Asked by: Pat McFadden (Labour - Wolverhampton South East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many domestic overnight visits were undertaken by Ministers in (a) her Department and (b) its predecessor Department in each of the last three financial years; and what the cost of those visits was.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Government publishes on GOV.UK details of the cost of overseas Ministerial travel, including costs of travel, and on other costs (vias, 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: Pat McFadden (Labour - Wolverhampton South East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department issues on the use of WhatsApp.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Shadow Secretary of State for Education
The department adheres to the published Cabinet Office guidance on use of non-corporate communication channels, which is incorporated into the department’s IT acceptable use policies. More information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/non-corporate-communication-channels-for-government-business/using-non-corporate-communication-channels-eg-whatsapp-private-email-sms-for-government-business-html.
Asked by: Pat McFadden (Labour - Wolverhampton South East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many domestic overnight visits were undertaken by Ministers in his Department in each of the last three financial years; and what the cost of those visits was.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
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: Pat McFadden (Labour - Wolverhampton South East)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what guidance her Department issues on the use of WhatsApp.
Answered by Graham Stuart
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, which was 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 Department for Energy Security & Net Zero uses the central guidance and has applied it since March 2023.
The Department for Energy Security & Net Zero provides additional advice to the central guidance in its internal non-corporate communications guidance.
Asked by: Pat McFadden (Labour - Wolverhampton South East)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many domestic overnight visits were undertaken by Ministers in (a) her Department and (b) its predecessor Department in each of the last three financial years; and what the cost of those visits was.
Answered by Graham Stuart
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: Pat McFadden (Labour - Wolverhampton South East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what guidance his Department issues on the use of WhatsApp.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
In common with all other departments in central government, and arms lengths bodies, Cabinet Office applies the published guidance: Using Non-Corporate Communication Channels (e.g. WhatsApp, private email, SMS, etc.) for Government Business, found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/non-corporate-communication-channels-for-government-business. This guidance, which was published by Cabinet Office in March 2023, applies to all individuals in central government (ministers, special advisers, officials, contractors, non-executive board members and independent experts advising ministers).
Asked by: Pat McFadden (Labour - Wolverhampton South East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many domestic overnight visits were undertaken by Ministers in her Department in each of the last three financial years; and what the cost of those visits was.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Shadow Secretary of State for Education
The government publishes details of the costs of overseas ministerial travel, including costs of travel and other costs (visas, accommodation and meals) on GOV.UK.
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: Pat McFadden (Labour - Wolverhampton South East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the amount of money lost to fraud and error by his Department in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The Government is proud of its record in proactively seeking to find and prevent more fraud in the system. As part of wider cross-government counter fraud investment, the government established the Public Sector Fraud Authority (PSFA). In its first year, the PSFA delivered £311 million in audited counter fraud benefits.
The PSFA produces a Fraud Landscape Report (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cross-government-fraud-landscape-annual-report-2022). This provides data on fraud and error detection, loss and recoveries in central government, outside of the tax and welfare system and includes the Cabinet Office. The 2020/21 Report was published in March 2023. To note it outlines all figures rounded to the nearest £0.1m.
In 2022-23, as published in the department’s Annual Reports and Accounts, the Cabinet Office detected error of £3.48m, of which £3.43m was recovered in year and detected fraud of £60k of which none has been recovered to date. Efforts to recover the detected fraud are continuing at this time. The Cabinet Office does not hold specific data on fraud for previous years.
The Cabinet Office does not recognise a loss arising from error or fraud until efforts to recover the funds have been explored. This means that write-offs of error and fraud usually occur in the years after the original problem arose.
Losses recognised and written off by the Cabinet Office for the last three years are:
2022/23 - £4,800
2021/22 - £327,400
2020/21 - £703,300
Asked by: Pat McFadden (Labour - Wolverhampton South East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what reports and guidance their Department and its predecessor Department has produced in the last three years; and how much was spent on their (a) printing and (b) distribution.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
The requested information is not centrally held, and complying with this request would incur a disproportionate cost to the Department. Reports and guidance that the Department has published can be found on gov.uk.
Asked by: Pat McFadden (Labour - Wolverhampton South East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what reports and guidance her Department has produced in the last three years; and how much was spent on their (a) printing and (b) distribution.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Shadow Secretary of State for Education
The information is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.