, 20.4% of SCS members, where Fast Stream status has been provided, responded that they were successful in the Central Fast Stream selection process. This figure will also include members that were successful in applying to the Central Fast Stream after their initial entry to the Civil Service.

SCS holding university degrees, as of 1 April 2021

As at 1 April 2021, 11.2% of SCS, where degree status is known, did not have a university degree.

For those with a degree, where degree status and University is known:

  • 80.1% did not obtain their first degree at Oxford or Cambridge University,

  • 63.1% did not obtain their first degree at a non-oxbridge Russell Group university, and

  • 56.8% did not obtain their first degree at a non-Russell Group UK university, and

  • 98.0% did not obtain their first degree at a non-UK university.

SCS by socio-economic background, as of 1 April 2021

Response rates in the SCS Database to questions relating to Socio Economic Background are currently below acceptable quality thresholds. It is therefore not possible to provide data on SCS by :

  • Self-declared socio-economic background;

  • Formal educational qualification of parents;

  • Type of secondary school attended;

  • Parental occupation; and

  • Eligibility for free school meals.

18th Feb 2022
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Government Procurement Card data for November 2020, last updated on 25th November 2021, what items of office equipment were purchased from (a) Alexanders Appliances Direct Ltd for £645.60 on 12th November 2020, and (b) Currys Online for £1,258 on 26th November 2020.

Transaction (a) relates to the replacement of official catering equipment and was purchased on the 07/07/2020. The equipment was procured to replace a previous equipment that was over 10 years old and which originally had been purchased under the last Labour Government. It had reached the end of its working life.

Transaction (b) relates to a high-specification shredder and was purchased on the 30/09/2020. The shredder was procured for a high-security business unit whose work necessitates specific secure shredding equipment. Again, this was a replacement for a previous device.

Transactions purchased via a Government Procurement Card must be reconciled and approved by a line manager before being recorded fully on the Department’s General Ledger. This means some transactions can appear after the purchase date.



10th Feb 2022
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, which aspects of European social security law his Department is currently reviewing under the options for the amendment or removal of retained EU law under the Government's proposed Brexit Freedoms Bill.

The review of retained EU law, led by the Cabinet Office, is continuing. Officials are working to deliver the cross Whitehall review and are working closely with departments to assess a broad scope of retained EU law across all policy areas and the UK statute book.

At present, no conclusions have been made on what pieces of retained EU law will be amended under the proposed Bill.

10th Feb 2022
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, which aspects of European social security law the Minister of State for Brexit Opportunities and Government Efficiency is currently reviewing under the options for potential deregulation arising from the Government's Benefits of Brexit paper.

The review of retained EU law, led by the Cabinet Office, is continuing. Officials are working to deliver the cross Whitehall review and are working closely with departments to assess a broad scope of retained EU law across all policy areas and the UK statute book.

At present, no conclusions have been made on what pieces of retained EU law will be amended under the proposed Bill.

1st Feb 2022
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, when he plans to answer Question 107502, tabled by the hon. Member for Islington South and Finsbury on 18 January 2021.

I refer the Rt Hon Member to my response on 7 February 2022 to PQ107502.

31st Jan 2022
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, for what reason the latest revised guidance for holders of national security clearance, published on 31 January 2022, has removed the previous requirements for clearance-holders (a) to create and contribute to a positive environment in which security is given appropriate priority, (b) to raise any concerns about individual or organisational practices that are in breach of security procedures and (c) to speak to local security teams, security controllers or line managers if the clearance-holder has concerns about a specific activity or individual.

The government recently established the Accreditation Check as a new level of National Security Vetting to improve security within the aviation industry. GOV.UK pages were updated to include this but an administrative error saw some information mistakenly removed. This was rectified as soon as the Cabinet Office became aware.

25th Jan 2022
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether any vehicles were ordered on Downing Street's mini-cab account to take Downing Street staff to their homes or other locations between 8pm and 4am on the night of 16 April 2021.

In line with travel policy guidance, one journey took place in relation to an overnight shift worker travelling from Whitehall, having undertaken their staff duties.

But otherwise, no such vehicles were ordered to take staff from Downing Street in this period.

25th Jan 2022
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether a Government procurement card was used by Downing Street staff to order deliveries of pizza with a value lower than £500 on the night of 16 April 2021.
24th Jan 2022
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether a Government procurement card was used by staff of his Office to order deliveries of pizza with a value lower than £500 on the night of 16 April 2021.
24th Jan 2022
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether any vehicles were ordered on his Office's mini-cab account to take Downing Street staff to their homes or other locations between 8pm and 4am on the night of 16 April 2021.
20th Jan 2022
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether a Government procurement card was used by Downing Street staff to make purchases with a value lower than £500 from the Co-Op convenience store at 456-459 Strand on the night of 16 April 2021.
19th Jan 2022
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, when the Cabinet Secretary plans to publish a financial statement covering the accounts of the Security and Intelligence Agencies in financial year 2020-21.

The financial statement covering the accounts of the Security and Intelligence Agencies in the financial year was laid in Parliament on 16 December 2021. The information was published on GOV.UK on 20 December 2021.

19th Jan 2022
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether public funds were used to purchase refrigerators for use on the Downing Street estate in the financial year 2020-21.

Downing Street is a working building, including catering facilities and offices for staff; as is common in workplaces including the House of Commons, refrigerators are provided for general staff use.

One refrigerator was purchased in the financial year for a Downing Street meeting room, and one to replace an existing refrigerator that had reached the end of its working operation.

Notwithstanding, I can confirm that no such public expenditure was accrued in relation to the matters considered in the investigations by the Second Permanent Secretary or connected with associated media reports on this matter.

17th Jan 2022
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether a Government procurement card was used by his staff to make purchases with a value lower than £500 from the Co-Op convenience store at 456-459 Strand on the night of 16 April 2021.
6th Dec 2021
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what services the Government Legal Department’s Litigation Group has provided to his Department since 1 January 2021.

Since 1 January 2021, the Litigation Group has continued to provide litigation services to the majority of government departments, including Cabinet Office, and executive agencies, as well as many non-departmental public bodies.

The Group’s work encompasses litigation in public and private law and supports public inquiries and Inquests. This has involved, amongst other things, attending in a wide range of courts including Coroners’ Courts, the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal, the Royal Courts of Justice and the Supreme Court. Our Employment and Commercial Groups similarly provide litigation services to the majority of government departments and have done so in the period in question.

