Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the cost to the public purse is of hanging an official portrait of His Majesty The King in public authorities in the UK.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
As is usual practice following accession, an Official Portrait has been taken of His Majesty The King to mark the start of the new Reign, for use in public buildings and for other official purposes. His Majesty’s Government will use this portrait for the Official Portrait Scheme, announced by the Deputy Prime Minister in April last year.
The ongoing scheme opened in November 2023 to enable certain Public Authorities across the UK to apply for a free, framed official portrait of His Majesty The King for display in their buildings. As always, the Government is ensuring value for money in the contract for the production and distribution of the Official Portrait. By establishing a UK-wide contract for the supply of portraits for this scheme, HMG has achieved a significant cost saving in comparison to comparable commercially available royal portraits thereby benefiting the public-purse as a whole. The supplier will be paid per delivered portrait and as it is a voluntary scheme the final cost will depend on the uptake.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many government contracts have been awarded to Fujitsu since 2010.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
This historic information is not held centrally.
Details of central government contracts where the contract value is above £12,000 are published on Contracts Finder: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Search
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 6 December 2023 to Question 4272 on Ministers: Science and Statistics, whether the eight masterclasses are mandatory; and how many Ministers have enrolled to these courses as of 7 December 2023.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The masterclass programme is not mandatory. The programme is delivered with recognition that there are multiple competing demands on ministers' time. To date 39 ministers have attended one or more sessions.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he is taking steps to increase levels of (a) scientific and (b) statistical literacy among ministers.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Declaration on Government Reform committed to investing in training for ministers, and a ministerial training programme has been developed which includes two half-day induction sessions for new-to-government ministers, and a rolling programme of eight masterclasses open to all ministers. Specifically, the programme includes a masterclass on working with scientific advice led by the Government Chief Scientific Advisor and a masterclass on data led by the Government Chief Statistician.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to increase access to public procurement contracts for UK-based SMEs.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of the UK economy. That is why we are making sure the power of Government spending supports this vital sector.
We are increasing opportunities for SMEs - from transparently publishing contract pipelines to simplifying bidding processes and strengthening prompt payment measures.
I am proud that this Conservative Government is bringing in the new public procurement regime will create a simpler and significantly more transparent system that will further open up public procurement to SMEs so that they can compete for and win more public contracts. SMEs will benefit from a new duty on contracting authorities to have regard to reducing and removing barriers to SME participation. This will include making bidding timescales realistic and prohibiting contracting authorities from requiring audited accounts and insurances to be in place prior to contract award - helping new entrants to the market.