Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court

The then Cabinet Secretary and Lex Greensill met on 7 November 2017, as detailed in the relevant transparency return. The Cabinet Office does not hold a written record of the meeting.

In line with the practice of successive administrations, details of internal meetings are not normally disclosed.

Details of Cabinet Office senior official (Permanent Secretary) meetings with external organisations are published on a quarterly basis, and are available on GOV.UK.

The contract in question was awarded by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and there was no requirement for the Department to engage with the Crown Commercial Service prior to the award of this contract. Further details are published on ContractsFinder, in line with the Government's transparency agenda.

The Government holds many meetings with companies to discuss a wide range of business issues.

Details of meetings held by Ministers in the Department are recorded in our transparency data, which is attached, but is also published at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/beis-ministerial-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-meetings

Football clubs are often the bedrock of our local communities and it is vital they are protected. That is why the Government has provided an unprecedented financial support package for businesses, which many football clubs have benefitted from.

We have worked closely with football throughout the pandemic, including getting the Premier League and English Football League (EFL) back behind closed doors, which released vital broadcasting revenue. Having spent heavily in the recent transfer window, professional football has the means to support clubs through the pandemic and we continue to urge the EFL and Premier League to finalise a deal as soon as possible.

This government has committed to leave the environment in a better state than we inherited it, underpinned by our target to halt the decline in species abundance by 2030. Protecting and conserving bat populations, including species like the serotine bat, is an important part of this.

Natural England (NE) has not carried out a cost-benefit analysis of bat surveys in planning applications. However, NE is in the process of evaluating the benefit to bat conservation from actions taken as a result of regulatory work. It is expected that the initial findings will be published in early 2022/23.

NE is currently testing a new approach to bat licensing through the Bat Earned Recognition Pilot. The pilot aims to streamline the licensing process through accrediting ecologists, enabling them to have greater discretion to progress low risk cases, estimated to be up to 90% of all applications. This will reduce costs and delays for customers whilst providing better outcomes for bats. The pilot is well advanced and is currently in the process of accrediting ecologists, with a view to being operational from early in 2022.

Under the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement, the UK has secured tariff free access for fisheries products caught or from aquaculture and a substantial transfer of quota from the EU which will benefit fishing communities across the UK. We recognise the temporary issues the fishing industry is facing, and know businesses involved in the export of highly perishable goods, such as fish, will be more affected by delays at the border. That is why, we have announced a £23 million scheme which will provide crucial support for fishermen and seafood exporters, who have experienced delays and a lack of demand for fish from the restaurant industry in the UK and Europe. This is in addition to the £100 million fund announced by the Prime Minister last month.

The Fish Export Service (FES) went live on 29 December 2020, providing the functionality to create a UK catch certificate for fish and shellfish caught by UK flagged vessels for export. The FES service included a simplified commodity code selection process designed to assist users as much as possible. FES launched with 1957 commodity codes, covering most fish and shellfish products. Since this date, following user feedback, the system has been further improved and updated to include 1959 commodity codes.

Following further industry feedback since this date, a commodity code review panel has been set up to continuously assure and update commodity code reference data as more traffic comes through the system. The department is also actively engaging with other departments, including HMRC customs leads, to jointly review and respond to feedback being raised by exporters of fish and shellfish products.

The Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria, last updated in a Written Ministerial Statement on 25^th March 2014, remains the policy for assessing all licence applications.

We continue to monitor developments in the region closely and will uphold our robust export control regime; an export licence would not be granted if it was inconsistent with any of the Criteria. This includes Criterion 1, which ensures Britain meets her international obligations and commitments, such as the arms embargos on Armenia and Azerbaijan established by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

Quintessentially won a competitive tender in May 2016 which was carried out by UK Shared Business Services who at the time managed UK Trade and Investment’s (UKTI) procurement activity. UKTI was a joint, non-ministerial Government Department reporting to the Secretaries of State for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The contract was awarded by UK Shared Business Services prior to the formation of the Department for International Trade (DIT). DIT took ownership of the former UKTI’s contracts and does not hold a record of whether the Government Procurement Service were consulted (now referred to as the Crown Commercial Service).

Quintessentially won a competitive tender in 2016 which was carried out by UK Shared Business Services, who at the time managed UK Trade and Investment’s (UKTI) procurement activity. UKTI was a joint, non-ministerial Government Department reporting to the Secretaries of State for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The services of the contract with Quintessentially include support to the GREAT Investors Programme through the provision of advice, logistical support and background checks, via a sub-contract to support individual investor visits to the UK. The contract was awarded by UK Shared Business Services in May 2016, prior to the formation of the Department for International Trade (DIT). DIT took ownership of UKTI’s contracts on formation.

