Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what food and drink wholesale companies were consulted by the Government ahead of the publication of the Buying Better Food Agreement PIN.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The tender for the proposed Buying Better Food Agreement has not yet been published. Invitations to Tender are expected in Summer 2023, with the contract going live in Spring 2024.
Crown Commercial Service (CCS) have followed the public sector regulations by issuing a PIN notice, which is published on the government Find a Tender Service, used for all public sector opportunities. This notified the market of our intentions, and invited willing participants to engage with us.
As a result of this, a cross-section of the food and drink supply chain has been engaged and consulted through CCS’ ongoing market engagement process. These include micro SME producers to Tier 1 national providers.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department made an assessment of the potential merits of adding the terms and conditions set out in the Buying Better Foods agreement to existing public sector food frameworks such as TUCO and ESPO.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
SMEs in the food supply chain were consulted as part of supplier engagement activities. Feedback from these activities shaped the procurement strategy for the proposed framework agreement.
SME producers will have increased opportunities to work with the public sector. Customers will be able to request nominated local products (subject to the local supplier/producer meeting the minimum technical standards). These products would be consolidated into a single delivery with their food order.
Many other Public Buying Organisations (PBOs) offer food and or drink commercial solutions, to the public sector which is not managed by CCS as a central government organisation. CCS consulted with a number of PBO’s as part of their food strategy development.
CCS’ initial proposed commercial solution value will have a headroom to accommodate £100 million worth of spend over the 4 year agreement period. This equates to less than 5% of the £2.1 billion public sector food spend.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish an assessment of the potential impact of the creation of single buyer agreement for public sector food on the competitive landscape of the wholesale market, including for SMEs.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
SMEs in the food supply chain were consulted as part of supplier engagement activities. Feedback from these activities shaped the procurement strategy for the proposed framework agreement.
SME producers will have increased opportunities to work with the public sector. Customers will be able to request nominated local products (subject to the local supplier/producer meeting the minimum technical standards). These products would be consolidated into a single delivery with their food order.
Many other Public Buying Organisations (PBOs) offer food and or drink commercial solutions, to the public sector which is not managed by CCS as a central government organisation. CCS consulted with a number of PBO’s as part of their food strategy development.
CCS’ initial proposed commercial solution value will have a headroom to accommodate £100 million worth of spend over the 4 year agreement period. This equates to less than 5% of the £2.1 billion public sector food spend.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on the creation of a single buyer agreement for public sector food.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
Crown Commercial Service (CCS), representing the Cabinet Office, Defra and its Ministers have worked closely together throughout the development of the proposed agreement.
Defra approached CCS in 2019 to consider the concept of developing a commercial strategy and procurement solution for food produce, specifically a holistic approach to the ordering, fulfilment, consolidation and delivery of food produce to customers.
CCS have been working alongside Defra to design a commercial solution, and Defra will be responsible for establishing the updated Government Buying Standards for Food. CCS and Defra continue to work closely together on this issue.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Buying Better Foods framework on the participation of SMEs in that sector.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
SMEs in the food supply chain were consulted as part of supplier engagement activities. Feedback from these activities shaped the procurement strategy for the proposed framework agreement.
SME producers will have increased opportunities to work with the public sector. Customers will be able to request nominated local products (subject to the local supplier/producer meeting the minimum technical standards). These products would be consolidated into a single delivery with their food order.
Many other Public Buying Organisations (PBOs) offer food and or drink commercial solutions, to the public sector which is not managed by CCS as a central government organisation. CCS consulted with a number of PBO’s as part of their food strategy development.
CCS’ initial proposed commercial solution value will have a headroom to accommodate £100 million worth of spend over the 4 year agreement period. This equates to less than 5% of the £2.1 billion public sector food spend.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has made a recent estimate of the average waiting time for calls made to helplines run by Government departments; and if he will take steps to help shorten those waiting times.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
Departmental helplines are not managed or run centrally. Therefore, each department is responsible for their own helpline, as well as response and waiting times.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has set target response times for telephone calls to Government Department helplines.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
Departmental helplines are not managed or run centrally. Therefore, each department is responsible for their own helpline, as well as response and waiting times.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many of the Prime Minister's Department's (a) laptops, (b) mobile phones, (c) memory sticks and (d) external hard drives have been lost or stolen in each of the last five years.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
For management and staffing purposes, the Prime Minister’s Office is an integrated part of the Cabinet Office. The Cabinet Office had 10,655 staff in 2022-23, and all devices are fully security encrypted. The following table includes the number of lost/stolen devices in the Cabinet Office in the last five years.
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
Laptops | 54 | 40 | 27 | 28 | 28 |
Mobile phones | 93 | 188 | 113 | 127 | 140 |
Memory sticks | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
External hard drives | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Given steps taken to secure information, we do not believe there has been any data loss or compromise as a result of these losses.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an estimate of the impact of inflation on the average price of a (a) turkey, (b) Christmas pudding, (c) brandy and (d) Christmas cracker in each of the last three years.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon. Member's Parliamentary Questions of 5 December is attached.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an estimate of the impact of inflation on games and toys for the domestic market in each of the last five years.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon. Member's Parliamentary Questions of 5 December is attached.