Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, 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 Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The guiding policy setting out the requirement to publish GPC transactions over £500 remains in place. Guidance is available to all government departments on gov.uk at the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5e8b402686650c18ce2cb541/Procurement_Cards_-_Pan_Government_Policy_V4_06042020.pdf
In support of the Government’s Transparency agenda, the Cabinet Office publishes GPC spend data over £500 on gov.uk. Details of Cabinet Office spend on government procurement card purchases over £500 can be found in the table below. Details of spend under £500 is not published.
Financial Year | Total spend on purchases over £500 |
2022/23 | £1,210,718.39 |
2023/24 | £1,054,654.09 |
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the contract agreed by his Department with Enterprise Rent-A-Car on 19 April 2024, procurement reference CCVH23A01, if he will publish the specification of requirements set out in schedule 20 of that contract.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
It is Cabinet Office policy to publish Contracts with a value of over £10,000 on Contracts Finder within 30 days of Contract Award. Crown Commercial Service, Cabinet Office’s procurement arm, has published the Contract Schedules in accordance with the publication timescales and the information is now available.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Minister without Portfolio's article of 12 May 2024 in The Sunday Telegraph, when his Department is expected to terminate its contract with High Fliers Ltd., procurement reference CSR/187; and whether a notice period will be required under the provisions of Clause 11.3 of that contract.
Answered by John Glen
There should be no external EDI spend in the Civil Service unless cleared and authorised by Ministers.
The contract with High Fliers Ltd. is due to expire on 31 August 2024. We do not intend to terminate it early.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the contract agreed by his Department with Enterprise Rent-A-Car on 19 April 2024, procurement reference CCVH23A01, which public bodies are covered by the scope of that contract; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact of that contract on the number of (a) journeys that will be made and (b) miles that will be travelled by hire car rather than public transport.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The contract with Enterprise Rent-A-Car covers the Cabinet Office and its Agencies.
The Cabinet Office is obliged to report car hire journeys and the miles travelled when that hire car journey meets the criteria as laid down in the Greening Government Commitments. However, the department favours travel by public transport where most practical. Cabinet Office policy is that vehicle hire should only be used if travelling by car is deemed to be the most economical travel method for legitimate business journeys, and is cheaper than public transport. When hiring a vehicle, drivers should select the smallest and cheapest vehicle suitable for the journey.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the contract agreed by his Department with DF Press on 24 March 2024 under procurement reference CCCS23A10, for what purpose the press office services to be provided under that contract are required; and if he will publish schedule 20 of that contract agreement.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
In common with many arms-length bodies, the House of Lords Appointments Commission (HOLAC) has a separate press officer to ensure that the Commission can be fully accountable to the public, the Government and Parliament, and to support its independent advisory role to the Prime Minister.
It is Cabinet Office policy to publish Contracts with a value of over £10,000 on Contracts Finder within 30 days of Contract Award. Crown Commercial Service, Cabinet Office’s procurement arm, has published the Contract Schedules in accordance with the publication timescales and the information is now available.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department's Evaluation Task Force Output and Outcome Indicators March 2024, if he will publish the (a) Evaluation Accelerator Fund projects rated red and (b) Evaluation Task Force priority projects without robust evaluation plans.
Answered by John Glen
The Evaluation Task Force (ETF) committed to publicly report on a series of output and outcome indicators in response to recommendations featured in the ‘Evaluating Government Spending’ NAO report in 2022 and the Public Accounts Committee’s recommendation for the ETF to establish quantifiable metrics on the scale and quality of evaluation across government. These indicators of progress can be viewed in the ETF evaluation strategy published in 2022 here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-evaluation-task-force-strategy-2022-2025
The indicators are not wholly controlled or ‘owned’ by the ETF. Driving progress towards the targets outlined in the ETF strategy are dependent on cross-government partners working together to build an improved evaluation ecosystem which creates more and higher quality evaluation in government.
The PQ references two indicators:
1.4 Proportion of Evaluation Accelerator Fund projects on track (RAG rated 'Green')
1.6 Proportion of ETF priority projects with robust evaluation plans (cumulative)
The ETF Output and Outcome Indicators (March 2024) report has also published its Technical Annex alongside the main report. This details the number of projects rated Red, Amber and Green across these portfolios and provides a detailed explanation of how these ratings were assessed. This is summarised in the background section below.
