Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the value is of his Department's ICT contracts; and when each such contract is due to end.
Answered by Lord Maude of Horsham
I have a simple aspiration - that civil servants should have access at work to equipment which as least as good as that which they have at home. The Cabinet Office has a range of contracts covering provision of services, equipment, and software licenses and these contracts vary in duration. The major legacy contract for the provision of ICT equipment which we inherited from the previous Government expired last month. We are replacing it with a system designed around the needs of our users and this will save an estimated 40% of the costs to taxpayers, while providing better equipment. Cabinet Office staff are normally provided with a computer - usually a laptop. Tablets are provided on the basis of business needs. Details on spend on ICT can be found in the department’s published accounts; the most recent published figures are for 2013-14 at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cabinet-office-annual-report-and-accounts-2013-to-2014.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much his Department has spent on ICT (a) in total; and (b) on average for each person in his Department per person in each year since 2010-11.
Answered by Lord Maude of Horsham
I have a simple aspiration - that civil servants should have access at work to equipment which as least as good as that which they have at home. The Cabinet Office has a range of contracts covering provision of services, equipment, and software licenses and these contracts vary in duration. The major legacy contract for the provision of ICT equipment which we inherited from the previous Government expired last month. We are replacing it with a system designed around the needs of our users and this will save an estimated 40% of the costs to taxpayers, while providing better equipment. Cabinet Office staff are normally provided with a computer - usually a laptop. Tablets are provided on the basis of business needs. Details on spend on ICT can be found in the department’s published accounts; the most recent published figures are for 2013-14 at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cabinet-office-annual-report-and-accounts-2013-to-2014.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many (a) desktop computers, (b) laptops and (c) tablet devices there are for each person in his Department.
Answered by Lord Maude of Horsham
I have a simple aspiration - that civil servants should have access at work to equipment which as least as good as that which they have at home. The Cabinet Office has a range of contracts covering provision of services, equipment, and software licenses and these contracts vary in duration. The major legacy contract for the provision of ICT equipment which we inherited from the previous Government expired last month. We are replacing it with a system designed around the needs of our users and this will save an estimated 40% of the costs to taxpayers, while providing better equipment. Cabinet Office staff are normally provided with a computer - usually a laptop. Tablets are provided on the basis of business needs. Details on spend on ICT can be found in the department’s published accounts; the most recent published figures are for 2013-14 at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cabinet-office-annual-report-and-accounts-2013-to-2014.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many recruitment and employment agencies his Department has used to source staff in each year since 2010-11.
Answered by Lord Maude of Horsham
The Prime Minister’s Office and the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office are an integral part of the Cabinet Office. The number of recruitment and employment agencies used to source staff for Cabinet Office and the number of staff employed by Cabinet Office through recruitment and employment agencies is not held centrally.
As part of our long-term economic plan, this Government has cut the amount spent on central Government consultancy and contingent labour from £2.45 billion in 2009/10 to £1.06 billion in 2013/14 – a reduction of 57% compared to the last year of the previous Government.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many recruitment and employment agencies his Office has used to source staff in each year since 2010-11.
Answered by Lord Maude of Horsham
The Prime Minister’s Office and the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office are an integral part of the Cabinet Office. The number of recruitment and employment agencies used to source staff for Cabinet Office and the number of staff employed by Cabinet Office through recruitment and employment agencies is not held centrally.
As part of our long-term economic plan, this Government has cut the amount spent on central Government consultancy and contingent labour from £2.45 billion in 2009/10 to £1.06 billion in 2013/14 – a reduction of 57% compared to the last year of the previous Government.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many recruitment and employment agencies 10 Downing Street has used to source staff in each year since 2010-11.
Answered by Lord Maude of Horsham
The Prime Minister’s Office and the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office are an integral part of the Cabinet Office. The number of recruitment and employment agencies used to source staff for Cabinet Office and the number of staff employed by Cabinet Office through recruitment and employment agencies is not held centrally.
As part of our long-term economic plan, this Government has cut the amount spent on central Government consultancy and contingent labour from £2.45 billion in 2009/10 to £1.06 billion in 2013/14 – a reduction of 57% compared to the last year of the previous Government.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the cost of (a) fraud and (b) financial error in (i) his Department, (ii) its executive agencies and (iii) its non-departmental public bodies in each of the last five years.
Answered by Lord Maude of Horsham
Before 2012/13 fraud data was published within the HM Treasury Fraud Report or estimated in the National Fraud Authority Annual Fraud Indicators. During 2011/12 Cabinet Office suffered one fraud that was below the reporting threshold. The member of staff responsible was dismissed and the money recovered in full.
From 2012/13 figures on fraud and financial error have been provided to the Cabinet Office as part of the Quarterly Data Summary returns, for Central Departments, and all ALBs who receive over £100m public funding per annum. Cabinet Office reported no fraud or financial error for 2012/13 or 2013/14.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much his Department has spent on (a) taxis, (b) first class train tickets and (c) business class air travel in each of the last five years.
Answered by Lord Maude of Horsham
The detailed information requested for the period since 2009 could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Information about Cabinet Office Ministerial and senior travel is published quarterly and can be found at the link below:
or for all previously published lists at:
http://www.data.gov.uk/dataset/ministerial-data-cabinet-office
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much his Department has spent on (a) consultants, (b) temporary staff and (c) contingent labour in each of the last five years; how many people have been so employed; what the length of contract of each such person was; and what equivalent civil service salary band each was on.
Answered by Lord Maude of Horsham
This Government's tough spending controls have helped ensure substantial reductions in central Government spend on consultancy and contingent labour. Our 2013/14 spend was an astonishing 57% lower than spend in 2009/10 in the last year of the previous Government.
Since the 2010 General Election, all use of contractors, consultants and temporary interims in my department has to be approved centrally. This was not the case under previous administrations.
Information on temporary staff and contingent labour expenditure for 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14 can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cabinet-office-annual-report-and-accounts-2010-to-2011.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cabinet-office-annual-report-and-accounts-2011-to-2012.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cabinet-office-annual-report-and-accounts-2012-to-2013.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cabinet-office-annual-report-and-accounts-2013-to-2014.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the proportion of the amount his Department has spent on public procurement which has reached small and medium-sized firms through its supply chains in each region.
Answered by Lord Maude of Horsham
Information on government suppliers within a specific constituency or region is not held centrally.
Figures provided by major suppliers indicate that for 2012-13 SMEs benefitted by £4bn through the supply chain. Figures for 2013-14 will be published in due course.
A new version of Contracts Finder will be available in due course. This will allow users to search by region and by postcode.