Asked by: Marcus Fysh (Conservative - Yeovil)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the former Second Permanent Secretary to the Cabinet Office (a) advised on and (b) participated in the negotiations on the Windsor Framework.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
His Majesty’s Government operates on the principle of collective responsibility, and the Government would not normally comment on the internal processes of how advice may be determined. Ministers must be able to speak to officials and take advice from a position of absolute trust. Naming which individuals may or may not have provided advice on a particular topic may inhibit the ability of civil servants to provide free and frank advice and inhibit the free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation.
Moreover, the Civil Service Code makes clear that civil servants are accountable to Ministers who in turn are accountable to Parliament.
Notwithstanding, as Ministers set out in the response of 7 March 2023, Official Report, Columns 689, it is exceptional and unprecedented for a serving Permanent Secretary to resign to seek to take up a senior position working for the leader of the Opposition. The Cabinet Office has publicly stated it is looking into the circumstances leading up to the Second Permanent Secretary's resignation.
In that exceptional context, I believe it is appropriate to confirm to the Hon. Member that the former Second Permanent Secretary neither advised on, nor participated in, negotiations on the Windsor Framework.
Asked by: Marcus Fysh (Conservative - Yeovil)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, for what reason, by what methodology, and with what data the Office for National Statistics adjusts raw data from its sample population testing for covid-19 and implements those adjustments in reporting the prevalence of covid-19 for the different regions of England.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have therefore asked the Authority to respond.
Asked by: Marcus Fysh (Conservative - Yeovil)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what measures his Department is putting in place to make government more cost-effective.
Answered by Ben Gummer
Improving the efficiency and productivity of the public sector is central to the work of the Cabinet Office and other government Departments. By 2014/15 the Government had saved £18.6 billion through efficiency and reform.
The government is continuing this work. For example, we are working to improve how the government operates across functional areas such as commercial, property, infrastructure and projects, and by tackling fraud, error and debt. We will continue to make government more effective throughout this parliament.