26th Nov 2021
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment she has made of the effect of increased non-tariff barriers facing UK imports from the EU on (a) supply chains for UK manufacturers, and (b) the availability of imported goods in the weeks leading up to Christmas 2021.

The government is continuing to monitor global supply chain issues. The most recent ONS monthly UK trade in goods statistics can be found here. The ONS is clear that there are a number of factors beyond EU exit that are influencing global trading patterns, including the COVID-19 pandemic and global supply chain disruption. It remains too early to disaggregate the effects that EU exit has had on trade from these other factors.

26th Nov 2021
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the impact of the construction of additional border infrastructure on the functioning of UK ports in the weeks leading up to Christmas 2021.

Through the Port Infrastructure Fund, the Government has provided £200 million in grants to ports to build the infrastructure needed for both customs and biosecurity checks in 2022. We are confident that these projects are sufficiently advanced and operational to ensure the continued flow of trade in the run up to Christmas and beyond.

9th Nov 2021
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people and organisations were signed up to receive email alerts from his Department's Brexit checker website as of 1 November 2021.

The Brexit Checker was launched in August 2019 and is designed to help users get personalised information on how Brexit may affect them and their business, and what actions they need to take to adapt to new rules. As of 1 November 2021, there were a total number of 346,770 unique email addresses signed up to receive updates via the Brexit Checker.

To meet changing user needs, which have shifted from general interest in rule changes (served by gov.uk/brexit and the Brexit Checker) to information on specific tasks and topics based on their situation, GDS has also developed Brexit “hub” pages for businesses, individuals, and families. These provide more targeted entry points for users to find relevant information on key business areas affected by Brexit.

8th Nov 2021
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, which of his Ministers is responsible for implementing any policies relating to (a) the suspension of tariff preferences for EU goods, (b) retaliatory or rebalancing tariffs on EU goods, (c) the restriction of access to UK fishing waters for European vessels and (d) the suspension of obligations under the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement in the event of dispute settlement procedures being activated under the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement.

The Cabinet Office regularly publishes a list of ministerial responsibilities. The most recent update was published in November 2021 and can be found on GOV.UK.

19th Jul 2021
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, when he plans to answer Questions 20306 and 20307, tabled by the hon. Member for Islington South and Finsbury on 26 June 2021.

I refer the hon. Member to the answers given to PQ 20306 and PQ 20307 on 20 July 2021.

Julia Lopez
Minister on Leave (Minister of State)
14th Jul 2021
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Government has made or contributed to any administrative determinations in the Northern Ireland protocol joint committee that would bar New Zealand (a) sheepmeat and (b) beef products accessing Northern Ireland’s markets using the preferential access set out under the UK New Zealand-specific WTO tariff rate quota commitments.

The Government has not made or contributed to any administrative determinations in the Northern Ireland Joint Committee that would bar New Zealand exporters accessing Northern Ireland’s market’s using the preferential access set out under UK New Zealand specific WTO tariff rate quota commitment.

Any such impact on New Zealand sheep meat and beef product exporters is a direct result of the EU’s unilateral introduction of Regulation 2020/2170 on the application of Union tariff rate quotas (TRQs) and other import quotas, on 16 December 2020. If strictly applied, the Regulation would mean that importers of goods subject to any EU tariff rate quotas or other import quotas directly into Northern Ireland would be unable to access either EU or UK quotas, and would therefore need to pay a tariff.

The UK has underlined to the European Commission that this is a matter requiring urgent consideration as part of addressing issues with the operation of the Protocol, though there has not yet been any resolution found through the Joint Committee. The Government equally has set out its determination to address the issues faced by New Zealand exporters at a meeting of the WTO agriculture committee on 29 March, and we continue to engage with the New Zealand government as discussions proceed.

This is one of the elements of the Protocol we have been clear should be addressed as we seek to find a new balance in how it operates, as set out in our Command Paper published on 21 July (Northern Ireland Protocol: the way forward, CP502).

Penny Mordaunt
Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
5th Jul 2021
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 23 June 2021 to Question 16052 on GREAT: Commonwealth, aside from Australia, Brunei, Canada, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore, which of the 47 other Commonwealth nations are not among the 145 countries where GREAT campaign activity has taken place.

The GREAT campaign is designed to be used in every country around the world, but to date there are a small number of countries where there has either not been sufficient HMG presence or opportunity to use the campaign. No country is out of scope for its use. The countries that have not yet used the campaign are:

  • Antigua and Barbuda

  • Bahamas

  • Belize

  • Dominica

  • Faroe Islands

  • Grenada

  • Kiribati

  • Liechtenstein

  • Maldives

  • Nauru

  • Nicaragua

  • Palestinian Authority

  • Papua New Guinea

  • St. Kitts and Nevis

  • Saint Lucia

  • St. Vincent and the Grenadines

  • Sierra Leone

  • Tonga

  • Tuvalu

  • Vanuatu

Julia Lopez
Minister on Leave (Minister of State)
2nd Jul 2021
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 23 June 2021 to Question 16051, aside from Canada, Chile, Japan, Mexico, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam, which of the 60 other non-EU countries with which the UK has signed continuity trade agreements are not among the 145 countries where GREAT campaign activity has taken place.

The GREAT campaign is designed to be used in every country around the world, but to date there are a small number of countries where there has either not been sufficient HMG presence or opportunity to use the campaign. No country is out of scope for its use. The countries that have not yet used the campaign are:

  • Antigua and Barbuda

  • Bahamas

  • Belize

  • Dominica

  • Faroe Islands

  • Grenada

  • Kiribati

  • Liechtenstein

  • Maldives

  • Nauru

  • Nicaragua

  • Palestinian Authority

  • Papua New Guinea

  • St. Kitts and Nevis

  • Saint Lucia

  • St. Vincent and the Grenadines

  • Sierra Leone

  • Tonga

  • Tuvalu

  • Vanuatu

Julia Lopez
Minister on Leave (Minister of State)
28th Jun 2021
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, which of his Ministers is currently occupying (a) 1 Carlton Gardens, (b) the three flats in Admiralty House, (c) the Dorneywood estate and (d) the Chevening estate; and in each case, when the current occupants took up residence.

The official residences which are owned by the Government and currently available to Ministers are:

● Flats above 10 and 11 Downing Street, which are used by the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Prime Minister respectively;

● 1 Carlton Gardens, leased from the Crown Estate, is available as the official residence for the Foreign Secretary; and

● Hillsborough Castle and Stormont are available for Ministers in the Northern Ireland Office while on duty in Northern Ireland.

