Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many government procurement cards were held by staff within (a) her core Department and (b) executive agencies of her Department at the end of calendar years (i) 2022 and (ii) 2023.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
a.) We do not hold this data historically, as the system (Smart Data Online SDOL) that we use to record ePCS management information will only give us a list of active cardholders' data as of today's date; we do not have the capability to look back as of the time required.
b.) After confirming the numbers for executive agencies bodies, the numbers of active cardholders were:
Health and Safety Executive:
2022 – 47
2023 – 38
Office for Nuclear Regulation:
2022 – 8
2023 – 11
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 23 October 2024 to Question 9288 on Department for Work and Pensions: Ministers' Private Offices, how much was spent on (a) new furniture and fittings and (b) other refurbishment of Ministerial offices in her Department between 4 July 2022 and 4 July 2024; and on what items this was spent.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
There was nil spend in relation to the Ministers' Private Offices, on (a) new furniture and fittings and (b) other refurbishment of Ministerial offices in her Department between 4 July 2022 and 4 July 2024.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much her 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 Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The table below shows the government procurement card spend split by transactions above £500 and transactions of £500 and below for the 2022 and 2023 calendar years. Figures are net of refunded payments.
| 2022 | 2023 |
Value of GPC purchases above £500 | £59,801.33 | £286,902.08 |
Value of GPC purchases of £500 and below | £197,628.68 | £524,973.18 |
(Source: Smart Data Online)
Information about payments above £500 can be found here: DWP and CMG spending over £500 - GOV.UK
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Minister without Portfolio's article of 12 May 2024 in the Sunday Telegraph, when he expects the Office for Nuclear Regulation to cancel its contract with Lisa Ellis Training for diversity and inclusion training, procurement reference ONR/T974; and whether a notice period will be required under the provisions of that contract.
Answered by Paul Maynard
The ONR contract with Lisa Ellis of Bespoke Business Solutions for diversity and inclusion training was implemented in January 2024 for a period of three years to deliver 24 courses per annum with a total value of £36k over the three-year period. ONR has no plans to terminate this contract.
As a public corporation, ONR sits outside the civil service and is not subject to the Guidance on Diversity and Inclusion and Impartiality for Civil Servants, published on 14 May.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 17 January to Question 8940, what accounts for the difference between the (a) number and (b) value of transactions of less than £500 reported in (i) that Answer and (ii) the equivalent figures for calendar year 2021 provided in the Answer of 19 December 2022 to Question 107067.
Answered by Paul Maynard
Pursuant to Answer of 17.01.24 to Question 8940, this was provided as physical card spend only as linked to Question 8701 which was received at the same time, whereas prior Question 107067 was provided as all eProcurement card spend, which includes Virtual cards (Lodged and Single Use)
To provide all eProcurement card spend for the periods requested in Question 8940 (under £500 spend):
a) Total purchases 01/01/2022-31/12/2022 = 67,132 with a value of £6,916,350.32
b) Total purchases 01/01/2023-31/10/2023 = 80,627 with a value of £ £8,706,120.92
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many purchases with a value of less than £500 were made against his Department’s budget using a Government procurement card (a) in calendar year 2022 and (b) from 1 January to 31 October 2023; and what was the total cost of those purchases.
Answered by Paul Maynard
In response to your request please refer to the data below for details of purchases of less than £500 on a physical Government Procurement Card (GPC).
a) Total purchases 01/01/2022-31/12/2022 = 1,767 with a value of £194,605.36
b) Total purchases 01/01/2023-31/10/2023 = 2,672 with a value of £452,662.48
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many government procurement cards were held by people to make purchases against his Department’s budget as of (a) 31 December 2022, (b) 31 March 2023 and (c) 31 December 2023.
Answered by Paul Maynard
In response to your request for information of how many government procurement cards were held by people at the three given dates please refer to the data provided below.
31 December 2022 = 245
31 March 2023 = 251
31 December 2023 = 232
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, 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 his Department on 31 March (a) 2011, (b) 2016 and (c) 2020.
Answered by Paul Maynard
The Department for Work and Pensions reports its data annually to the Office for National Statistics which is in the public domain and can be found here:
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 6 December 2022 to Question 97594, what was the total value of non-cash vouchers awarded to staff working for his core Department as performance-related bonuses in 2022-23.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
The total value of non-cash vouchers awarded in the financial year 2022/23 is £5,895,312, which is inclusive of the Tax and National Insurance contributions paid on behalf of the recipient. This amount is derived from a single account code which is used to capture bonus payments in the form of Vouchers for UK employed permanent staff.
Source: Hyperion
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his predecessor (a) received requests from and (b) made representations to the Chancellor of the Exchequer to discuss the (i) presence and (ii) potential cost implications of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) within the job centre estate between 13 February 2020 and 5 July 2022.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
Ministers and officials have regular discussions with Treasury colleagues on a range of issues.