Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the ministerial department figures in his Department's workforce management information data for February and March 2023, for what reason the payroll staff numbers are different between the two months but the payroll staff costs are identical.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
March 2023 payroll costs were not available in time for inclusion in the March 2023 monthly workforce management information update, so February 2023 data was re-used as an estimate to be revised when the data had been received.
Payroll staff costs for March 2023 have now been revised in the Defra workforce management information collection on GOV.UK to reflect the correct payroll staff costs.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, 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 Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The following table sets out the number of procurement cardholders on each given date.
Date | Cardholders |
31 December 2022 | 237 |
31 March 2023 | 254 |
31 December 2023 | 304 |
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.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, 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 Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The table below sets out the number of purchases made valued at under £500 using a Government procurement card for the given time periods.
Time Period | Volume of Transactions | Value of Transactions |
2022 | 3853 | £355,245 |
1 January to 31 October 2023 | 3798 | £336,077 |
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to page 116 of the Annual Report and Accounts of the Environment Agency for 2022-23 published on 26 October 2023, what the purpose of the contract that has been subject to an adjudication process was; with which contractor that contract was agreed; and what the status is of that contract as of 7 November 2023.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The accounts disclosed that there was an adjudication, however this adjudication dealt with preliminary issues in the commercial dispute and the dispute itself remains live. As the dispute remains live it would be inappropriate to provide further comment since this could adversely affect the course of justice, and potentially prejudice the Environment Agency’s position in the dispute.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, 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 March (a) 2011, (b) 2016 and (c) 2020.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Headcount of civil servants who worked for the Department on 31 March of 2011, 2016 and 2020 can be found in the ONS Public Sector Employment Publication,
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 Ukraine, but it is right that we reduce the size of the Civil Service over time as we drive up productivity and deliver efficiencies.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 30 December 2022 to Question 97595, what was the total value of non-cash vouchers awarded to staff working for her core Department as performance-related bonuses in 2022-23.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Bonuses paid out as non-cash vouchers is a standard practice across Government.
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 Edenred contract came into effect in 2017 which allows departments access to non-cash vouchers for staff.
The total value of non-cash vouchers awarded to staff working for the core Department as performance-related bonuses in the 2022-23 financial year is £716,250.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many ministerial red boxes belonging to her 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.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The department has no record of any ministerial boxes being lost or going missing between 1 May 2018 to 30 April 2023 nor have any boxes had security features removed for personal use. It is a long standing convention under successive administrations that Ministers may pay to retain boxes as a memento of their time in their role. Alternatively former Ministers are able to purchase new boxes from the relevant provider as a memento.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the invitation to tender published by her Department on 21 December 2022 with procurement reference C5445, which organisation was awarded the resulting contract; when they are due to submit their (a) draft and (b) final reports; and what was the agreed value of that contract.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Resource Futures were awarded the contract. The agreed value of the contract is £38,666.25 (excluding VAT) and we expect the research to be completed in the summer.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the cost to the public purse was of spending on external consultants by (a) the Environment Agency, (b) Natural England and (c) the Water Services Regulation 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 Department and (B) HM Treasury.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
(a) Environment Agency
Financial Year | Consultancy (£m) |
2019/20 | 14 |
2020/21 | 8.5 |
2021/22 | 8.2 |
Notes:
(b) Natural England
As per the definition of consultancy which is “The provision to management of objective advice relating to strategy, structure, management or operations of an organisation. Such advice will be provided outside the ‘business-as-usual’ environment when in-house skills are not available and will be time-limited”, Natural England incurred nil consultancy spend in 2020 and 2021.
In 2022 £18,100 consultancy spend was incurred for the provision of specialist advice for the Customer Spending Review.
(c) Water Services Regulation Authority
Ofwat's spend on external consultants is listed in its Annual Report and Accounts: https://www.ofwat.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/ARA-final.pdf (see page 84); and previous year https://www.ofwat.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Ofwat-Annual-report-and-accounts-2020-2021.pdf (see page 92).
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she plans to answer Questions 118879 and 118881 on Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Electronic Purchasing Card Solution, and 119016 on Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Waste, tabled on 9 January 2023.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
A response for PQ 118879 was published on 30th January. Responses for PQs 118881 and 119016 were published on 1st February.