Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when he expects the permanent Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman to be appointed.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The House of Commons leads on the recruitment of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, which is ongoing. We expect that further information will be made available shortly.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the number of drug deaths in the last 12 months.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 17th March is attached.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he has taken to improve national resilience to global events.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The first duty of the Government is to keep the country safe and we are working to strengthen our national resilience, including by working with international partners.
In April the UK Resilience Academy will be launched and will train over 4000 people a year and later this year we will undertake a full national pandemic response exercise.
The review of national resilience continues. Updates will be given in due course.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what information he holds on the number of workers who work full-time from home.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 4th March is attached.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when the devolved nations will receive their redress payments for the infected blood scandal.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA) is a UK-wide body, established by the Victims and Prisoners Act to administer the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme to victims of the infected blood scandal across the UK. IBCA began making payments to people impacted by the infected blood scandal last year. As of 21 February, IBCA has invited 204 people to start their compensation claim, and 149 of those have started the claim process. 38 offers of compensation have been made, totalling over £48 million, and so far 22 people have accepted their offers with more than £25 million paid in compensation. IBCA are increasing the number of people invited to make their claim and help test the service, and they aim to reach around 250 claims by the end of March 2025.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will take steps to regulate the cost of Office for National Statistics surveys.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Office of National Statistics is part of the UK Statistics Authority, a Non Ministerial Department which is directly accountable to the UK Parliament, Scottish Parliament, Senedd and Northern Ireland Assembly. Its budget is awarded directly from HM Treasury.
As per the Code of Practice for Statistics (including as referenced in the Ministerial Code), the UN’s Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics and the broader Nolan principles of propriety in public life, Ministers have no role in the decision making of the Authority Board or day-to-day management decisions of the Office of National Statistics.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an assessment with Cabinet colleagues of the potential impact of an IT shutdown initiated by hostile foreign actors on (a) the NHS and (b) other critical digital infrastructure.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office works with Departments across Government, and the National Cyber Security Centre, to assess and tackle cross-cutting risks to the UK’s critical infrastructure.
The cyber threat is dynamic and grows more complex each year, with implications for our Critical National Infrastructure (CNI). It is an issue this Government takes incredibly seriously, and we are committed to working closely with CNI operators to ensure resilience and preparedness to all threats, including cyber. This means understanding and managing cyber risk, and minimising the impact of cyber incidents when they occur.
For the health sector, in an increasingly digitised system, cyber-attacks are a direct threat to patient safety and people in care, as well as to public confidence. The Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England are delivering an ambitious Cyber Improvement Programme that addresses the changing cyber risk landscape, expands protection and services and reduces the risk of a successful attack.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of trends in the uptake of apprentices in the civil service in the last 12 months.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The uptake of apprenticeships within the Civil Service (in England) fell under the previous administration from 7,007 starts in 2022/23 to 6,508 starts in 2023/24.
This Government is committed to apprenticeships as a means of removing barriers to opportunities and building the skills needed for the future workforce.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to improve the Government's national security risk assessment policies, in the context of the recent CrowdStrike software outages.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The UK is facing an ever-changing and growing set of risks. All risks in the government's National Risk Register (NRR) are kept under review to ensure that they are the most appropriate scenarios to inform emergency preparedness and resilience activity.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Written Statement on Procurement Act 2023 Update of 12 September 2024, HCWS90, what the changes to the National Procurement Policy Statement are that entail the delay in implementation of the Procurement Act 2023.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
It is important that the new procurement regime commences with a statutory National Procurement Policy Statement (NPPS) aligned to the Government’s strategic priorities. The new NPPS will set out a mission-led procurement regime which meets the challenge of applying the full potential of public procurement to deliver value for money, economic growth and social value. The NPPS will be informed by stakeholder engagement taking place over the coming months.