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 Answer of 25 January to Question 8377 on Peter Bone, whether the severance payments incorrectly paid to (a) Mr Peter Bone, (b) Ms Nadine Dorries, (c) the Rt hon. Member for Bexleyheath and Crayford, (d) the hon. Member for Erewash and (e) the former Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in the Lords, have been recovered.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
We have previously set out that in any case where a former minister has been paid severance incorrectly, the relevant department will seek to recover the payment. It would not be appropriate to comment further on individual cases.
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 your Department's publication entitled Rt Hon Liz Truss MP and Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP overseas travel, October to December 2022, updated 30 March 2023, what the cost was of the accommodation used by the Prime Minister on his visit to Indonesia between 13 and 17 November 2022.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Government publishes details on gov.uk 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 Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Cabinet Office Ministerial Overseas Travel Transparency data, what the cost was of the (a) plane tickets and (b) accommodation used by the former President for COP26 on his visits to Indonesia between (i) 15 and 17 February 2022 and (ii) 30 August and 1 September 2022.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
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 Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the severance payments for former ministers published on Page 132 of HM Treasury's Annual Report and Accounts for 2022/23, published on 20 July 2023, for what reason the former Lord Commissioner of the Treasury, the Rt hon. Member for Bexleyheath and Crayford, was awarded a payment on 26 October 2022, in the context of his age at the date he ceased to hold office.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
I thank the Rt Hon Member for bringing this to my attention. The Ministerial and other Pensions and Salaries Act 1991 sets out the entitlement for Ministers who leave office.
Such payments should not apply where a person has attained the age of sixty-five. If a former Minister was incorrectly given a severance payment, the relevant department will contact the individual to recover the over-payment.
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 page 194 of his Department's Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23, published on 4 July 2023, for what reason the former Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in the Lords was awarded a severance payment on 31 December 2022 in the context of her age at the date she ceased to hold office.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
I thank the Rt Hon Member for bringing this to my attention. The Ministerial and other Pensions and Salaries Act 1991 sets out the entitlement for Ministers who leave office.
Such payments should not apply where a person has attained the age of sixty-five. If a former Minister was incorrectly given a severance payment, the relevant department will contact the individual to recover the over-payment.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, for what reason the former Deputy Leader of the House of Commons was awarded a payment on 27 September 2022, in the context of his age at the date he ceased to hold office.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
I thank the Rt Hon Member for bringing this to my attention. The Ministerial and other Pensions and Salaries Act 1991 sets out the entitlement for Ministers who leave office.
Such payments should not apply where a person has attained the age of sixty-five. If a former Minister was incorrectly given a severance payment, the relevant department will contact the individual to recover the over-payment.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, 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 30 November 2023; and what was the total cost of those purchases.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
For calendar year 2022, there were 7,358 transactions on the Government procurement card under £500 totalling £623.4k.
For calendar year 2023, up to 30 November 2023, there were 6,792 transactions on the Government procurement card under £500 totalling £559.5k.
I would note that procurement cards were introduced by the last Labour Government, who welcomed their use, saying they are a ‘good example of Government learning from the private sector’.
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.
They 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 Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, 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 Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The number of government procurement cardholders on the dates in question are:
31 December 2022 - 298 cardholders
31 March 2023 - 291 cardholders
31 December 2023 - 320 cardholders
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 employment tribunal claim listed on page 126 of his Department's annual report and accounts for 2022/23, HC 1464, whether that claim has been heard; and what the status is of the contingent liability arising from that claim.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Employment Tribunal hearing started in October and the claimant withdrew the claim mid-way through the hearing. The contingent liability has subsequently fallen away.
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 page 41 of his Department's annual report and accounts for 2022/23, HC1464, published on 19 September 2023, what the distance travelled on domestic flights was that resulted in the emission totals of (a) 434 tCO2e in 2021/22 and (b) 363 tCO2e in 2022/23.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The distance travelled by domestic flights in 2021/22 was 556,491.84 Km which equates to 72 tCO2. In 2022/23 the department travelled 1,772,171.00 Km by domestic flights which equates to 230 tCO2e.
Use of domestic air travel is a long standing practice under successive administrations to make best use of ministers’ working time, for instance by the last Labour Government for flights between London and Teesside, as reported by the BBC, ‘Ministers quizzed on RAF flights’, 12 April 2006, (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4900580.stm) and Independent newspaper ‘Blair runs up £1.2m bill using Queen's Flight’, Wednesday 12 April 2006, (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/blair-runs-up-163-1-2m-bill-using-queen-s-flight-6103956.html).