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 - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
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 Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 13 May 2024 to Question 25190 on Ministry of Justice: Ipsos MORI, what the deliverables are for contract reference 398437/1351727 contained in Annex F of that contract.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The supplier is contracted to conduct cognitive interviews, a pilot survey, and the finalised survey pursuant to the new survey design and agreed requirements.
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 - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
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 Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Minister without Portfolio's article of 12 May 2024 in The Sunday Telegraph, when the DVLA is expected to terminate its contract with Political Engagement Ltd., procurement reference 430567/1349023; and whether a notice period is required under the provisions of clause 11.3 of that contract.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
No monies have been paid under this contract, which is a call-off contract for conference attendance. It can be cancelled at 90 days notice.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the Minister without Portfolio's article of 12 May 2024 in The Sunday Telegraph, when her Department expects to terminate its contract with Vercida Ltd., procurement reference 103841; and whether a notice period will be required under the provisions of that contract.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
DCMS’s current contract with Vercida is set to expire on 1 October 2024 and continuation of the service will be considered at that point in light of the Cabinet Office guidance.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the average waiting time was for individuals submitting an IHT400 form to HMRC between 1 January to 30 April 2024 to receive a unique code to enable them to apply for probate; and how many individuals have waited for (a) one to two, (b) two to three, (c) three to four, (d) four to five, (e) five to six and (e) more than six months since submitting their IHT400 form to receive the unique code from HMRC as of 8 May 2024.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC prioritises requests for IHT reference numbers and the follow up IHT400 forms submitted to set up an IHT account. Between 1 January and 30 April 2024 HMRC have exceeded its service standard for issuing unique codes for Probate cases where the correct tax amount has been accounted for. The service standard is to process 80% of these requests within 15 working days.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Answer of 18 July 2023 to Question 193876, when he plans to publish the (a) content from the deliverables, (b) details of the experiment and (c) findings from the survey conducted by Ipsos Mori.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The work under the contract with procurement reference 336036/1227987 was delayed due to difficulties with finding a survey design that would accurately answer the research question, and eventually the contract expired before a workable design was agreed.
The department is continuing to work to finalise a revised research design. The survey has not yet been conducted but the expectation is that results will be available later this year.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 7 May 2024 to Question 24423 on Undocumented Migrants: France, whether the payments made by his Department to the French authorities for their part in delivering the UK-France Joint Leader's Declaration are published as part of his Department's monthly transparency data on spending over £25,000.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
The Home Office does not comment on the information requested due to the sensitivity of the agreement and the payments.
The Home Office continues to work collaboratively with our French counterparts in relation to preventing illegal migration and therefore respects agreements made regarding transparency data.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, in what way the purpose of the contract agreed by his Department with Ipsos Mori on 20 March 2024, procurement reference 398437/1351727, differs from the purpose of the contract agreed with the same company on 5 June 2023, procurement reference 336036/1227987.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The contract with procurement reference 336036/1227987 was delayed due to difficulties with finding a survey design that would accurately answer the research question, and eventually the contract expired before a workable design was agreed.
A new contract – reference 398437/1351727 – was awarded to Ipsos on the basis of agreeing a different survey design, which is more likely to produce usable results.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the press notice entitled Clean-up scheme expanded nationwide to tackle anti-social behaviour, published on 22 March 2024, how many offenders in England and Wales were ordered to carry out litter-clearing activities in support of the Great British Spring Clean from 17 March to 2 April 2024; and how many hours of litter-clearing activity were completed by those offenders.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.