Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many government procurement cards were held by staff within (a) his core Department and its predecessor departments and (b) executive agencies of those departments at the end of calendar years (i) 2022 and (ii) 2023.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) was created in February 2023, so no information is held for periods prior to that date.
However, even though DESNZ was set up in February 2023, the spilt across GPC cards was not done at that point and was much later, all data prior to 2024 was recorded as BEIS, so we hold no DESNZ data for 2023.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how much his Department spent on government procurement card purchases (a) above and (b) below £500 net of refunded payments in (i) 2022 and (ii) 2023.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) was created in February 2023, so no information is held for periods prior to that date.
However, even though DESNZ was set up in February 2023, the spilt across GPC cards was not done at that point and was much later, all data prior to 2024 was recorded as BEIS, so we hold no DESNZ data for 2023.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to her Department's publication of spending over £500 using a government procurement card from October to December 2023 on 17 May 2024, for what purpose payments were made of (a) £662.70 to Paul on 10 October 2023, (b) £2,157.60 to Revolution Events on 6 November 2023, (c) £865.64 to Hilton International on 16 November 2023, and (d) £1,023.02 to Orbis Coffee on 17 November 2023.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
We can confirm that the only information we hold regarding the purpose of these payments is related to the provision of catering, conference attendance and accommodation.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to her Department's publication of spending over £500 using a government procurement card from October to December 2023 on 17 May 2024, for what purpose payments totalling £3,417 were made to Mons Hospitality between 22 November and 9 December 2023.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
We can confirm that the only information we hold regarding the purpose of these payments to Mons Hospitality over the timeframe stated is related to the provision of food and drink/catering at COP28
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to the Answer of 28 December 2022 to Question 112071 on Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Aviation, what the cost was of the accommodation used by the former Minister of State for Business, Energy and Clean Growth on his visit to Indonesia from 27 August to 3 September 2022.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government publishes on gov.uk details of the total cost of overseas Ministerial travel, including costs of travel, and on other costs (visas, accommodation, meals). But as has been the case under successive administrations, the Government does not publish granular detail on Ministers’ travel at home or abroad, nor details of those accompanying them.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many purchases with a value of less than £500 were made against her Department’s budget using a Government procurement card from 7 February to 31 December 2023; and what was the total cost of those purchases.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The majority of Government procurement cards remain registered on the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy account and have not yet transitioned to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ). The Department is therefore unable to provide information regarding transactions that relate solely to DESNZ for the full timeframe requested.
However, the following data is from transactions made from 29th July 2023 onwards and entered onto the DESNZ ledger from 1st September 2023:
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many government procurement cards were held by people to make purchases against her Department’s budget as of (a) 31 March 2023 and (b) 31 December 2023.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The number of government procurement cards held by people to make purchases against the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero’s (DESNZ) budget is as follows:
(a) As of 31 March 2023 – At this time, the Department was reporting as the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), and therefore does not hold any records for this date.
(b) As of 31 December 2023 – The majority of cards remain registered on the BEIS account and have not yet transitioned to DESNZ. The Department is therefore unable to provide a total number.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
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.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero had 4248 permanent civil servants recorded in the department on the 31 October 2023.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what the value was of non-cash vouchers awarded to staff working for her core Department as performance-related bonuses in 2022-23.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero did not exist as a separate department in 2022-23. It is not possible to split the value of the non-cash voucher awards from the rest of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. The value of non-cash voucher awards for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in 2022-23 was £337,255.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what the value was of non-cash vouchers awarded to staff working for her core Department as performance-related bonuses in 2022-23.
Answered by Graham Stuart
It has not proved possible to respond to the Rt hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.