Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, on how many occasions UK National Security Advisers have appeared as witnesses in front of (a) Commons, (b) Lords and (c) joint committees in each year since 2010; and if he will list those committees.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
National Security Advisers and Deputy National Security Advisers have previously appeared in front of a range of Parliamentary Committees when necessary and appropriate to do so. This includes the Commons Defence Committee, the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, the Commons Public Accounts Commission, the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, the House of Lords EU Sub-Committee, the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy, and the Intelligence and Security Committee. Information on attendance at individual Committee evidence sessions is published by the relevant Committee, except in some limited circumstances on national security grounds.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 27 February 2025 to Question 32906 on Government Department: Telephone Services, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the removal of dedicated telephone numbers from the List of Ministerial Responsibilities on the ability of hon. Members to speak to staff in Ministers' private offices; and whether the default method of corresponding by email is the only option now available to hon. Members.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Departments publish email addresses as the first means of contacting Ministers. All departments have processes to ensure correspondence via email reaches the intended Minister or team in a rapid manner, meaning there should be no reduction in the ability of MPs to contact Ministers' private offices. MPs may, in any such email correspondence, request a phone call with a departmental official or a member of the Minister's private office.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the oral contribution of the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, on 13 January 2025 on Artificial Intelligence Opportunities Action Plan, Official Report, column 61, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the (a) development and (b) deployment of AI tools to respond to emails sent to Ministers on the ability of hon. Members to hold Governments to account.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Government continues to consider the use of artificial intelligence in all Government services. The potential impacts of using these tools in responding to correspondence from Parliamentarians and members of the public, and the implications for the function of correspondence to hold the Government to account, will form part of the Government’s ongoing considerations.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will list each Department which (a) continues to and (b) no longer provides telephone numbers to Members of Parliament for its (i) Parliamentary Branch and (ii) for its Correspondence Section to pursue constituents' concerns; and whether it is government policy to prevent parliamentarians being able to speak directly to ministers' Private Office staff.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The List of Ministerial Responsibilities, published on GOV.UK, provides Members of Parliament with contact details for each Government department. It provides a single point of contact for each department, through which all Members of Parliament can pursue constituents’ concerns. This policy has been in place since October 2023 and was introduced following security advice. As outlined in the Guide to Handling Correspondence, also published on GOV.UK, the default method of correspondence with Government departments is via official departmental email addresses.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 18 July 2023 to Question 193280 on Earl Mountbatten of Burma: Diaries, how much his Department spent on (a) barristers and (b) other lawyers as part of the (i) litigation related to the First-tier Tribunal and (ii) freedom of information requests made by Dr Andrew Lownie on the Mountbatten diaries and letters.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The Cabinet Office has worked with the University of Southampton to support the release of the Mountbatten archive, whilst ensuring sensitive and official information is handled appropriately and in line with the Freedom of Information Act and Data Protection Act. Dr Lownie lost his appeal against the Cabinet Office, but continued to seek costs in a separate application. This application was rejected by the First Tier Tribunal and permission to appeal at the Upper Tribunal was also rejected.
The final legal costs relating to the First Tier Tribunal hearings and associated litigation regarding this archive are £180,454. This relates to 5 appeals EA/2020/0021, EA/2020/0026, EA/2020/0058, EA/2020/0059 and EA/2021/0125 as well as a further 5 related appeals and application to seek costs including UA-2022-001422, 001425, 001427, 001428 and 001429-GIA. These costs include those incurred by the Cabinet Office for external legal counsel and work by the Government Legal Department.
The cost of officials’ time, including Cabinet Office legal advisers’, is not recorded against each Freedom of Information request.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much his Department spent on (a) barristers and (b) other lawyers as part of the (i) litigation related to the First-tier Tribunal and (ii) freedom of information requests made by Dr Andrew Lownie on the Mountbatten diaries and letters; and if he will make an estimate of the cost of civil service time spent in handling all aspects of this matter.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
To provide this information would exceed the threshold and incur a disproportionate cost to the Cabinet Office. Civil servants do not record the proportion of time that they spend on individual matters, and cover a range of responsibilities, including Freedom of Information and litigation.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the report by Sir Robert Francis QC on Compensation and Redress for the Victims of Infected Blood - Recommendations for a Framework, published in March 2022, if he will take steps to implement the recommendation in paragraph 9.136 of that report that arrangements should be made immediately through the existing support schemes for an interim lump sum payment of compensation to be made to every living infected person accepted by a support scheme as eligible for annual support payments.
Answered by Michael Ellis
I refer the Rt Hon. member to the answer given to PQ 16932 on 20 June 2022.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Prime Minister's oral contribution of 20 April 2022, Official Report, column 161, what steps he is taking to ensure that surviving nuclear test veterans receive recognition for their service.
Answered by Leo Docherty
Those who participated in the Nuclear Test Programme made a significant contribution to the safety and security of the UK by ensuring that we were equipped with an appropriate nuclear capability; it is right that their contribution is recognised.
The Prime Minister and I look forward to meeting with representatives of the Nuclear Test Veteran community shortly.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will take steps to secure a copy of the full version of the Sue Gray report and publish that report in unredacted form without delay.
Answered by Michael Ellis
I refer the Hon. Member to the Cabinet Office update from the Second Permanent Secretary which has been published on GOV.UK and placed in the Library of the House.
It would not be appropriate for the Government to comment further while the Metropolitan Police Service’s investigation is ongoing. At the end of the process, the Prime Minister will ask the Second Permanent Secretary to update her findings, which will be published in line with the Terms of Reference.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of arrangements in place permanently to preserve electronic communications, within and between Departments, for purposes of (a) political accountability and (b) the historical record; and what restrictions are currently in place on the use of private communication systems to conduct official business.
Answered by Michael Ellis
Guidance is provided in the Code of Practice on Records Management, issued under Section 46 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. This was updated and published in July 2021 (as outlined in the Written Statement of 15 July 2021, HCWS185). In 2018, the National Archives was commissioned to undertake a review of the Code. The Code was revised and updated on a principles-based, format-neutral basis, bringing the existing 2009 code up to date with contemporary information management practice and the modern digital working environment.
The Cabinet Office has also previously published guidance on how information is held for the purposes of access to information. Ministers and officials are also given advice on the security of electronic communications. We are keeping this matter under review, to ensure working practices reflect the use of modern technology available in the 21st Century.