The Chequers, Dorneywood and Chevening estates are available to Ministers for both official and private use. None of these properties are owned by the Government, and are run by trustees.

Admiralty House is part of the Government estate, which includes rooms that could be used as residential accommodation. It is not in Ministerial use.

24th Jun 2021
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 23 June 2021 to Question 16051, aside from Canada, Chile, Japan, Mexico, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam, which of the 60 other non-EU countries with which the UK has signed continuity trade agreements are not among the 145 countries where GREAT campaign activity has taken place.

The GREAT campaign is designed to be used in every country around the world, but to date there are a small number of countries where there has either not been sufficient HMG presence or opportunity to use the campaign. No country is out of scope for its use. The countries that have not yet used the campaign are:

  • Antigua and Barbuda

  • Bahamas

  • Belize

  • Dominica

  • Faroe Islands

  • Grenada

  • Kiribati

  • Liechtenstein

  • Maldives

  • Nauru

  • Nicaragua

  • Palestinian Authority

  • Papua New Guinea

  • St. Kitts and Nevis

  • Saint Lucia

  • St. Vincent and the Grenadines

  • Sierra Leone

  • Tonga

  • Tuvalu

  • Vanuatu

Julia Lopez
Minister on Leave (Minister of State)
24th Jun 2021
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 23 June 2021 to Question 16052, aside from Australia, Brunei, Canada, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore, which of the 47 other Commonwealth nations are not among the 145 countries where GREAT campaign activity has taken place.

The GREAT campaign is designed to be used in every country around the world, but to date there are a small number of countries where there has either not been sufficient HMG presence or opportunity to use the campaign. No country is out of scope for its use. The countries that have not yet used the campaign are:

  • Antigua and Barbuda

  • Bahamas

  • Belize

  • Dominica

  • Faroe Islands

  • Grenada

  • Kiribati

  • Liechtenstein

  • Maldives

  • Nauru

  • Nicaragua

  • Palestinian Authority

  • Papua New Guinea

  • St. Kitts and Nevis

  • Saint Lucia

  • St. Vincent and the Grenadines

  • Sierra Leone

  • Tonga

  • Tuvalu

  • Vanuatu

Julia Lopez
Minister on Leave (Minister of State)
15th Jun 2021
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 14 June 2021 to Question 12994, in which of the 11 members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership is there currently insufficient diplomatic presence to support activity under the GREAT campaign.

GREAT campaign activity has taken place in all 11 member countries of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.

GREAT is resourced in line with Government trade and investment priorities.

Julia Lopez
Minister on Leave (Minister of State)
15th Jun 2021
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 14 June 2021 to Question 12994, in which of the 53 other Commonwealth nations there is currently insufficient diplomatic presence to support activity under the GREAT campaign.

GREAT campaign activity has taken place in all 11 member countries of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.

GREAT is resourced in line with Government trade and investment priorities.

Julia Lopez
Minister on Leave (Minister of State)
15th Jun 2021
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 14 June 2021 to Question 12994, in which of the 67 non-EU countries with which the UK has signed continuity trade agreements is there currently insufficient diplomatic presence to support activity under the GREAT campaign.

GREAT campaign activity has taken place in all 11 member countries of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.

GREAT is resourced in line with Government trade and investment priorities.

Julia Lopez
Minister on Leave (Minister of State)
9th Jun 2021
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, which countries will not be among the 145 that will be targeted by his Department's refreshed GREAT campaign launched on 9 June 2021.

Since the GREAT campaign was first launched in 2012, the campaign has been extended to 145 countries. GREAT campaign activity is supported by a certain level of diplomatic presence in a country. No country is specifically out of scope for the campaign, there are countries where there is not sufficient presence to support campaign activity.

Julia Lopez
Minister on Leave (Minister of State)
17th May 2021
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish the details of any advance visit to India undertaken by Downing Street officials or advisers to prepare for the Prime Minister's scheduled visit on 26 April 2021, including (a) dates and length of the visit and (b) the number of officials involved.

I am responding on behalf of the Prime Minister’s Office. As has been the practice under successive administrations, a small team of officials went ahead to make arrangements for the visit and to discuss plans for the UK-India partnership. These took place in March, when COVID cases were much lower in India. COVID-secure procedures were followed at all times, including tests before, during and after. Although the official visit was subsequently postponed, £1 billion of new UK-India trade and investment was announced on 4 May that is expected to create more than 6,500 jobs.

Julia Lopez
Minister on Leave (Minister of State)
12th May 2021
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Board of Trade’s Global Britain, Local Jobs report, what assessment he has made of whether the UK-EU TCA contributed towards the levelling up agenda.

The Government is taking full advantage of the opportunities outside the EU to boost our economy, reduce burdens on business, and save taxpayers money, while upholding workers’ rights and welfare standards.

As part of the Queen’s Speech the Government outlined a series of bills in the legislative programme that will ensure we make the most of these opportunities.

The Trade and Cooperation Agreement with the EU, which fully delivers on what the British public voted for, gives us the freedom to pursue policies that work for people across the UK to promote levelling up in education, skills, infrastructure and technology, while creating a greener and more outward-looking economy.

Penny Mordaunt
Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
20th Apr 2021
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has received additional (a) staff, (b) budget and (c) other resources to enable the Minister of State in the Cabinet Office, Lord Frost to provide support on the co-ordination of cross-Government positions on trade issues; and whether those resources were transferred from other Government departments.

The Prime Minister appointed Lord Frost as Minister of State for the Cabinet Office on 1 March 2021. Lord Frost works closely with colleagues across Government, including the Department for International Trade, to maximise the benefits to the United Kingdom, both from the trade deal with the EU, and the UK’s newly independent trade policy. Full details of Lord Frost’s responsibilities are outlined on Gov.uk.

The EU Secretariat, based in the Cabinet Office, has been established to provide direction and coordination of the UK’s relationship with the EU and its member states. This unit integrates officials from Taskforce Europe and the Transition Taskforce.

Penny Mordaunt
Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
20th Apr 2021
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, for what reason the decision was taken to give responsibility to the Minister of State in the Cabinet Office, Lord Frost for supporting the co-ordination of cross-Government positions on trade issues; and when that decision was taken.

The Prime Minister appointed Lord Frost as Minister of State for the Cabinet Office on 1 March 2021. Lord Frost works closely with colleagues across Government, including the Department for International Trade, to maximise the benefits to the United Kingdom, both from the trade deal with the EU, and the UK’s newly independent trade policy. Full details of Lord Frost’s responsibilities are outlined on Gov.uk.

