Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, What guidance his Department issues on ministerial (a) authorisation and (b) approval of a decision to appoint a civil servant under one of the Recruitment Principles exceptions.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Ministerial approval is not required to appoint a civil servant using an exception to the Recruitment Principles.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the three entries totalling £189,870 for Fujitsu Services Ltd under the GPG - Interoperability One Data Programme, in his Department's transparency data entitled Cabinet Office: spend data over £25,000 - July 2024, published on 29 August 2024, what other suppliers were considered for those software services.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
In January 2024, Fujitsu said it would withdraw from bidding for contracts with new Government customers until the Post Office Horizon inquiry concludes – it would only bid for work with existing Government customers where it already has a contract with them, or where there is an agreed need for Fujitsu’s skills and capabilities. Fujitsu's bid approach is detailed in this letter, deposited in Parliament.
The spend published on 29 August 2024 relates to work done on an existing contract awarded to Fujitsu in March 2023 under the previous administration.
In selecting the supplier in March 2023, the Tech Services 3 framework was employed. This was chosen as other frameworks did not have the quantity of suppliers needed to attract adequately competitive bids or would lead to direct awards. 125 companies were invited to bid, of which 3 did, including Fujitsu. Following an evaluation, which assessed technical ability to meet the requirements, how well they understood these by developing a proof of concept, social value and costs, Fujitsu were successful.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 17 September 2024 to Question 4655 on Public Sector: Directors, which Non-Executive Board Members have left which Departments since 4 July 2024.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The list of Non-Executive Board Members who have left government departments since 4 July 2024 was provided in my previous answer of 13th November, PQ 9162.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answers of 27 September 2024 to Questions 4998 and 4988 on Prime Minister: Communication, on which page of the Cabinet Office annual report and accounts 2022-23 is the information on (a) spending and (b) staff working on digital communications in Downing Street listed.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Information about overall departmental resourcing is set out in relevant annual reports (or published elsewhere in the relevant document). Annual reports do not include a breakdown by individual teams. This remains unchanged in size since the election.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what guidance his Department issues on the conduct of meetings between Ministers and business representatives where such business representatives have paid money to the governing party to facilitate the meeting.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
There is longstanding guidance on meetings between ministers and external organisations which is set out in the Ministerial Code.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many and what proportion of job vacancies at 10 Downing Street were externally advertised in the period since 4 July 2024.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
For management and staffing purposes the Prime Minister’s Office is a business unit of the Cabinet Office and consistently follows the same principles, protocols and approvals to recruitment as all other areas of the Department.
Since the General Election there have been 20 job vacancies at 10 Downing Street. Of these 8 were advertised externally. The 12 vacancies that were not advertised externally were either for short term cover (3-6 months and one was a slightly longer maternity cover) or for roles that required extensive and specific Civil Service knowledge and experience. This approach is in keeping with practice in previous administrations.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the published correspondence from the Office for Budget Responsibility of 27 October 2024 to the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will place in the Library a copy of the advice provided by the Cabinet Office to the Office for Budget Responsibility.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
It is a longstanding principle, maintained across multiple administrations, that official advice remains confidential. As such I do not intend to publish any official advice in relation to this matter.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, which Minister is responsible for ethics and integrity in government.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
I refer the Honourable Gentleman to the answer given to PQ6394.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of processes for providing access to the civil service prior to the 2024 general election; if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of those processes on the efficiency of Government since the general election; and if he will take steps to publish guidance on best practice for access talks between the civil service and official opposition at the next general election.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Pre-election contacts are an established part of the pre-election process. They are designed to allow the Opposition Parties to ask questions about departmental organisation and to inform civil servants of any organisational changes likely to take place.
Guidance on access talks is included in paragraph 2.21 of the Cabinet Manual. The meetings are confidential on both sides.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Prime Minister has had discussions with His Majesty's household on potential steps to support His Majesty in maintaining the Protestant Reformed Religion established by law.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
We do not routinely comment on discussions between the Government and the Royal Household.