Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he plans to issue guidance to local authorities on awarding contracts to companies responsible for the 2017 Grenfell fire.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office is undertaking a review of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry’s findings for evidence of supplier failures, and is identifying if organisations involved in the tragedy are still in government supply chains as subcontractors. The government will support action on these findings, which could include issuing guidance on exclusions to the public sector where appropriate.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if the Government will set a timeline for introducing central electronic registers for all public bodies; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of making these registers public.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The most recent Public Bodies Directory, which contains the details of every administratively classified arms length body, can be found on gov.uk. An updated version will be published in due course.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to improve conflicts of interest management across the public sector.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
We are committed to restoring public confidence in government and ensuring that all those in public service are held to the highest standards.
We will consider carefully the National Audit Office’s recommendations in its recent report ‘Managing Conflicts of Interest’.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he has had discussions with the Chair of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry on the estimated publication date of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 report.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The Grenfell Tower Inquiry is a statutory Inquiry established under the Inquiries Act 2005. Under the terms of the Act, the drafting of an inquiry final report and the timing of that process are both matters for the independent Chair of the inquiry.
The Inquiry publishes regular updates on the progress of its final report. In their April 2024 Newsletter published on the Grenfell Tower Inquiry website at https://www.grenfelltowerinquiry.org.uk/news/april-2024-newsletter, they emphasised that the current phase of the inquiry is reaching its final stages, and reiterated their commitment and determination to publish the report as soon as possible. Further updates to timelines will be published on the website as and when they become known.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the Office for National Statistics not collecting mortality data for homeless people on the effectiveness of data the Government holds on homelessness.
Answered by John Glen
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 10th January is attached.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when does he expect the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 report to be published.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The Grenfell Tower Inquiry is a statutory Inquiry established under the Inquiries Act 2005. Under the terms of the Act, the drafting of an inquiry final report and the timing of that process are both matters for the independent Chair of the inquiry.
In their April 2023 Newsletter published on the Grenfell Tower Inquiry website at https://www.grenfelltowerinquiry.org.uk/news/april-2023-newsletter, the Inquiry recognised the desire for the report to be published as soon as possible.
They noted that ‘The Inquiry hopes to complete the drafting of the report before the end of 2023. Various practical steps will then need to follow, such as proof-reading, typesetting and printing, all of which take time. We shall send the report to the Prime Minister, as required by our terms of reference, as soon as we can but that will probably not be possible before the beginning of next year.’
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of disqualifying late-paying companies from public procurement contracts.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The Government understands the critical importance of prompt, fair and effective payment to all businesses, helping them grow and thrive.
Since 1 September 2019, suppliers already risk being excluded from winning large government contracts if they cannot demonstrate prompt payment to their supply chains. Suppliers must now demonstrate they pay 90% of their invoices within 60 days or be excluded, and provide an action plan for improvement if they are not paying 95% within 60 days, or risk similarly being excluded.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that emergency alerts will be treated seriously by the public; and whether he plans to publish a list of reasons for sending an emergency alert.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Emergency Alerts capability is expected to be trialled nationally later this year. This will be preceded by a public information campaign culminating in a national welcome message - a simultaneous test message sent to all compatible mobile phones across the United Kingdom. This approach has been found elsewhere to maximise awareness and understanding on how recipients should react on receiving alerts.
The capability is expected to be launched with a focus over the winter on extreme weather related events. Subject to an evaluation in the spring, its scope will likely be widened out to other use cases. There will always be a very high threshold for issuing an alert based on strict criteria centred on an immediate threat to life and the applicability of the capability to the event in hand, rather than a scenario driven approach.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when his Department plans to launch the new emergency alert service; and whether his Department is taking steps to put in place a public information strategy on the introduction of emergency alerts.
Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Emergency Alerts capability is technically ready to launch having been tested at a local and regional level and is expected to be trialled nationally later this year. The government is currently reviewing all new spending following the Chancellor's announcement last week in accordance with the government's plan for growth. This will inform a final decision on the timing of any trial.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when his Department plans to publish further information on the new emergency alert system.
Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Emergency Alerts capability is technically ready to launch having been tested at a local and regional level and is expected to be trialled nationally later this year. The government is currently reviewing all new spending following the Chancellor's announcement last week in accordance with the government's plan for growth. This will inform a final decision on the timing of any trial.