The EU Secretariat, based in the Cabinet Office, has been established to provide direction and coordination of the UK’s relationship with the EU and its member states. This unit integrates officials from Taskforce Europe and the Transition Taskforce.

Penny Mordaunt
Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
20th Apr 2021
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what support the Minister of State in the Cabinet Office, Lord Frost provides to the Department for International Trade on the co-ordination of cross-Government positions on trade issues.

The Prime Minister appointed Lord Frost as Minister of State for the Cabinet Office on 1 March 2021. Lord Frost works closely with colleagues across Government, including the Department for International Trade, to maximise the benefits to the United Kingdom, both from the trade deal with the EU, and the UK’s newly independent trade policy. Full details of Lord Frost’s responsibilities are outlined on Gov.uk.

The EU Secretariat, based in the Cabinet Office, has been established to provide direction and coordination of the UK’s relationship with the EU and its member states. This unit integrates officials from Taskforce Europe and the Transition Taskforce.

Penny Mordaunt
Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
20th Apr 2021
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, which aspects of (a) trade policy and (b) ongoing trade negotiations require the co-ordination of cross-Government positions with the support of the Minister of State in the Cabinet Office, Lord Frost.

The Prime Minister appointed Lord Frost as Minister of State for the Cabinet Office on 1 March 2021. Lord Frost works closely with colleagues across Government, including the Department for International Trade, to maximise the benefits to the United Kingdom, both from the trade deal with the EU, and the UK’s newly independent trade policy. Full details of Lord Frost’s responsibilities are outlined on Gov.uk.

The EU Secretariat, based in the Cabinet Office, has been established to provide direction and coordination of the UK’s relationship with the EU and its member states. This unit integrates officials from Taskforce Europe and the Transition Taskforce.

Penny Mordaunt
Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
12th Apr 2021
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he plans to review the (a) funding, (b) objectives and (c) targeting of the Government’s GREAT campaign.

As the Cabinet Office has now assumed responsibility for the GREAT campaign there will be a review of the funding, objectives and targeting of the GREAT campaign.

The GREAT campaign has been very successful at promoting the UK abroad since 2012 and is formally governed via a Programme Board of ministers from relevant government departments, plus officials from departments which fund the campaign. The Board meets quarterly and agrees to budget the campaign’s priorities, strategic direction, budget allocations and ensures value for money on behalf of the taxpayer.

Julia Lopez
Minister on Leave (Minister of State)
23rd Mar 2021
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Board of Trade’s Global Britain, Local Jobs report, what assessment she has made of whether the UK-EU TCA helped to level up the UK; and how her Department made that assessment.

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Penny Mordaunt
Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
4th Mar 2021
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office and the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, what his Department's policy is on how few individuals or companies must be responsible for the aggregate total of outward foreign direct investment for that total to not be subject to disclosure on data protection grounds.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have, therefore, asked the Authority to respond.

4th Mar 2021
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office and the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, what his Department's policy is on how few individuals or companies must be responsible for the aggregate total of inward foreign direct investment for that total to not be subject to disclosure on data protection grounds.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have, therefore, asked the Authority to respond.

4th Mar 2021
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office and the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, what the stock of inward foreign direct investment in the UK was from (a) Cameroon, (b) Colombia, (c) Israel, (d) Mexico and (e) Venezuela in each of the last five years.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have, therefore, asked the Authority to respond.

4th Mar 2021
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office and the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, what the stock of outward foreign direct investment from the UK was in (a) Cameroon, (b) Egypt, (c) Iraq, (d) Libya and (e) Yemen in each of the last five years.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have, therefore, asked the Authority to respond.

19th Feb 2021
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the combined stock of foreign direct investment in the UK from members of the Gulf Cooperation Council was in each calendar year since 2015.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have, therefore, asked the Authority to respond.

13th Jan 2021
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, which Minister is responsible for the (a) administration of and public communication around the UK's new trading relationship with the European Union and (b) discussions with UK and European stakeholders about proposed improvements in that relationship.

The Trade and Cooperation Agreement covers a wide range of areas and is the responsibility of various departments. Details of ministerial meetings with external organisations are published on gov.uk.

Penny Mordaunt
Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
30th Dec 2020
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, when he plans to publish a comprehensive and independently-verified economic impact assessment for the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement.

This is the first free trade agreement the EU has ever reached based on zero tariffs and zero quota. Businesses will be able to continue to trade smoothly, selling to their customers in the EU, and people will be able to continue to buy goods from Europe tariff-free, protecting consumer prices.

The agreement provides for streamlined customs arrangements, including recognising our respective trusted trade schemes, to support the smooth flow of goods at the border and to reduce administrative costs for traders. This deal also enables us to introduce our own modern subsidy system so that we can better support businesses to grow and thrive, in a way that best suits the interests of UK industries.

Penny Mordaunt
Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
30th Dec 2020
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what forecasts the Government has made for the growth in (a) UK exports of goods to the EU and (b) EU exports of goods to the UK in the 15-year period after the start of the implementation of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement relative to a baseline of no such agreement being in place after 31 December 2020.

This is the first free trade agreement the EU has ever reached based on zero tariffs and zero quota. Businesses will be able to continue to trade smoothly, selling to their customers in the EU, and people will be able to continue to buy goods from Europe tariff-free, protecting consumer prices.

The agreement provides for streamlined customs arrangements, including recognising our respective trusted trade schemes, to support the smooth flow of goods at the border and to reduce administrative costs for traders. This deal also enables us to introduce our own modern subsidy system so that we can better support businesses to grow and thrive, in a way that best suits the interests of UK industries.

Penny Mordaunt
Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
30th Dec 2020
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what forecasts the Government has made for the growth in (a) UK exports of services to the EU and (b) EU exports of services to the UK in the 15-year period after the start of the implementation of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement relative to a baseline of no such agreement being in place after 31 December 2020.

This is the first free trade agreement the EU has ever reached based on zero tariffs and zero quota. Businesses will be able to continue to trade smoothly, selling to their customers in the EU, and people will be able to continue to buy goods from Europe tariff-free, protecting consumer prices.

The agreement provides for streamlined customs arrangements, including recognising our respective trusted trade schemes, to support the smooth flow of goods at the border and to reduce administrative costs for traders. This deal also enables us to introduce our own modern subsidy system so that we can better support businesses to grow and thrive, in a way that best suits the interests of UK industries.

