Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, 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 Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Department for Science Innovation and Technology (DSIT) only hold records for the core department and does not hold the requested information for 2022, as DSIT was established in February 2023. The DSIT cardholders at the end of 2023 calendar year total 35.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, 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 Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Department for Science Innovation and Technology does not hold the requested information for 2022 as DSIT was established in February 2023. The total department spent on government procurement card purchases between February 2023 to December 2023 are outlined below:
a) Above £500 - total £114,646
b) Below £500 - total £78,502
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to her Department's publications entitled DSIT: spending over £500, October 2023 and DSIT: spending over £500, November 2023, published on 17 May 2024 for what reason payments of (a) £794.50 were made to Trove on 18 October 2023 and (b) £700 were made to Blue Orchid Hotels on 27 November 2023.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade
The Department spent a) £794.50 at Trove on catering for 70 people attending an all-day staff training event held off-site and b) £700 with Blue Orchid Hotels on the hire of a venue and equipment for an all-day staff training event for 100 people.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, 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 Andrew Griffith - Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade
Procurement cards assist with the reduction in procurement bureaucracy, boost efficiency, support the Government’s prompt payment initiative for Small and Medium businesses, and help maintain cash flow to suppliers.
Procurement cards are used as defined by the departmental procurement acquisition model, agreed by procurement and finance colleagues.
Controls are in place that limit purchase types and values in line with individual departmental controls.
Procurement cards are held by officials, not Ministers or Special Advisers.
1) No. of transactions: 827
2) Value: £59,209.04
This includes DSIT elements of BEIS.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how many purchases with a value less than £500 were made against the budget of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy through a Government procurement card (a) in calendar year 2022 and (b) from 1 January to 7 February 2023; and what was the total cost of those purchases.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade
Procurement cards assist with the reduction in procurement bureaucracy, boost efficiency, support the Government’s prompt payment initiative for Small and Medium businesses, and help maintain cash flow to suppliers.
Procurement cards are used as defined by the departmental procurement acquisition model, agreed by procurement and finance colleagues.
Controls are in place that limit purchase types and values in line with individual departmental controls.
Procurement cards are held by officials, not Ministers or Special Advisers.
Transactions less than £500 were as follows:
Calendar Year 2022:
1) No. of Transactions: 5340
2) Value: £302557.24
1st Jan 2023 to 7th Feb 2023(inc):
1) No. of Transactions: 582
2) Value: £42442.47
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, 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 Andrew Griffith - Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade
Procurement cards assist with the reduction in procurement bureaucracy, boost efficiency, support the Government’s prompt payment initiative for Small and Medium businesses, and help maintain cash flow to suppliers.
Procurement cards are used as defined by the departmental procurement acquisition model, agreed by procurement and finance colleagues.
Controls are in place that limit purchase types and values in line with individual departmental controls.
Procurement cards are held by officials, not Ministers or Special Advisers.
The figures for DSIT are as follows:
Cardholders as at 31 March 2023 – 186
Cardholders as at 31 December 2023 – 215
The figures above include former BEIS cardholders. There have been 11 new DSIT cardholders since July 2023.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to page 57 of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy's annual report and accounts for 2022/23, HC 1796, published on 19 October 2023, what the distance travelled on domestic flights was that resulted in the emission totals of (a) 128 tCO2e in 2021/22 and (b) 395 tCO2e in 2022/23.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade
The question refers to the former Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy's annual report and accounts for 2022/23. The total distance travelled on domestic flights was:
For 22/23 – Total domestic flights distance is 3,040,793km
For 21/22 – Total domestic flights distance is 987,591km
The year 21/22 was impacted by travel restrictions due to the covid pandemic.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy's publication entitled BEIS ministerial overseas travel, January to March 2022, published on 7 October 2022, how much of the (a) £73 spent on the visit of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Science, Research and Innovation to France from 15 to 16 February 2022, and (b) £171 spent on his visit to Switzerland from 6 to 8 March 2022, was spent on air travel.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade
The Department’s ministerial travel, January – March 2022 publication has been republished to amend previous errors.
The visit by the Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation to France was from 15 to 16 May 2022. Of the £76.14 spent on the visit, £76.14 was spent on air travel. Of the £308.53 spent on the visit to Switzerland from 06 to 08 February, £308.53 was spent on air travel.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to her Department's publication entitled DSIT ministerial travel, April to June 2023, published on 21 November 2023, how much of the £7,117 spent on the visit of the former Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Tech and the Digital Economy to Japan from 26 April to 1 May was spent on air travel.
Answered by Saqib Bhatti - Shadow Minister (Culture, Media and Sport)
The Department’s publication has now been corrected due to a previous error. The correct cost of this visit is £6,475. The amount spent on air travel was £5,565.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to her Department's publication entitled DSIT ministerial travel, April to June 2023, published on 21 November 2023, how much of the (a) £5,162.10 spent on the visit of the Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation to Japan from 10 to 16 June and (b) £7,101.35 spent on his visit to the United States and Canada from 5 to 10 June, was spent on air travel.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade
The Department’s ministerial travel, April to June 2023 publication has been republished to amend previous errors.
The visit by the Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation to Japan was from 10 to 16 May. Of the £6,705.09 spent on the visit to Japan from 10 to 16 May, £4,814.01 was spent on air travel. Of the £11,979.35 spent on the visit to the United States and Canada from 5 to 10 June, £7,267.31 was spent on air travel.