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Written Question
Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton: Members' Interests
Monday 18th December 2023

Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when the Independent Adviser on Ministers' Interests plans to publish an update to Lord Cameron's entry in the List of Ministers’ Interests

Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The latest List of Ministers’ Interests was published on 14 December and can be viewed at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/list-of-ministers-interests


Written Question
Government Departments: Apprentices
Monday 12th June 2023

Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 5 June to Question 186376 on Government Departments: Apprentices, if he will provide a breakdown by Department of the percentage change in digital, data and technology apprenticeships between October 2021 and December 2022.

Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

Digital Data and Technology (DDaT) apprenticeships are a way to gain industry standard qualifications whilst working full time in a salaried DDaT role in the Civil Service. During their programme, apprentices receive training from an apprenticeship provider in their chosen field, and apply their emerging knowledge and skills to their full time role as a DDaT professional.

The Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO) is working with departments and commercial teams to address barriers to fully utilising the apprentice levy, including through increasing apprentice provider choice.

We have also grown our early talent offers. CDDO is now in the process of building a cross-government digital apprenticeship programme ‘Tech Track’ which aims to upskill existing Civil Servants into the DDaT profession through apprenticeships, targeting 350-500 roles in its first year from Q1 2024.

Apprentice numbers regularly fluctuate year to year as apprentices begin and finish their courses at different stages throughout the year. External factors play a significant role in decisions to invest in apprenticeships. These include the impact of Covid-19 on recruitment and operation of apprenticeships, and proposed reductions to overall Civil Service headcount, prompting departments to prioritise fully developed staff. Changes to the recruitment of apprentices will not be reflected in the number of apprentices in departments until the following year.

Data provided by the Civil Service Apprenticeship Unit (CSAU) shows that, between September 2021 and December 2022, the number of apprentices fluctuated as per the below table:

Department

On programme Apprentices September 2021

On programme Apprentices December 2022

Percentage Change

Ministry of Justice

2

22

1000%

Ministry of Defence

39

116

197%

Department for International Trade

1

2

100%

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

7

12

71%

Department for Education

20

23

15%

United Kingdom Statistics Authority

9

10

11%

Attorney General's Departments

1

1

0%

Department for Work and Pensions

169

163

-4%

Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office

15

12

-20%

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (and former partners)

70

53

-24%

National Crime Agency

4

3

-25%

Cabinet Office

35

23

-34%

Competition and Markets Authority

2

1

-50%

Department For Digital Culture Media And Sport

4

2

-50%

HM Revenue and Customs

248

117

-52%

Home Office

89

41

-54%

Department for Transport

53

22

-58%

Department of Health and Social Care

34

13

-62%

Charity Commission

3

-

Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities

-

1


Written Question
Government Departments: Apprentices
Monday 5th June 2023

Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the report from the National Audit Office entitled Digital transformation in government: addressing the barriers to efficiency, published on 10 March 2023, what assessment he has made of the implications for (a) his policies and (b) digital transformation in Government of that report's finding of a reduction of 20 per cent in the number of digital, data and technology apprenticeships between October 2021 and December 202.

Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

Government is committed to strengthening digital and technology specialist skills and has increased the number of recorded specialists by 10% since the establishment of the Transforming for a digital future: 2022 to 2025 roadmap for digital and data.

Individual departments are ultimately responsible for their own resourcing decisions and will have their own rationale for specific choices made. Additionally, apprenticeship headcounts will fluctuate over time linked to factors like the procurement of suppliers and the cohort based nature of apprenticeship recruitment.

Apprentices are a core part of our thriving digital community, as are graduates and interns, and we are committed to ensuring that the trend in reduction of apprentices is reversed. Indeed, since the report was published, the number of recorded apprentices has increased by 6.2%.

The Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO) are currently working with departments and commercial teams to address some of the barriers to fully utilising apprentice levy’s in government, including through increasing supplier choice.


Written Question
Greensill
Monday 6th February 2023

Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, for what reason his Department has not agreed to the Second Permanent Secretary of the Cabinet Office, Sue Gray, from serving as a witness in the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee’s investigation into the lobbying and access affair involving Greensill Capital in July 2021.

Answered by Jeremy Quin

It is the Government’s longstanding position, as set out in the Osmotherly Rules, that officials do not attend Committees in their own capacity, but as representatives of their Ministers. It is therefore open for Ministers to decide to attend instead. In this instance, successive Cabinet Office Ministers declined the invitation for Ms Gray to appear before the Committee and in so doing offered to attend instead to answer any questions the Committee might have had on this subject.


Speech in Commons Chamber - Wed 09 Nov 2022
COP27

Speech Link

View all Nick Smith (Lab - Blaenau Gwent) contributions to the debate on: COP27

Written Question
Mark Fullbrook
Friday 21st October 2022

Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 11 October 2022 to Question 55048, if Mark Fullbrook was (a) on secondment from and (b) paid through Fullbrook Strategies at the time of his appointment; and whether he was subject to the checks and vetting the Cabinet Office guidance requires of Government officials.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

Mr Fullbrook has a standard Special Adviser employment contract which covers his entire appointment as Chief of Staff. While a secondment was initially discussed, it was decided to instead employ Mr Fullbrook directly and a secondment agreement was never put in place.

The Model Contract for Special Advisers, which sets out the terms of employment for special advisers, is available on GOV.UK. Together, with the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers and the Civil Service Code, this constitutes a special adviser’s contract of employment with the Crown.

All civil servants, whether on secondment or directly employed, are subject to the necessary checks and vetting, as was Mr Fullbrook.


Written Question
Mark Fullbrook
Thursday 13th October 2022

Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, on what basis Mark Fullbrook, the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff, is employed.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

Mark Fullbrook is employed directly by the Government on a standard special adviser contract. The model special adviser contract can be found on gov.uk.


Written Question
Mark Fullbrook and Julio Herrera Velutini
Thursday 13th October 2022

Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Prime Minister has made an assessment of the potential implications of the professional relationship between Mark Fullbrook and Julio Herrera Velutini.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

It would not be appropriate for the Government to comment on proceedings in a foreign country which do not involve the UK Government.

However, I refer the Hon. Member to the statement issued by Mr Fullbrook which is in the public domain, and the recent apology and retraction issued to him by the Rt Hon Member for Tottenham.




Written Question
Mark Fullbrook
Thursday 13th October 2022

Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when the Prime Minister was informed of Mark Fullbrook's role as a witness in an FBI investigation into electoral bribery in Puerto Rico.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

It would not be appropriate for the Government to comment on proceedings in a foreign country which do not involve the UK Government.

However, I refer the Hon. Member to the statement issued by Mr Fullbrook which is in the public domain, and the recent apology and retraction issued to him by the Rt Hon Member for Tottenham.




Written Question
Mark Fullbrook
Thursday 13th October 2022

Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Prime Minister has had discussions with (a) the National Crime Agency and (b) the Metropolitan Police on Mark Fullbrook's role in an FBI investigation.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

It would not be appropriate for the Government to comment on proceedings in a foreign country which do not involve the UK Government.

However, I refer the Hon. Member to the statement issued by Mr Fullbrook which is in the public domain, and the recent apology and retraction issued to him by the Rt Hon Member for Tottenham.