Penny Mordaunt
Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
30th Dec 2020
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what forecasts the Government has made for the growth in (a) UK GDP and (b) EU GDP in the 15-year period after the start of the implementation of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement relative to a baseline of no such agreement being in place after 31 December 2020.

This is the first free trade agreement the EU has ever reached based on zero tariffs and zero quota. Businesses will be able to continue to trade smoothly, selling to their customers in the EU, and people will be able to continue to buy goods from Europe tariff-free, protecting consumer prices.

The agreement provides for streamlined customs arrangements, including recognising our respective trusted trade schemes, to support the smooth flow of goods at the border and to reduce administrative costs for traders. This deal also enables us to introduce our own modern subsidy system so that we can better support businesses to grow and thrive, in a way that best suits the interests of UK industries.

Penny Mordaunt
Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
30th Dec 2020
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the new procurement provisions in the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement on the (a) level of market access for UK companies providing contracted services in the EU and (b) profitability of UK companies providing contracted services in the EU.

The UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement provides UK companies supplying contracted services to public authorities in the EU with export opportunities. The Agreement will allow UK companies to compete fairly for these contracted services in the EU. Details of the Agreement are available on gov.uk.

Penny Mordaunt
Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
15th Dec 2020
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, which of her Department's dedicated (a) telephone helpline and (b) email service individuals and companies should use in the event that they have problems and questions arising from the end of the transition period which cannot be answered from the resources available on www.gov.uk/transition; and what hours those services will be fully staffed and operational from 28 December 2020 to 4 January 2021 inclusive.

The transition period has now ended. As your question acknowledges, the latest guidance for businesses and citizens is available on gov.uk/transition.

This information is supplemented by departmental helplines and forums where businesses can access more detailed and specific guidance.

For questions relating to the Northern Ireland Protocol, specific information is available from the Trader Support Service and the Movement Assistance Scheme.

Penny Mordaunt
Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
2nd Dec 2020
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much funding his Department has allocated for advertising on digital channels as part of the information campaign on preparations for the end of the transition period, launched on 13 July 2020.

I refer the hon. Member to the answers given to PQs 121394 and 33512.

Penny Mordaunt
Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
2nd Dec 2020
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much funding his Department has allocated for radio advertising as part of the information campaign on preparations for the end of the transition period, launched on 13 July 2020.

I refer the hon. Member to the answers given to PQs 121394 and 33512.

Penny Mordaunt
Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
2nd Dec 2020
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much funding his Department has allocated for TV advertising as part of the information campaign on preparations for the end of the transition period, launched on 13 July 2020.

I refer the hon. Member to the answers given to PQs 121394 and 33512.

Penny Mordaunt
Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
2nd Dec 2020
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much funding his Department has allocated for advertising in print media as part of the information campaign on preparations for the end of the transition period, launched on 13 July 2020.

I refer the hon. Member to the answers given to PQs 121394 and 33512.

Penny Mordaunt
Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
23rd Nov 2020
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has promoted any external communications for traders on the updated rules of origin between the UK and Japan taking effect after the transition period.

I refer the hon. Member to the answers given to PQs 119201 and 119202.

The Government is ensuring that businesses and traders are ready for the end of the transition period through an intense programme of communication and engagement, including the national public information campaign launched in July.

Julia Lopez
Minister on Leave (Minister of State)
23rd Nov 2020
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has promoted any external communications for traders on updated rules of origin arising from continuity trade agreements taking effect after the transition period.

I refer the hon. Member to the answers given to PQs 119201 and 119202.

The Government is ensuring that businesses and traders are ready for the end of the transition period through an intense programme of communication and engagement, including the national public information campaign launched in July.

Julia Lopez
Minister on Leave (Minister of State)
2nd Jun 2020
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent representations he has received from representatives of UK businesses on the effect on the UK’s balance of payments of the UK's ongoing negotiations with the EU.

Ministers and officials talk to representatives of the public and private sectors on a regular basis including regarding negotiations with the EU. Details of ministerial meetings with external organisations are published on gov.uk.

Penny Mordaunt
Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
21st Feb 2020
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether members of 10 Downing Street staff with Developed Vetting security clearance are permitted to see unredacted Top Secret-classified material produced by his Department in relation to the Baltic States.

10 Downing Street is an integral part of Cabinet Office.

Full details on the Government’s vetting policy can be found via the HMG Personnel Security Controls published in May 2018.

As has been the practice of successive administrations, details of which employees have access to what material are confidential.

21st Feb 2020
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether members of 10 Downing Street staff with Developed Vetting security clearance are permitted to see unredacted Top Secret-classified material produced by his Department in relation to Syria.

10 Downing Street is an integral part of Cabinet Office.

Full details on the Government’s vetting policy can be found via the HMG Personnel Security Controls published in May 2018.

As has been the practice of successive administrations, details of which employees have access to what material are confidential.

21st Feb 2020
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether members of 10 Downing Street staff with Developed Vetting security clearance are permitted to see unredacted Top Secret-classified material produced by his Department in relation to Russia.

10 Downing Street is an integral part of Cabinet Office.

Full details on the Government’s vetting policy can be found via the HMG Personnel Security Controls published in May 2018.

As has been the practice of successive administrations, details of which employees have access to what material are confidential.

21st Feb 2020
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether members of 10 Downing Street staff with Developed Vetting security clearance are permitted to see unredacted Top Secret-classified material produced by his Department in relation to NATO.

10 Downing Street is an integral part of Cabinet Office.

Full details on the Government’s vetting policy can be found via the HMG Personnel Security Controls published in May 2018.

As has been the practice of successive administrations, details of which employees have access to what material are confidential.

21st Feb 2020
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether members of 10 Downing Street staff with Developed Vetting security clearance are permitted to see unredacted Top Secret-classified material produced by his Department in relation to Ukraine.

10 Downing Street is an integral part of Cabinet Office.

Full details on the Government’s vetting policy can be found via the HMG Personnel Security Controls published in May 2018.

As has been the practice of successive administrations, details of which employees have access to what material are confidential.

28th Nov 2023
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to her Department's publication entitled Inward investment in to freeports: December 2021 to November 2023, published on 24 November 2023, what are the equivalent estimates for the (a) number of jobs created and (b) amount of capital expenditure generated as a result of investment by UK resident entities over the period covered by that publication.

The publication entitled Inward investment in to freeports: December 2021 to November 2023, published on 24 November 2023 confirms verified foreign investment into Freeports. The Department for Business and Trade can only provide verification for foreign direct investment into the UK, not domestic investment, so we are unable to provide equivalent estimates.

