Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department has taken to ensure the provision of accessible communications for disabled people in (a) pandemic and (b) disaster preparedness work.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Government Communication Service (GCS) is committed to ensuring that all government communications are available and accessible to all audiences. Its crisis communications operating model commits to improving preparedness plans across the risks facing the government. This includes meeting statutory requirements and setting standards of best practice for accessible communications.
Departments make commonly-requested alternative formats of communications such as Easy Read and Large Print available in order to meet people’s needs. The recently published British Sign Language (BSL) report details what the government is doing to promote and facilitate the use of BSL in its communications with the public.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, GCS continuously engaged with disability charities, using polling and focus groups with hard-to-reach audiences, to better understand how our communications were received. Examples of new guidance were also discussed in regular sessions with disability charities and experts in accessibility, so these groups could review and make recommendations on how to improve government communications. We used these insights to improve government messaging and challenge misinformation.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that all press conferences from Downing Street are provided with British Sign Language translation during national emergencies.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
I refer the Hon Member for North Swindon to my answer on 15th November 2023 (PQ 322).
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to paragraph 124 of the Fourth Report of Session 2019-21 from the Women and Equalities Select Committee on Unequal impact? Coronavirus, disability and access to services: full Report, HC1050, published on 22 December 2020, what steps his Department has taken to evaluate the extent to which Government communications comply with the accessible communications checklist.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Government Communication Service (GCS) is committed to ensuring the government communicates effectively to everyone by making its communications inclusive and accessible. This includes standards, monitoring, training and guidance on accessibility and inclusion. We have aligned, where possible, with the charity sector’s accessibility checklist.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to recommendation 13 of the Fourth Report of the Women and Equalities Select Committee of Session 2019-21, on Unequal impact? Coronavirus, disability and access to services, HC1050, published on 22 December 2020, what progress his Department has made on ensuring that all Government communications comply with the accessible communications checklist.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Government Communication Service (GCS) is committed to ensuring the government communicates effectively to everyone by making its communications inclusive and accessible. This includes standards, monitoring, training and guidance on accessibility and inclusion. We have aligned, where possible, with the charity sector’s accessibility checklist.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many disabled people joined the Civil Service Fast Stream in each year since 2010.
Answered by Oliver Dowden - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
Between 2010 and 2016, 612 disabled people were recommended for appointment on the Civil Service Fast Stream (drawn from available data showing those who have declared a disability).
The 2017 data is currently being analysed.
Recommended for appointment – Candidates with declared disability | |||||||
| 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 |
Count | 63 | 52 | 88 | 74 | 87 | 90 | 158 |
% of those recommended for appointment (known figures only) | 13.7% | 13.3% | 13.7% | 8.7% | 9.8% | 9.6% | 13.2% |
This information can be found at the following address:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/678425/FSET_Annual_Review_2016.pdf
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the total value of goods and services procured from companies in Swindon by (a) all Government departments, and (b) all public bodies was in 2017.
Answered by Oliver Dowden - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
Information on public sector suppliers within a specific constituency is not held centrally.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the number of people with disabilities who (a) are currently in work and (b) were in work in 2010.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many new businesses have been started in (a) Swindon and (b) England in each year since 2010.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to ensure people can only vote once in an election.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
Voting in more than one location at a General Election or at other national polls such as a referendum is a crime which carries an unlimited financial penalty.
We take this matter very seriously. I have raised this issue as a priority with the Electoral Commission and look forward to their report on the 2017 General Election.
It is possible to determine whether an individual has voted twice at a General Election by checking the marked register of those who have voted. If anyone has evidence of someone voting twice, then they should report this to their local returning officer and to the police.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent assessment he has made of the efficacy of data sharing across Whitehall.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The Government Transformation Strategy, published in February, includes an assessment of how data sharing across Whitehall could be made more efficient. Specific opportunities for improvement identified within the strategy include the development of registers to ensure reference data is easy to maintain and use.
The potential of data sharing to save time and resource in several key areas across Whitehall has been analysed as part of the data sharing measures set out in the Digital Economy Bill. These measures enable easier data sharing to improve the public services and functions we deliver. For example, providing automatic rebates to those in fuel poverty would cost less than £1 per household to deliver, while non-automated methods can cost up to £30 per customer.
Industries outside the public sector will also benefit from cost savings enabled by the Digital Economy Bill: the transformation of data collection practices will lead to reduction, over time, of costs associated with compliance, currently estimated at £24 million annually for UK businesses.