Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending the Civil Service cost of living payments to civil servants that retired in the financial year 2022-2023.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
I refer the Honourable Member for Salford and Eccles to the answer I gave on 25th October in response to PQ203635.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, for what reason the December 2020 report of the independent Advisory Military Sub-Committee to the Committee on the Grant of Honours Decorations and Medals advised that a retrospective medallic award to nuclear test veterans should not be made; and if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of reviewing medallic recognition for Nuclear Testing Veterans.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The Advisory Military Sub-Committee (AMSC) operates independently of the Government but I understand that the case for medallic recognition was considered at length by the Sub-Committee.
The AMSC concluded that, although the efforts of those involved in the campaign could not be discounted, the case did not meet the level of risk and rigour which is generally required for the award of a campaign medal or clasp.
The AMSC is an advisory body which has made recommendations based on the available evidence, including that provided by campaign groups. Its advice was provided in line with its terms of reference and will only be looked at again if significant new evidence becomes available. I understand that any new submissions which might have been provided have been passed to the Sub-Committee.
This decision in no way diminishes that commitment or the nations’ recognition of the contribution of veterans who served during these periods and contributed to the security of the United Kingdom and its Allies.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
What steps his Department is taking to improve transparency in procurement in its response to the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government recognises the importance of maintaining public confidence in how we manage taxpayers’ money and I have set out before the challenges we faced in our response to the covid 19 outbreak. We are taking steps to improve the processes already in place and ensure public spending is fair and transparent.
Proposals in the Green Paper aim to improve transparency in procurement across the public sector and include specific measures to strengthen transparency through the commercial lifecycle from planning through to procurement, contract award, performance and completion.
We are also taking forward all 28 recommendations from the independent Boardman report to set out areas for improvement within the Cabinet Office’s own internal contracting procedures.
We have also made KPI data on 379 contracts available to the public, as a further step towards greater transparency.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many businesses have annual employment costs of (a) £3 million to £20 million, (b) £20 million to £40 million and (c) more than £40 million; and what the total employment costs are for businesses in each of those categories.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have therefore asked the Authority to respond.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many businesses have annual employment costs of (a) £3-20 million, (b) £20-40 million and (c) more than £40 million; and what the total employment costs are for businesses in each of those categories.
Answered by Kevin Foster
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an estimate of the number of people in each parliamentary constituency in Greater Manchester that are paid the (a) national minimum wage and (b) national living wage.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. Once I receive their response, I will place a copy in the Library.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to page 134 of the Industrial Strategy, what plans he has to improve procurement tools to make public sector contracts more accessible for SMEs.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
We are continuing to improve the performance and functionality of the Contracts Finder web site, which allows users to view and search opportunities that are currently open to tender, pipelines of potential procurement activity and awarded contracts.
Contracts Finder has recently been enhanced to deliver improved search for suppliers, a better experience for buyers and accessibility improvements for all users. New supply chain functionality and registration processes have been added to improve visibility of opportunities available to SMEs in the supply chain. In addition, organisation identifiers for suppliers and buyers have been added to improve our Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) implementation. Further enhancements will be developed and deployed by March.
In addition, the Crown Commercial Service will improve its digital procurement platforms to make it easier for suppliers to do business with the government, for example through implementation of the Crown Marketplace purchasing platform.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the total cost to the public purse was of ministerial special advisors in the last financial year; and how much is projected to be so spent in the next financial year.
Answered by Matt Hancock
Information about the number, pay bands, and cost of special advisers will be published shortly in the normal way.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what Government property is located in Salford and Eccles constituency.
Answered by Matt Hancock
A list of properties located in the Salford and Eccles constituency drawn from the central database of Government properties and land across the UK, e-PIMS™ is attached. A copy of this will be placed in the Library of the House. Government owned property can be found at:www.gov.uk/find-government-property.
Information is only held centrally on the Central Civil Estate. Any information outside of this is held locally by departments.