Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when the Outer London Allowance was last reviewed for (a) teachers, (b) police officers and (c) civil servants.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
For teachers, the geographical areas covered by the different teacher pay ranges were defined some years ago to reflect a practical approach to compensate teachers working in London.
The School Teachers’ Review Body has not recommended any changes to London pay ranges in recent years; however, the Department is currently considering what additional flexibilities should be built into the statutory pay and conditions framework as a result of our commitment on changes to pay and conditions through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, and we will keep this matter under review.
For police officers, there’s London Weighting and London Allowance. There’s not an inner and outer London rate – it’s the same across all of London.
London Weighting and London Allowance were last reviewed by the Police Remuneration Review Body in the 2025/26 pay round.
Decisions on pay, including London weighting, are delegated to individual departments for grades below the Senior Civil Service (SCS); departmental policies on London weighting are not collected centrally. The SCS pay framework is managed centrally and only operates a national pay range.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what information his Department holds on changes in the number of pawn shops in England and Wales since 2010.
Answered by Josh Simons - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 8th January is attached.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the level of (a) exports and (b) imports trade (i) to the nearest billion pounds and (ii) by share with the (A) EU, (B) US and (C) rest of the world in the last period for which data is available.
Answered by Josh Simons - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 10th October is attached.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the top 10 UK service export destinations were in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
Answered by Josh Simons - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 10th October is attached.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will take steps with Cabinet colleagues to review the implementation of the Single Trade Window to ensure it meets the needs of small businesses; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The world-leading Single Trade Window (STW) will provide a simplified experience for businesses interacting with the Government and significantly reduce the administrative burden, including for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Through the STW, SMEs and other businesses will only need to submit their data once and in one place. Better use of technology and real-time data will ensure a more streamlined experience and represents an important step in our endeavour to create the most effective border in the world.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make available all documents related interactions between Vera Baird and stakeholders representing those involved in the Cammell Laird industrial dispute of 1984.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
I refer the Honourable Member to the answer given to PQ 59415 on 20 October by the then Minister for the Cabinet Office, my Right Honourable friend, the member for Croydon South.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to Article 210 of the UK/EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement, what assessment he has made of the steps taken by the European Union to identify ways to expand access to and use of public government information for (a) all businesses and (b) small and medium sized enterprises since that agreement came into effect.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The UK is at the forefront of a global movement centred on demonstrating the value of open data to economic growth and how this can be used effectively, creatively and responsibly. We share best practice with European and international partners including the Open Government Partnership of 77 countries, the G8 and the OECD Open Government Data project. We will assess the European Union’s latest approaches to open data and the re-use of public sector information as part of our ongoing strategy.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many staff in his Department have been allocated to deal with issues related to international trade in (a) each of the past five years and (b) the next two years; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
There are currently 13 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) staff working on trade in the Cabinet Secretariat and 6 FTE working on international government procurement, which includes procurement policy within trade negotiations. That number has fluctuated over the past five years, including when staff were redeployed on a temporary basis in support of the Government's response to the war in Ukraine and to tackle the Covid pandemic. We are in the process of planning workforce arrangements for the next two years.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make available all documents related interactions between Jack Straw and stakeholders representing those involved in the Cammell Laird industrial dispute of 1984.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
I refer the Honourable Member to the answer given to PQ 59415 on 20 October by the then Minister for the Cabinet Office, my Right Honourable friend, the member for Croydon South.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much and what proportion of services exports were made by businesses with a headcount of (a) 250 or more, (b) between 50 and 249, (c) between 10 and 49 and (d) less than 10 employees in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon. Member's Parliamentary Question of 21 November is attached.