Asked by: Jack Dromey (Labour - Birmingham, Erdington)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 17 November 2021 to Question 73818, on Coronavirus: Public Inquiries, whether there will be a consultative process for the selection of chair of the covid-19 public inquiry; and what the timeframe for the selection of that chair will be.
Answered by Michael Ellis
On 12 May, the Prime Minister confirmed that a public inquiry into COVID-19 will be established on a statutory basis, with full formal powers, and that it will begin its work in spring 2022. The Prime Minister has committed to appointing an independent chair by the end of the year. The inquiry will be established on a statutory basis and the chair will be appointed in accordance with the Inquiries Act 2005.
Asked by: Jack Dromey (Labour - Birmingham, Erdington)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, which Minister is responsible for the covid-19 public inquiry.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
On 12 May, the Prime Minister confirmed that a public inquiry into COVID-19 would be established on a statutory basis, with full formal powers, and that it will begin its work in spring 2022.
Further details will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Jack Dromey (Labour - Birmingham, Erdington)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 1 July to Question 13907 on Chambers of Commerce: Essex, who the contact involved with the Essex Chambers of Commerce was; and what offer was made.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
I refer the hon. Member to the letter dated 13 May 2020 from the Department for Health and Social Care to the Rt Hon Member for Witham. I am placing a copy of this letter in the libraries of both Houses.
Asked by: Jack Dromey (Labour - Birmingham, Erdington)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, when he plans to answer Question 27109 on Chambers of Commerce: Essex, tabled on 5 June 2021 by the hon. Member for Birmingham, Erdington.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to PQ 27109 on 02 August 2021.
Asked by: Jack Dromey (Labour - Birmingham, Erdington)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to page 131 of the Cabinet Office's Annual Report and Accounts 2020-21, who provided the machines for the manufacture of face coverings whose value has been written off by his Department.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The write down in the Cabinet Office - Annual Report and Accounts 2020/21 relates to an initial purchase of semi-automated face covering manufacturing plants acquired at the outset of the pandemic to provide initial domestic resilience while we were facing worldwide shortages. These machines were replaced by fully automated machines. As a result of this investment, more than 13 million masks for public use have already been made and millions more will be produced in the coming months. This programme has helped ensure public demand for face coverings has not affected the supply of higher-grade masks needed by NHS frontline staff.
Asked by: Jack Dromey (Labour - Birmingham, Erdington)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Cabinet Office Annual Report and Accounts 2020/21, page 131, published 15 July 2021, which companies were covered by the constructive losses incurred on the Ventilator Challenge Programme.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Throughout the pandemic, we have done whatever it takes to protect the NHS and save lives. This included launching the Ventilator Challenge, which saw more than 15,000 new machines delivered to the NHS, meaning every patient who needs a ventilator has been able to access one.
The Ventilator Challenge was run during the height of the pandemic and the Cabinet Office accepted the higher levels of risk that come with Research and Development projects where time is of the essence, entering into development contracts with a wide variety of vendors. An initial screening of the projects by a Technical Design Authority (comprised of clinicians, the regulator, external experts and officials) identified which ventilators design concepts were most likely to both pass validation and be manufacturable in volume.
Those design teams were issued conditional letters of intent to cover reasonable costs until the next (clinically informed) TDA, when work on the devices considered to be non-viable was stood down. In this way the list of potentially viable designs was whittled down to those that did pass the required validation tests, some of which were then taken into manufacture. There were therefore costs incurred in supporting designs that did not turn out to work, but it was not knowable at the outset which design concepts would and would not be successful.
As highlighted in the NAO report, even including the R&D costs expended on designs that did not progress, the average unit cost of the ventilators developed and manufactured compared favourably with that of the ventilators purchased in the market. Moreover the NAO report into the ventilator challenge remarked that given its overall approach, the Cabinet Office took reasonable steps to control the programme’s costs where it could.
Asked by: Jack Dromey (Labour - Birmingham, Erdington)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many procurement contracts were awarded to British companies as part of the Government's National Infrastructure and Construction Procurement Pipeline 2020-21.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) will publish the next iteration of its annual National Infrastructure and Construction Pipeline in 2021, as stated in the NIS, and this will list future planned investments and procurements across infrastructure and construction.
The Pipeline is a tool provided by the government to support all companies across the UK to make critical business decisions and provide them with the certainty needed to invest in innovation and skills. The IPA is not the custodian of the data included within the Pipeline as this is owned by individual contracting authorities spanning both public and private sector. The procurements included within the Pipeline are only those with a high confidence of delivery and by including them within the Pipeline contracting authorities are providing a commitment to seek to deliver them as planned.
Asked by: Jack Dromey (Labour - Birmingham, Erdington)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the value of procurement contracts awarded to British companies as part of the Government's National Infrastructure and Construction Procurement Pipeline 2020-21.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) will publish the next iteration of its annual National Infrastructure and Construction Pipeline in 2021, as stated in the NIS, and this will list future planned investments and procurements across infrastructure and construction.
The Pipeline is a tool provided by the government to support all companies across the UK to make critical business decisions and provide them with the certainty needed to invest in innovation and skills. The IPA is not the custodian of the data included within the Pipeline as this is owned by individual contracting authorities spanning both public and private sector. The procurements included within the Pipeline are only those with a high confidence of delivery and by including them within the Pipeline contracting authorities are providing a commitment to seek to deliver them as planned.
Asked by: Jack Dromey (Labour - Birmingham, Erdington)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to enforce Cabinet Office guidance on the use of private email accounts for government business by Ministers.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Further to the answers given on 8 July 2021, Cabinet Office Guidance to departments on the use of private emails provides guidance to departments (and their Ministers) on this issue.
Asked by: Jack Dromey (Labour - Birmingham, Erdington)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he has taken to ensure emails sent by Ministers in the Department of Health and Social Care relating to government contracts are available for (a) requests under the Freedom of Information Act and (b) the public inquiry into the Government’s response to the covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Further to the answers given on 8 July 2021, record keeping and the management of information within the Department of Health and Social Care is a matter for the Department of Health and Social Care.