Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Oliver Dowden and Thérèse Coffey

Thursday 23rd November 2023 Commons Chamber

[Dr Thérèse Coffey (Suffolk Coastal) (Con)]

During the pandemic, I could only see the true professionalism of civil servants in a variety of Departments, including the Cabinet Office, and I am very conscious of some of the pain being felt about the victims of that time. Does my right hon. Friend agree with me that the civil service really stood up to the challenge of dealing with imperfect data and a rapidly changing situation? By the way, I include the civil servants of the Department for Work and Pensions in that regard. However, may I also encourage him to consider how we can strengthen analytical skills and capabilities right across the civil service? That is important, and I think it will be one of the key lessons that should come out of the inquiry.

[Oliver Dowden]

I thank my right hon. Friend for her question, and I pay tribute to her for her many years of service in the Cabinet. I agree with her characterisation of the civil service. Indeed, in my time working in various ministerial roles, I have seen true professionalism and dedication. However, I think she is absolutely right that we need to improve both our data analytics and the data flow into Government. One of the things we learned during the covid pandemic was, for example, that setting up the data centre in the Cabinet Office massively improved the amount of data we received. That enables us to deal with these very fast-moving situations and, indeed, we have used it in subsequent crises.

Business of the House

Debate between Oliver Dowden and Thérèse Coffey

Thursday 26th May 2016 Commons Chamber

[Dr Coffey]

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on his re-election. I am sure he will have another good year of showing leadership in providing many interesting debates. I echo his words, and I look forward to the Backbench Business Committee being back in business so that many of the requests made to me today can be queued up and, in time, debated.

[Oliver Dowden (Hertsmere) (Con)]

In Potters Bar, there are proposals for more than 750 new houses to be built on the edge of town, but in a neighbouring local authority. Will the Deputy Leader of the House find time for us to debate the importance of the duty to co-operate in local planning processes so that planning decisions properly take into account the needs of residents in places such as Potters Bar?

[Dr Coffey]

My hon. Friend raises an important issue. It is important to deliver housing. There is already a duty of co-operation between councils, but I am sure he will be able to refer to that further when we discuss the neighbourhood planning and infrastructure Bill in due course.