Cycling on the pavement is an offence, other than in designated areas such as shared use paths. The enforcement of cycling offences is an operational matter for individual chief officers of police.

Cycling on the pavement is an offence, other than in designated areas such as shared use paths. The enforcement of cycling offences is an operational matter for the police.

Vaccines that have been licensed by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency for use in the United Kingdom can be prescribed by a physician, either in the National Health Service or privately.

As is the case for other private healthcare, the emergence of a private market for COVID-19 vaccines in the UK is a matter for manufacturers and private healthcare providers to decide and agree on.

The spend across Test and Trace for the year to September is £2.7 billion. The Government's winter plan announced an additional £7 billion of funding which will allow NHS Test and Trace to increase testing and continue to improve contact tracing, taking the overall budget for Test and Trace this financial year to £22 billion.

Foreign travel is a vital part of diplomacy. The work that ministers do overseas ultimately delivers for the British people. We have three government planes for Government business. They are used by the Prime Minister and Ministers for precisely this purpose. This is standard practice and in the national interest.

Every government decision is based on value for money. In accordance with the Ministerial Code, the FCDO publishes the costs related to all overseas Ministerial travel as part of the Quarterly Transparency Return.

The FCO awards and manages its Commercial Contracts in accordance with Government Commercial Function best practice and regularly assesses the maturity of our Commercial operations against the Commercial Operating Standards. This contract is held by the Department For International Trade (DIT).

The requested information is in the table:

The designs of UK coins are approved by the Chancellor as Master of the Mint, His Majesty The King and the Privy Council. This process is supported by the advice of the Royal Mint Advisory Committee, whose role is to ensure that designs meet high standards. UK coinage includes a combination of Latin and English.

According to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), Northern Ireland’s public sector gross valued added (GVA) (defined as the sum of Public Administration & Defence, Education and Human health and social work activities) accounted for 26.5% of Northern Ireland’s GVA in 2020. There are currently no official ONS estimates of sector GVA in 2021 for Northern Ireland.

The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency publish an experimental quarterly Composite Economic Index (NICEI), which provides a more recent measure of economic activity, including for the public sector. In the final quarter of 2021, annual growth in the NICEI was 4.9%, of which the public sector contributed 0.5 percentage points. The NICEI is not produced on a fully equivalent basis to UK GDP.

The ONS’ GVA data for Northern Ireland will capture the contribution of spend from the UK Government and the Northern Ireland Executive. The Northern Ireland Executive are responsible for allocating their funding from their Barnett-based block grant as they see fit in all areas of devolved responsibility, such as health and education. The Northern Ireland Executive received a total Barnett-based block grant of £17.2bn in 2020-21 and £16.2bn in 2021-22.

The Government believes that the tax system needs to be competitive and attractive, so that those people who will generate growth and jobs will want to reside here.

However, it is also right that those who stay in the UK longer-term pay tax in the same way as everybody else, which is why the Government changed the rules in 2017 to end permanent non-domicile status.

The Government published its Tax Plan at the recent Budget which set out a vision for a lower tax economy for everyone, supporting growth in the economy and ensuring the proceeds of that growth are shared fairly.

Decisions on taxation are a matter for the Chancellor and are considered as part of the budget process. As with all aspects of the tax system, the Government will keep this under review.

The information on income tax is not readily available, however, information published by HMRC about taxable incomes is as follows.

The 2018-19 Survey of Personal Incomes provides an estimate for income from property in Table 3.7 and total income estimates are provided in Table 3.3. Income from property was estimated at £21.5 billion in 2018-19 and total income across all income types was estimated at £1,120 billion. Income from property therefore represents around 2 per cent of total income.

On 28 March 2022 DP World resigned from the Solent Freeport Board and are no longer a partner in the Freeport consortium.

The Government is working to urgently understand the facts of what happened in this case and establish whether DP World are in breach of any of the requirements on them as investors in the Thames Freeport.

Freeports are expected to receive around £25 million seed capital, paid to a local authority and to be invested at sites within the Freeport geography. Release of funding is subject to approval of a Full Business Case and currently no Full Business Cases have been approved.

The approval of the contract awarded to Faculty was completed in line with the Department’s scheme of Delegated Authority.

The contract was awarded following a robust selection process through the Crown Commercial Service’s G-Cloud Digital Marketplace in line with its published processes, further details of which can be found (attached) at www.gov.uk/guidance/g-cloud-buyers-guide.

Faculty’s G-Cloud service offered the best fit with the Department’s identified needs. Faculty’s pricing of this service offer was reviewed against alternative suppliers’ prices and was found to be comparable.

The contract is based on the time and materials used to undertake the required services.