Departments and What Works Centres who lead either EAF or priority projects understand they are part of the ETF’s broader portfolio of work and that although regular indicators of evaluation progress in government are published, there have been no plans to publish the details of specific projects as part of the reporting.
The ETF has established good working relationships with departments who (particularly within the context of EAF and priority projects) are delivering complex evaluations in high profile policy areas. The departments openly share their work with the ETF and this transparency has enabled the ETF to provide high quality advice and support to teams. Using the information provided to the ETF to specifically publicly name projects, separately from other projects, risks damaging this important working relationship.
The ETF instead has been working to ensure transparency on a larger more sustainable scale, for all projects not just ETF priority areas. The Cabinet Office and the ETF will soon be publicly launching the Government Evaluation Registry. The Registry will bring together all planned, live and completed evaluations from Government Departments in a single accessible location, providing an invaluable tool for understanding “what works” in Government. Due to the importance of transparency and improving evaluation across Departments, the Government has decided to make use of the Registry mandatory. As such, Departments and What Works Centres responsible for EAF funded and priority projects will publish plans and findings on the Registry in due course. This will then be available to the public, along with the plans and reports for the rest of the department’s portfolio.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answers of 15 April 2024 to Questions 20230 and 20234 on Cabinet Office: Visits Abroad, whether the share of the total flight costs attributable to the Deputy Prime Minister was £14,784.46; and whether the non-flight costs incurred by the Deputy Prime Minister on his visit to New York were £13,915.54.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
Costs for the trip were outlined in the ministerial travel data entitled Cabinet Office ministerial overseas travel, July to September 2023, published on 21 March 2024.
As outlined in that publication, the flight was also used to support regular movement of military personnel between the UK and the USA. These were not included in the number of officials nor in the cost calculations for the trip in order to maintain operational security.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department's report entitled Evaluation Task Force Output and Outcome Indicators (March 2024), published on 22 March 2024, how many and what proportion of Evaluation Accelerator Fund projects were rated (a) amber and (b) red as of 1 March 2024.
Answered by John Glen
The Evaluation Task Force (ETF) committed to publicly report on a series of output and outcome indicators in response to recommendations featured in the ‘Evaluating Government Spending’ NAO report in 2022 and the Public Accounts Committee’s recommendation for the ETF to establish quantifiable metrics on the scale and quality of evaluation across government. The indicators are not wholly controlled or ‘owned’ by the ETF. Driving progress towards the targets outlined in the ETF strategy are dependent on cross-government partners working together to build an improved evaluation ecosystem which creates more and higher quality evaluation in government.
All information related to the proportion of projects rated Red, Amber, Green across Evaluation Accelerator Fund and ETF priority projects are included in the Technical Annex published alongside the main output and outcome indicator report. This can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/evaluation-task-force-output-and-outcome-indicators-march-2024
For completeness, the table below outlines the number and proportion of projects that were rated Red, Amber, Green across both indicators related to this PQ. Please note these figures have been recently updated and are now included on the ETF website.
| Project RAG ratings (number and proportion) | ||
Indicator | GREEN | AMBER | RED |
1.4 Proportion of Evaluation Accelerator Fund projects on track (RAG rated 'Green') | 11 (58%) | 6 (32%) | 2 (10%) |
1.6 Proportion of ETF priority projects with robust evaluation plans (cumulative) | 13 (62%) | 7 (33%) | 1 (5%) |
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department's data entitled Cabinet Office ministerial overseas travel, July to September 2023, published on 21 March 2024, how much of the £28,700 costs incurred by the Deputy Prime Minister for his visit to New York from 19 to 23 September 2023 were attributable to his share of the £192,198 costs of the RAF flight used for that visit.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The total cost of the RAF flight used for the journey to New York on 19 September 2023 includes the costs arising from the movement of military personnel.
Costs for the full trip were outlined in the ministerial travel data entitled Cabinet Office ministerial overseas travel, July to September 2023, published on 21 March 2024.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department's data entitled Cabinet Office ministerial overseas travel, July to September 2023, published on 21 March 2024, whether the £192,198 cost of the RAF flight used for the journey to New York on 19 September 2023 includes the costs arising from the movement of military personnel between the UK and the USA on that flight.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The total cost of the RAF flight used for the journey to New York on 19 September 2023 includes the costs arising from the movement of military personnel.
Costs for the full trip were outlined in the ministerial travel data entitled Cabinet Office ministerial overseas travel, July to September 2023, published on 21 March 2024.