Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what guidance was in use in 2019 on keeping written records of meetings between Ministers and external stakeholders.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Guidance for the Management of Private Office Information and Records is published on www.gov.uk. The guidance was last updated in December 2023. Previous versions are available on the website of The National Archives.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the then Prime Minister met Peter Thiel between July 2019 and September 2022.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Details of official meetings held in a ministerial capacity with external organisations or individuals are declared quarterly on GOV.UK. This includes the meetings of the former Prime Minister.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the compliance of Palantir Technologies Ltd with transparency obligations under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 prior to 2021.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The transparency obligations prior to 2021 would have been managed directly by the awarding department or contracting authority. Details of Government contracts awarded prior to 2021 above £10,000 in Central Government, and £25,000 in the wider public sector, should be published on Contracts Finder: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Search
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish a list of (a) call-off contracts, (b) contract values and (c) delivery milestones awarded to Palantir Technologies under Crown Commercial Service frameworks since 2020.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Crown Commercial Service (CCS) does not maintain a centralised list of all call-off contracts, values, or delivery milestones awarded to Palantir Technologies.
Details of individual call-off contracts, including contract values and delivery milestones, are publicly available on the Contracts Finder website: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk. Contracts Finder lists information on government contracts worth over £12,000 (including VAT), including those awarded by departments and agencies across the public sector.
It is the responsibility of the contracting authority to upload contract information to Contracts Finder.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has issued guidance on considering political neutrality when awarding government contracts.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The Procurement Act 2023 requires contracting authorities to act, and to be seen to act, with integrity, and has introduced new requirements to identify and review any potential conflicts of interest in relation to a procurement.
Contracting Authorities must now prepare a conflict of interest assessment at key points in the procurement, including details of any actual or potential conflicts of interest and any steps they have taken to mitigate them.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what contracts their Department has with Palantir.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Details of central government contracts above £12,000 for procurements commenced before 24 February 2025 are published on Contracts Finder. Contracts procured under the Procurement Act 2023, which came into force on 24 February 2025, are published on the Central Digital Platform Find a Tender service.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has undertaken a cross-Government security risk assessment of sensitive data contracts awarded to Palantir Technologies Inc.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
It is long-standing policy that the Government does not disclose the specifics of its security arrangements, including with suppliers.
The UK takes national security extremely seriously and has taken robust action to ensure the security of sensitive government data. As set out in the recent National Procurement Policy Statement, the Government mitigates supply chain and national security risks by ensuring appropriate data and security controls are in place. All contracting authorities are encouraged to follow the Government Security Group’s guidance on Tackling Security Risk in Government Supply Chains, which details best practices for procurement, commercial, and security practitioners when selecting and onboarding suppliers.
We also encourage organisations to adhere to the National Cyber Security Centre and the National Protective Security Authority’s supply chain security guidance when selecting technology suppliers, which outlines the required security standards and procurement considerations.
The National Security Unit for Procurement (NSUP) has been established to support Ministers in assessing suppliers on national security grounds in line with the Procurement Act 2023. NSUP works closely with government departments to oversee implementation of these measures and enhance supplier security assessments across the procurement process.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what information his Department holds on the change in population of the 17-19 year old age group in Newton Abbot Constituency in the last five years.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 11th June is attached.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to reduce waste in government departments.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
As part of the second phase of the spending review Departments have been set a stretching 5% productivity, efficiency and savings target. The Chief Secretary to the Treasury has also asked each department to carry out a line-by-line review of existing day-to-day budgets to identify where spending is no longer aligned with this government’s priorities or is poor value for money.
The Government has undertaken several specific measures to drive efficiency and reduce waste and bureaucracy across Whitehall, as part of the Prime Minister’s Plan for Change. The Cabinet Office has instructed departments to:
freeze Government Procurement Cards, with a tough new application process to cut the numbers in circulation;
justify every Arm’s Length Body, otherwise they are to be closed, merged, or delivered by departments to reduce duplication, drive efficiency, and ensure democratic accountability for policy decisions that affect the British public; and
Officials are required to hold training and team-building exercises and ‘away days’ in government buildings that are available for free, instead of hiring external venues. All departments have been asked to review their policies on procuring corporate-branded and non-essential merchandise, with a view to restricting future purchases.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether people eligible for the infected blood compensation scheme will retain access to (a) disability grants, (b) dependent children payments and (c) other support scheme benefits.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Any payments received from the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme are disregarded from means tested benefit assessments. This means that compensation payments made through the Scheme will not adversely impact on the means tested benefits received by either infected or affected people.
Those currently on the Infected Blood Support Schemes will continue to receive their discretionary payments until they receive a compensation offer from IBCA. The compensation will take into account any discretionary payments received under the support schemes when calculating a compensation award.