Asked by: Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what the destinations were of domestic overnight visits undertaken by Ministers within their Department in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
I refer the Hon Member to my response to UIN 17533 tabled on Wednesday 13 March 2024.
Asked by: Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how many domestic overnight visits were undertaken by Ministers within her Department in each of the last three financial years; and what the cost to the public purse was of these visits.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Government publishes on GOV.UK details of the cost of overseas Ministerial travel, including costs of travel, and on other costs (visas, accommodation, meals).
But as has been the case under successive administrations, the Government does not publish granular detail on Ministers’ travel at home or abroad.
Asked by: Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what estimate she has made of the amount of money lost to fraud and error by her Department in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
There have been no incidents of money lost to fraud and error by the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) in each of the last three financial years.
Information relating to detected fraud and error for the AGO is published in the HM Procurator General and Treasury Solicitor Annual Reports and Accounts (HMPGTS Accounts). The HMPGTS Accounts for the financial years 2020-21, 2021-22, and 2022-23 are available on GOV.UK at the following links: 2020-21, 2021-22, and 2022-23. The HMPGTS Accounts contain information relating to the AGO, Government Legal Department, and HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate.
The Government is proud of its record in proactively seeking to find and prevent more fraud in the system. We have established the dedicated Public Sector Fraud Authority (PSFA). In its first year, it delivered £311 million in audited counter fraud benefits.
The PSFA produces a Fraud Landscape Report which is available on GOV.UK: Cross-Government Fraud Landscape Annual Report 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). This provides data on fraud and error detection, loss and recoveries in central government, outside of the tax and welfare system. The 2020-21 Report was published in March 2023.
Asked by: Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what guidance her Department issues on the use of WhatsApp.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
All departments in central government, including arms lengths bodies apply the published guidance: Using non-corporate communication channels (e.g. WhatsApp, private email, SMS) for government business published by Cabinet Office in March 2023. It applies to all individuals in central government (ministers, special advisers, officials, contractors, non-executive board members and independent experts advising ministers). The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) uses the central guidance and has applied it since March 2023.
Please note that I am responding on behalf of the AGO only, and not the departments superintended by myself and the Attorney General (the Crown Prosecution Service, HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate, Government Legal Department, and Serious Fraud Office).
Asked by: Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what reports and guidance their Department has produced in the last three years; and how much was spent on their (a) printing and (b) distribution.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The requested information is not centrally held, and complying with this request would incur a disproportionate cost to the Attorney General’s Office (AGO). Reports and guidance that the AGO has published can be found on GOV.UK at Search - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Please note that I am responding on behalf of the AGO only, and not the departments superintended by the Attorney General and I (the Crown Prosecution Service, HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate, Government Legal Department, and Serious Fraud Office).
Asked by: Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how much funding her Department has (a) budgeted for and (b) spent on advertising in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) uses advertising to promote vacancies in the Department.
The table below sets out what, in the last three years, the AGO budgeted for all communication and marketing and what it spent on advertising.
| 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 |
Budget for communication and marketing | £26,500.00 | £35,000.00 | £40,000.00 |
Spend on advertising | £714.00 | £714.00 | £714.00 |
Please note that I am responding on behalf of the AGO only, and not the departments superintended by the Attorney General and I (the Crown Prosecution Service, HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate, Government Legal Department, and Serious Fraud Office).
Asked by: Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what subscriptions to (a) newspapers, (b) magazines and (c) online journals her Department has paid for in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Attorney General’s Office’s (AGO) paid subscriptions to newspapers, magazines, and online journals provide AGO officials with a valuable resource of public discourse on topics relevant to the Department.
The AGO’s paid subscriptions for the last three financial years are set out in the table below.
| 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 |
Newspapers | Financial Times; Telegraph | Financial Times; Telegraph | Financial Times; Sunday Times; Telegraph |
Magazines | Critic Magazine; Counsel Magazine | Counsel Magazine | Counsel Magazine |
Online journals | N/A | Thomson Reuters; Joshua Rozenberg | Thomson Reuters; Joshua Rozenberg |
Please note that I am responding on behalf of the AGO only, and not the departments superintended by the Attorney General and I (the Crown Prosecution Service, HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate, Government Legal Department, and Serious Fraud Office).
Asked by: Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how much funding her Department (a) allocated for (b) spent on magazine subscriptions in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Attorney General’s Office’s (AGO) paid subscriptions to magazines provide AGO officials with a valuable resource of public discourse on topics relevant to the Department.
The AGO’s allocated budget and spend on magazine subscriptions in each of the last three financial years is set out in the table below.
Please note that figures for the allocated budget include magazine and other subscriptions (e.g., newspapers and online journals), whereas spend is for magazine subscriptions only.
| 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 |
Allocated budget | £8,000.00 | £8,000.00 | £8,000.00 |
Spend on magazine subscriptions | £152.50 | £145.00 | £145.00 |
Please note that I am responding on behalf of the AGO only, and not the departments superintended by the Attorney General and I (the Crown Prosecution Service, HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate, Government Legal Department, and Serious Fraud Office).
Asked by: Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how many and what proportion of digital posts in her Department are vacant.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) does not have any Digital and Data (DDaT) posts.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is the AGO’s shared IT service provider. The total number of vacant DDaT posts in the CPS is 32, 10.5% of DDaT posts in the CPS.
As part of the 2022 to 2025 roadmap for digital and data, all government departments made a commitment to reduce their digital and data vacancies to under 10% of total Government Digital and Data headcount by 2025. Overall good progress has been made, with total vacancies now at 15%.
Asked by: Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how much funding her Department has (a) budgeted for and (b) spent on software updates to legacy computer systems in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is responsible for the provision and management of up-to-date IT infrastructure and applications for the Attorney General’s Office (AGO).
The CPS does not currently maintain any legacy IT infrastructure on behalf of the AGO.