Asked by: Lord Soames of Fletching (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the timetable is for the publication of the National Security Capability Review.
Answered by David Lidington
The National Security Council has agreed the high-level findings of the National Security Capability Review. Ministers have agreed that we should finalise the National Security Capability Review with a view to publishing the conclusions in spring.
Asked by: Lord Soames of Fletching (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much land has been declared as surplus by each Government Department in the Coast to Capital LEP area.
Answered by Oliver Dowden - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The Government has declared the following land as surplus in the Coast to Capital LEP area. This does not include sites that were previously declared as surplus and are now disposed.
Department | Sum of Land Area (ha) | Count of Department Property |
Department for Education | 0.7505 | 1 |
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | 1.0689 | 6 |
Ministry of Defence (Civil) | 24.4138 | 1 |
Ministry of Justice | 0.4587 | 2 |
Grand Total | 26.6919 | 10 |
Asked by: Lord Soames of Fletching (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Prime Minister, whom she is appointing as trade envoys to which countries in the Middle East.
Answered by Theresa May
Details of Trade Envoys can be found on the gov.uk website: https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/trade-envoys
Asked by: Lord Soames of Fletching (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent progress the Government Property Unit has made on the sale of Government Departments' surplus land.
Answered by Oliver Dowden - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The Government is working towards its commitment to raise £5 billion from releasing surplus land in 2015 - 2020 and we plan to publish a transparency report on land sales in 2015/16 and 2016/17 shortly.
We are also supporting collaboration across the public sector to make better use of our collective estate. Our successful partnership with the Local Government Association to deliver the One Public Estate programme is now supporting over 90% of councils in England following its latest expansion last month. Through joint working across central and local government and the wider public sector we are delivering more integrated public services, local growth (homes and jobs) and efficiencies.
Asked by: Lord Soames of Fletching (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what plans his Department has to increase the sale of public land surplus to the Government's requirements.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Government Property Unit in Cabinet Office is responsible for overseeing implementation of the Government Estate Strategy. This means working with Government Departments to ensure the estate is efficient and fit-for-purpose to support operations now and in the future.
The GPU commissions Departments to produce annual Strategic Asset Management Plans, setting out how they plan to implement the Government Estate Strategy within their property portfolio.
Government is working towards our commitment to raise £5 billion from releasing surplus land in 2015 - 2020. In doing so, our ambition is to also unlock land with capacity for 160,000 new homes.
We are also supporting collaboration across the public sector to make better use of our collective estate. Our successful partnership with the Local Government Association to deliver the One Public Estate programme aims to support 95% of councils in England by 2018. Through joint working across central and local Government and the wider public sector we are delivering more integrated public services, local growth (homes and jobs) and efficiencies. We are currently in the process of further expanding the One Public Estate programme. In addition to new and existing partnerships applying for funding and support to deliver collaborative schemes, we have partnered with the Department for Communities and Local Government to include a £45 million capital Local Authority Land Release Fund. This combination of One Public Estate and DCLG funding and support will be a significant boost to unlocking public land for new homes. The current partnerships are expected to release land to deliver 25,000 housing units by 2020.
Asked by: Lord Soames of Fletching (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Prime Minister, who in the Government has responsibility for the co-ordination of UK soft power overseas.
Answered by Theresa May
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office uses its global influence and diplomatic network to maximise the impact of the UK’s soft power.
Asked by: Lord Soames of Fletching (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many buildings owned by government departments are empty in (a) West Sussex and (b) Mid Sussex constituency; which those buildings are; to which departments those buildings belong; and what plans he has for the future use of those buildings.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Government Property Unit is responsible for minimising vacancy by supporting departments to sell, sublet, find alternative use, and to do early surrenders. Interventions such as these have contributed significantly to minimising the vacancy rates and cost to the taxpayer.
As shown in the State of the Estate Report 2015-16 published in February 2017, total vacant space represents 1.4% of the entire Central Estate, a drop of 2% from 2014–15. This is well below the average in the private sector of 8.9%.
No buildings appear on the unit’s electronic property system as vacant in the Mid-Sussex area. The buildings listed below are currently listed for disposal in the West Sussex region. There are no other records marked as surplus, or offering vacant space in West Sussex, or the Mid-Sussex constituency:
Property Name | Address | Department |
CHICHESTER COMBINED COURT | SOUTHGATE, CHICHESTER, WEST SUSSEX, PO19 1SX | Ministry of Justice |
CHICHESTER MAGISTRATES COURT | MARKET AVENUE, CHICHESTER, WEST SUSSEX, PO19 1YE |
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Asked by: Lord Soames of Fletching (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, which contracts the Government has awarded to Capita in each of the last five years.
Answered by Ben Gummer
I refer My Rt. Hon Friend to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Hemsworth on 7 February 2017 to UIN: 62923.
Asked by: Lord Soames of Fletching (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the (a) number and (b) proportion of births was where one or both parents were foreign-born in (i) London and (ii) each Greater London borough in the most recent year for which figures are available.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Asked by: Lord Soames of Fletching (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, which five government departments in (a) poll number and (b) cost terms make most use of opinion poll companies; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Ben Gummer
The Cabinet Office does not hold any information relating to the use of opinion poll companies by other government departments.