Greg Hands
Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
28th Nov 2023
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to her Department's publication entitled Inward investment in to freeports: December 2021 to November 2023, published on 24 November 2023, if she will detail which freeports the (a) 1,421 jobs and (b) £1,278 million of capital expenditure were attributed to in that publication.

The investments making up the totals published on 24 November 2023 are spread across the 12 Freeports but details of individual investments are commercially sensitive. This means that publishing the specific location associated with these investments risks identifying such commercially sensitive information. The limitation prevents the Department for Business and Trade to publish further detail about the investments.

Greg Hands
Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
8th Nov 2023
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to Cabinet Office statistics on Permanent and temporary civil servants by sex, age band and department: 2023, published on 31 October 2023, how many permanent civil servants excluding agencies worked for her Department on 31 October 2023.

The Department for Business and Trade is a newly formed Department established in February 2023. The new department absorbed the functions of the former Department for International Trade (DIT) and some of the functions of the former Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

On 31 October 2023 the Department for Business and Trade comprised 5,411 permanent civil servants, excluding Agencies.

The Department for Business and Trade is a newly formed Department established in February 2023. The new department absorbed the functions of the former Department for International Trade (DIT) and some of the functions of the former Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

Greg Hands
Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
8th Nov 2023
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to Cabinet Office statistics on Permanent and temporary civil servants by sex, age band and department: 2023, published on 31 October 2023, how many permanent civil servants excluding agencies worked for (a) her Department on 31 March 2020 and (b) its predecessor departments in (i) 2011 and (ii) 2016.

On 31 March 2020 the Department for International Trade had a headcount of 2,300 permanent civil servants, excluding Agencies.

The Department for International Trade was created in July 2016 following the United Kingdom's vote to leave the European Union. The earliest published headcount was 920 permanent civil servants in December 2016.

Greg Hands
Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
7th Nov 2023
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what the value was of non-cash vouchers awarded to staff working for (a) her core Department, (b) the Department for International Trade and (c) the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy as performance-related bonuses in 2022-23.

a) DBT did not exist during the 2022-23 performance year, so awarded no vouchers.

b) Non-cash vouchers to the value of £348,510 were awarded to staff in the Department for International Trade in 2022-23.

c) Non-cash vouchers to the value of £371,730 were awarded to staff in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in 2022-23.

Kevin Hollinrake
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
18th Oct 2023
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what estimate she has made of the total costs incurred since January 2021 by (a) her Department and (b) the Insolvency Service in pursuing the disqualification proceedings dropped in October 2023 against five former board members of Carillion Construction Ltd.

The Insolvency Service conducts directors disqualification proceedings under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 on behalf of the Secretary of State for Business and Trade.

On the 12th of January 2021 the Insolvency Service commenced disqualification proceedings against 3 executive directors and 5 non-executive directors of Carillion plc. The Department for Business and Trade has not incurred any costs in relation to the proceedings. The Insolvency Service has incurred estimated costs in the proceedings against all 8 directors of £11,064,519. Following the successful disqualification of the 3 executive directors, costs of £2,725,000 have been recovered.

Kevin Hollinrake
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
19th Sep 2023
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 3 March 2022 to Question 131130, what was the level of UK Export Finance’s exposure as of 31 August 2023 arising from the underwriting of credit for buyers located in the Russian Federation in financial year 2021-22.

UK Export Finance’s remaining exposure from the underwriting of credit for buyers located in the Russian Federation between 2014-15 and 2020-21 as at 31 August 2023 was £47,713,256.

UK Export Finance has no exposure from the underwriting of credit for buyers located in the Russian Federation in the financial year 2021-22 as at 31 August 2023.

Nigel Huddleston
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
19th Sep 2023
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 3 March 2022 to Question 131130, how much of the £49,970,667 of UK Export Finance’s exposure from the underwriting of credit for buyers located in the Russian Federation between 2014-15 and 2020-21, remains at stake as of 31 August 2023.

UK Export Finance’s remaining exposure from the underwriting of credit for buyers located in the Russian Federation between 2014-15 and 2020-21 as at 31 August 2023 was £47,713,256.

UK Export Finance has no exposure from the underwriting of credit for buyers located in the Russian Federation in the financial year 2021-22 as at 31 August 2023.

Nigel Huddleston
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
19th Sep 2023
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the Answer of 8 March 2022 to Question 131137 on Department for International Trade: Russia, how many of her Department's staff were based in the Russian Federation on (a) 31 March 2022, (b) 31 March 2023, and (c) 1 September 2023.

Please see below for departmental staff based in Russia at the times specified. Former BEIS had no staff based in Russia prior to the establishment of the Department for Business and Trade:

31/03/2022

31/03/2023

31/08/2023

UK Based (Civil Servant)

1

2

1

Country Based Staff (Locally Employed)

17

3

2

Total

18

5

3

Nigel Huddleston
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
9th May 2023
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many ministerial red boxes belonging to (a) her Department, (b) the former Department for International Trade and (c) the former Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, have (i) been reported missing or lost or (ii) had their security features removed in order that they can be purchased for personal use by former ministers from 1 May 2018 to 30 April 2023.

Two Ministerial red boxes from the Department for Business and Trade, Department for International Trade and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy were reported missing between 1st May 2018 to 30th April 2023. No boxes had security features removed for personal use.

Nigel Huddleston
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
24th Apr 2023
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 17 April to Question 177725 on Government Departments: Staff, when staff in the London headquarters of the former Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy last completed a Leesman office survey; and how many and what proportion of respondents to that survey (a) agreed and (b) disagreed with the statements about their main workplace that (i) it enabled them to work productively, (ii) it supported them sharing ideas and knowledge among colleagues, (iii) it created an enjoyable environment to work in, (iv) it contributed to a sense of community at work and (v) it's a place they were proud to bring visitors to.

Please find the data below to respond to this PQ. It comes from the Leesman survey that was issued to those in the former Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), 1 Victoria Street and was conducted in July 2022.

BEIS, 1 Victoria Street - July 2022

Agree - No.

Agree - %

Disagree - No.

Disagree - %

It enables me to work productively

563

49.65%

433

38.18%

It supports me sharing ideas/knowledge amongst colleagues

697

61.68%

256

22.65%

It creates an enjoyable environment to work in

517

45.63%

363

32.04%

It contributes to a sense of community at work

601

53.37%

304

27.00%

It's a place I'm proud to bring visitors to

343

30.38%

375

33.22%


The percentage figure will not add up to 100% as some respondents will have answered a neutral response or chose not to answer this question.

