Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they took following the conclusion of Exercise Cygnus to ensure that the potential for staff absences to reach 50 per cent was built into business continuity planning in the event of a pandemic.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
I refer the noble Lord to published documents, including for example the modelling of the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling from November 2018, which detailed a reasonable worst case scenario that up to 50% of the population could be ill - not that staff absences could reach 50%.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government why the G-Cloud 8 call-off contract agreed with Amazon Web Services in 2016 specified that Amazon Web Services had no liability for "direct loss, destruction, corruption, degradation or damage to the Buyer Data or the Buyer Personal Data or any copy of such Buyer Data".
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
It is the responsibility of individual buying authorities to agree terms and conditions with their chosen supplier when calling off from a framework agreement.
Specific terms and conditions agreed between parties when calling off from framework agreements are not reported back centrally to the Cabinet Office or the Crown Commercial Service.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many contracts they have agreed in the last five years with public cloud providers which specify that the server has no liability for direct loss, destruction, corruption, degradation or damage to the Buyer Data or the Buyer Personal Data or any copy of such Buyer Data.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
It is the responsibility of individual buying authorities to agree terms and conditions with their chosen supplier when calling off from a framework agreement.
Specific terms and conditions agreed between parties when calling off from framework agreements are not reported back centrally to the Cabinet Office or the Crown Commercial Service.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of misinformation and disinformation on the last General Election; and what plans they have to mitigate any risks to the UK’s electoral system arising from such misinformation and disinformation.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The Government has a coordinated structure in place working with relevant organisations to identify and respond to emerging issues, and protect the safety and security of democratic processes. We have worked with a large number of organisations to do this, including social media companies and civil society organisations.
One way to combat the spread of misinformation or disinformation online and limit its potential impact on democratic debate is to ensure that people have the critical literacy skills and digital skills to enable them to assess and analyse the information they read online. In the Online Harms White Paper the Government committed to developing a new online media literacy strategy. This strategy will ensure a coordinated and strategic approach to online media literacy education and awareness for children, young people and adults. The Government is also taking action to increase public awareness with our Don’t Feed The Beast campaign. This aims to educate and empower those who see, inadvertently share and are affected by false and misleading information.
The Government remains committed to the integrity of UK elections and ensuring they are secure and fit for the modern age. We have announced that it will implement an imprints regime for digital election material. This will ensure greater transparency and make it clearer to the electorate who has produced and promoted online political materials.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to review the Cabinet Office's Human Resources policies and procedures relating to the employment of special advisors.
Answered by Earl of Courtown - Captain of the Queen's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)
A revised model contract for special advisers was published on 19 September. The changes made reflect improvements to align the policies that apply to special advisers including on parental leave rights, clarification of the provisions relating to severance payments, and an explanation of the disciplinary procedure which reflects the longstanding role of the Prime Minister in the appointment of all special advisers.
The last update to the Special Adviser’s Code of Conduct was in December 2016. This document is kept under regular review. In December of last year, the Minister for the Constitution announced work to review how special advisers’ terms can be made clearer and consistent (19 December 2018 Vol. 651, [HCWS1216]). This work is ongoing.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what recent amendments they have made to the employment contract for special advisors.
Answered by Earl of Courtown - Captain of the Queen's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)
In December of last year the Government announced work reviewing how special advisers’ terms can be made clearer and more consistent. (19 December 2018 Vol. 651, [HCWS1216])
A revised model contract for special advisers was published on 19 September. The changes made reflect improvements to align the policies that apply to special advisers including on parental leave rights, clarification of the provisions relating to severance payments, and an explanation of the disciplinary procedure which reflects the longstanding role of the Prime Minister in the appointment of all special advisers.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether any special advisors have the authority to dismiss other special advisors.
Answered by Earl of Courtown - Captain of the Queen's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)
In line with the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010, special advisers operate under the authority of their appointing Minister. Therefore, special advisers in No 10 Act under the authority of the Prime Minister. Section 8 of the 2010 Act also allows special advisers to exercise any power in relation to the management of another special adviser if permitted by the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers. The code of conduct does so permit.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many civil servants employed by HM Government had their primary place of work in (1) England, broken down by region, (2) Scotland, (3) Wales, and (4) Northern Ireland, in each year since 2010.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply and I will place a copy of their letter in the Library of the House.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to re-locate civil servants from London to (1) Birmingham, (2) the West Midlands, and (3) the Midlands as defined in the Midlands Engine Strategy.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
Workforce planning is primarily the responsibility of each department to determine based on their individual operational and policy requirements. Each department has their own spending agreements with HM Treasury and are responsible for ensuring they have the right workforce and capability in place to deliver their commitments.
We are consolidating our estate in central London and, since 2010, have reduced the number of offices from 185 to 54. The Public Bodies Relocation Programme seeks to move significant numbers of civil servants and other public servants out of London. This is part of the Government's Industrial Strategy and seeks to help rebalance the UK economy.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what has been the trend since 2010 in respect of the proportion of civil servants being based in London; and if that trend is an increasing proportion, what action they are taking, if any, to reverse it.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
While the numbers of FTE civil servants based in London has fallen, the proportion increased from 17.2% in 2010 to 19.4% in 2017.
We are consolidating our estate in central London and, since 2010, have reduced the number of offices from 185 to 54. The Public Bodies Relocation Programme seeks to move significant numbers of civil servants and other public servants out of London. This is part of the Government's Industrial Strategy and seeks to help rebalance the UK economy.