Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when he plans to consult on his Department's proposals to replace the House of Lords with an alternative second chamber.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
As a first step in reform of the House of Lords, the Government has introduced legislation to remove the right of hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords.
The Government is committed to delivering further reform. The House of Lords has now agreed to establish a dedicated select committee to look at how best to implement the manifesto commitments on a retirement age and participation requirement.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he has had discussions with the Office for National Statistics on the potential merits of consulting (a) patients, (b) carers, (c) academics, (d) clinicians and (e) devolved Administrations on the design of long covid survey questions.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare
No. The design of surveys is the responsibility of the ONS which is operationally independent and accountable to Parliament.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he has had discussions with the Office for National Statistics on designing a standard set of long covid survey questions.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare
No. The design of surveys is the responsibility of the ONS which is operationally independent and accountable to Parliament.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the cost to the Office for National Statistics was of (a) designing, (b) building and (c) running the winter covid infection survey in (i) 2022-23 and (ii) 2023-24.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon lady’s Parliamentary Question of 1st April is attached.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many visits he has made to Wales since his appointment.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
I attended a Civil Service Live event at Cardiff’s City Hall on Thursday 13 July 2023, marking my first official trip to Wales since being appointed. I look forward to visiting Wales again in the future.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Prime Minister, how many visits he has made to Wales since his appointment.
Answered by Rishi Sunak
As Prime Minister I visit all parts of the United Kingdom. My last official visit to Wales was on 22 - 23 March when I was delighted to announce, on a joint visit with the First Minister, that Anglesey Freeport and Celtic Freeport had been successful in their bids to establish new Freeports - backed by up to £26 million each in UK Government funding, and expected to bring forward an estimated £5 billion of private and public investment and create around 20,000 new, high-skilled jobs.
Details of my official visits can be found on the gov.uk website as part of the government’s transparency agenda. I also undertake party political visits across the United Kingdom, including most recently to Wales in April.
Details of my future official visits will be announced in the usual way.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, for what reason some Government buildings are lit internally outside of normal working hours.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The Government Property Agency (GPA) in the Cabinet Office manages government office buildings on behalf of occupying departments. This response is limited to the office estate that it manages.
There are many reasons why government buildings could be lit outside normal working hours. For example, cleaning, engineering, and security teams all carry out duties out of hours, alongside civil servants and ministers undertaking urgent tasks.. This work could not be done without internal lighting in government buildings.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps the Government is taking to improve the energy efficiency of Government buildings.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
As set out in the Net Zero Strategy, the Government aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from public sector buildings by 75% by 2037. To support this, £2.5 billion is being invested through the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme over the financial years 2020/21 to 2024/25 to provide grants for public sector bodies in England to fund heat decarbonisation and energy efficiency measures.
The Office for Government Property has published the Net Zero Estate Playbook providing guidance to support government property organisations to decarbonise their estate. This includes recommendations of how to reduce operational energy use, including through fabric improvements.
The Government Property Function on 15 November published its Government Property Strategy, which commits to delivering a range of interventions designed to create a smaller, better, and greener public estate. The greener element is focused on supporting delivery of the Greening Government Commitments, which include carbon emissions reduction targets for all government departments.