Nigel Huddleston
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
24th Apr 2023
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer 2023 of 17 April to Question 177725 on Government Departments: Staff, when staff in the London headquarters of the former Department for International Trade last completed a Leesman office survey; and how many and what proportion of respondents to that survey (a) agreed and (b) disagreed with the statements about their main workplace that (i) it enabled them to work productively, (ii) it supported them sharing ideas and knowledge among colleagues, (iii) it created an enjoyable environment to work in, (iv) it contributed to a sense of community at work and (v) it's a place they were proud to bring visitors to.

This data comes from the Leesman survey that was issued to those in the former Department for International Trade (DIT), Old Admiralty Building (OAB), London, and was conducted in May 2022.

DIT, OAB - May 2022

Agree - No.

Agree - %

Disagree - No.

Disagree - %

It enables me to work productively

439

61.23%

209

29.15%

It supports me sharing ideas/knowledge amongst colleagues

444

62.27%

172

24.12%

It creates an enjoyable environment to work in

503

70.45%

115

16.11%

It contributes to a sense of community at work

444

62.27%

177

24.82%

It's a place I'm proud to bring visitors to

546

76.79%

28

3.94%


The percentage figure will not add up to 100% as some respondents will have answered a neutral response or chose not to answer this question.

Nigel Huddleston
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
30th Mar 2023
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 28 March 2023 to Question 166164 on Government Departments: Staff, how many and what proportion of respondents to the most recent Leesman office survey undertaken by the (a) Department for International Trade and (b) Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (i) agreed and (ii) disagreed with the statements about their main workplace that (A) it enables me to work productively, (B) it supports me sharing ideas and knowledge amongst colleagues, (C) it creates an enjoyable environment to work in, (D) it contributes to a sense of community at work and (E) it's a place I'm proud to bring visitors to.

The Government Property Agency (GPA) are the landlords of several sites in which ex- Department for International Trade (DIT) and ex-Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) staff are based. To measure employee experience the GPA commission post occupancy surveys in ex-DIT and ex-BEIS locations using Leesman (https://www.leesmanindex.com/).

The most recent survey for ex-DIT was run in November 2022 for the Darlington Economic Campus, Feethams House, Stephenson Street, Birmingham and North Gate House, Reading.

The most recent survey for ex-BEIS was run from November to December 2022 for the Darlington Economic Campus and Stephenson Street, Birmingham.

The results are only accessible to the relevant department and the GPA, and the DIT and BEIS responses to the specified questions are shown in the table.

These answers only include responses from Department for International Trade staff and Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Energy staff, respectively.

Question

No. Respondent Agree (figures are aggregate by response of Strongly Agree, Agree or Slightly Agree)

No. Respondent Disagree (figures are aggregate by response of Strongly Disagree, Disagree or Slightly Disagree)

Department for International Trade

it enables me to work productively

65 (68.42%)

21(22.10%)

it supports me sharing ideas and knowledge amongst colleagues

72 (75.79%)

9 (9.47%)

it creates an enjoyable environment to work in

80 (84.21%)

11 (11.57%)

it contributes to a sense of community at work

74 (77.89%)

12 (12.63%)

it's a place I'm proud to bring visitors to

80 (84.21%)

3 (3.16%)

Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy

it enables me to work productively

17 (81%)

3 (14%)

it supports me sharing ideas and knowledge amongst colleagues

12 (60%)

4 (20%)

it creates an enjoyable environment to work in

17 (81%)

1 (5%)

it contributes to a sense of community at work

14 (67%)

2 (10%)

it's a place I'm proud to bring visitors to

18 (90%)

0 (0%)

Note: Remaining responses neither agreed or disagreed with the statements.

Nigel Huddleston
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
21st Mar 2023
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether the draft treaty text of the free trade agreement with India on digital services and data would preclude the Government from taking unilateral action to block Voice over Internet Protocol phone calls to UK households, made from overseas using spoofed UK numbers.

A free trade agreement with India offers the opportunity to deepen our already strong trade relationship.

We are seeking an agreement that benefits both businesses and consumers. This includes commitments on the protection of core consumer rights, and advancing digital consumer rights, such as seeking access to redress and reducing spam.

Round 8 is currently taking place in India, and we will provide the House with an update on negotiations after the round. We do not discuss details of live negotiations, and will only sign a deal that is fair, reciprocal, and ultimately in the best interests of the British people and the economy.

Nigel Huddleston
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
21st Mar 2023
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether steps to prevent online and telephone fraud have been discussed during the free trade negotiations with India.

A free trade agreement with India offers the opportunity to deepen our already strong trade relationship.

We are seeking an agreement that benefits both businesses and consumers. This includes commitments on the protection of core consumer rights, and advancing digital consumer rights, such as seeking access to redress and reducing spam.

Round 8 is currently taking place in India, and we will provide the House with an update on negotiations after the round. We do not discuss details of live negotiations, and will only sign a deal that is fair, reciprocal, and ultimately in the best interests of the British people and the economy.

Nigel Huddleston
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
21st Mar 2023
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many overseas flights were made by Ministers in the Department for International Trade and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy using non-scheduled air transport in (a) 2016, (b) 2017, (c) 2018, (d) 2019, (e) 2020, (f) 2021 and (g) 2022; and on how many of those occasions were representatives of (i) the media and (ii) businesses included in the travelling party.

The requested information is not centrally held and complying with this request would incur a disproportionate cost to the department. Comprehensive details of Senior Officials’ Business Expenses, encompassing overseas and domestic flights are available on GOV.UK.

Nigel Huddleston
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
16th Mar 2023
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many outstanding arrangements UK Export Finance has with (a) Credit Suisse and (b) any of its subsidiaries on the provision of (i) buyer credit facilities, (ii) lines of credit, (iii) standard buyer loan guarantees and (iv) bills and notes guarantees as of 16 March 2023.

UK Export Finance (UKEF) has no exposure against Credit Suisse. Credit Suisse is not a buyer, or borrower, and nor is it acting as a guarantor for a buyer or borrower that is relying upon UKEF support in any transaction.

UKEF has provided its guarantee to the lenders for the Ankara-Izmir High Speed Railway project, which guarantees them against non-payment of principal and interest from the Borrower. Consequently, UKEF has no liability arising from Credit Suisse’s participation in that project.

Nigel Huddleston
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
16th Mar 2023
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the announcement by UK Export Finance on 24 May 2022 of its support for construction of the Ankara-Izmir High Speed Railway, what funds guaranteed to Credit Suisse under the Buyer Credit facility used to finance the project are outstanding as of 16 March 2023.

UK Export Finance (UKEF) has no exposure against Credit Suisse. Credit Suisse is not a buyer, or borrower, and nor is it acting as a guarantor for a buyer or borrower that is relying upon UKEF support in any transaction.

UKEF has provided its guarantee to the lenders for the Ankara-Izmir High Speed Railway project, which guarantees them against non-payment of principal and interest from the Borrower. Consequently, UKEF has no liability arising from Credit Suisse’s participation in that project.

Nigel Huddleston
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
14th Mar 2023
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 13 March to Question 158843 on Question for Department for Business and Trade, how much of the (a) £897,000, (b) £5,782,000 and (c) £380,000 spent on consultancy in the respective financial years 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22 by the Department for International Trade was attributable to spending by UK Defence and Security Exports.

UK Defence and Security Exports expenditure on consultancy is as follows:

  • 2019/20: £20,000
  • 2020/21: £16,538
  • 2021/22: £252,500
Nigel Huddleston
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
13th Mar 2023
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether UK Export Finance had any outstanding arrangements with (a) SVB Financial Group and (b) any of its subsidiaries relating to the provision of (i) buyer credit facilities, (ii) lines of credit, (iii) standard buyer loan guarantees and (iv) bills and notes guarantees as of 1 January 2023.

UK Export Finance (UKEF) has not had any interactions with the SVB Financial Group or its subsidiaries. As a consequence, UKEF has not had reason to form any opinion over their suitability as partners in any transactions.

Nigel Huddleston
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
13th Mar 2023
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether (a) SVB Financial Group and (b) any of its subsidiaries were regarded by UK Export Finance as acceptable institutions for partnership in the provision of (i) buyer credit facilities, (ii) lines of credit, (iii) standard buyer loan guarantees and (iv) bills and notes guarantees as of 1 January 2023.

UK Export Finance (UKEF) has not had any interactions with the SVB Financial Group or its subsidiaries. As a consequence, UKEF has not had reason to form any opinion over their suitability as partners in any transactions.

Nigel Huddleston
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
7th Mar 2023
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the brochure on border security capabilities published by UK Defence and Security Exports on 24 November 2021, how many expressions of interest were received from overseas governments in response to that brochure up to the end of 2022; how many contracts have been agreed as a result of those expressions of interest; and what is the total estimated value of those contracts.

The information requested in this parliamentary question is not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Nigel Huddleston
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
6th Mar 2023
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what the cost to the public purse was of spending on external consultants by (a) UK Export Finance, (b) the Trade Remedies Authority, (c) UK Defence and Security Exports and (d) the Competition and Markets Authority in (i) 2020, (ii) 2021 and (iii) 2022; and whether any of that spending related to the preparation of funding bids to (A) her predecessor Departments and (B) HM Treasury.

UK Export Finance (UKEF) expenditure on consultants is published in the Annual Report and Accounts at the following location (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/uk-export-finance-annual-reports-and-accounts). Of this expenditure, £679,629 related to the preparation of funding bids to HM Treasury.

The Trade Remedies Authority has not incurred any consultancy expenditure since its creation on 01 June 2021.

The former Department for International Trade (DIT) expenditure on consultants is published in the Annual Report and Accounts at the following location (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/department-for-international-trade-annual-report-and-accounts). None of this expenditure related to the preparation of funding bids.

The Competition and Markets Authority expenditure on consultants is published in Annual Report and Accounts at the following location (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cma-annual-report-and-accounts-2020-to-2021). None of this expenditure related to the preparation of funding bids.

Nigel Huddleston
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
28th Feb 2023
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, when she plans to answer Question 141387, tabled on 7 February 2023 for answer on 20 February.

I refer the Rt. Hon. Member to the answer I gave her on 28 February, UIN 141387.

Nigel Huddleston
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
21st Feb 2023
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether any officials, advisers or ministers from her Department have held discussions with representatives of (a) the Qatari government, (b) the consortium led by Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani or (c) Manchester United Football Club on that consortium's proposed takeover of that club.

There has been no engagement to discuss Manchester United Football Club investment or takeover with the Qataris.

Nigel Huddleston
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
20th Feb 2023
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what the cost to the public purse of spending on external consultants by (a) Companies House, (b) the Insolvency Service, (c) the Intellectual Property Office and (d) the Met Office was in (i) 2020, (ii) 2021, and (iii) 2022; and whether any of that spending related to the preparation of funding bids to (A) her predecessor Departments and (B) HM Treasury.

The expenditure on external consultants by Companies House and the Insolvency Service is provided below. In line with the Cabinet Office’s control framework for consultancy and professional services, these figures include some expenditure on professional services for the purposes of delivery or implementation to fill skills gaps, not just advisory work.

Figures for Companies House:

Year

Total Consultancy Expenditure

Expenditure on preparation of funding bids

2020

£527,876

£0

2021

£482,753

£0

2022

£2,948,953

£0

Figures for the Insolvency Service:

Year

Total Consultancy Expenditure

Expenditure on preparation of funding bids

2020

£602,965

£151,400

2021

£983,427

£113,169

2022

£903,099

£8,700

The Intellectual Property Office and the Met Office are now both part of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.

Nigel Huddleston
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
8th Feb 2023
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 18 January 2022 to Question 118892, in which quarterly publication of ministerial transparency data details of Lord Grimstone's visit to Jeddah in July 2021 can be found.

Due to an administrative oversight, details of Lord Grimstone’s visit to Jeddah in July 2021 were omitted from the department’s published version of July to September 2021 transparency data. Details of this visit will be published as an amendment to this return as soon as possible.

Nigel Huddleston
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
7th Feb 2023
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many ministerial red (a) boxes and (b) folders were in use by her Department as of 1 February bearing the inscription (i) Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and (ii) Department for International Trade; and how much public money was spent on the procurement of those items.

As of 1 February, there was one red box and fifteen folders in use by the Department bearing the inscription Department for International Trade. This was at a cost of £1,500 for the box and £5,760 for the folders with a total cost of £7,260. There were no boxes or folders in use bearing the inscription Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

Nigel Huddleston
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
8th Nov 2023
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to Cabinet Office statistics on Permanent and temporary civil servants by sex, age band and department: 2023, published on 31 October 2023, how many permanent civil servants excluding agencies worked for her Department on 31 October 2023.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero had 4248 permanent civil servants recorded in the department on the 31 October 2023.

Graham Stuart
Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)