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Written Question
Northern Ireland Office: Apprentices
Wednesday 6th March 2024

Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)

Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how much his Department (a) paid in apprenticeship levy fees and (b) spent from its apprenticeship levy funds between September 2021 and August 2023.

Answered by Steve Baker - Minister of State (Northern Ireland Office)

The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) has contributed £83,000 in apprenticeship Levy funds between September 2021 and August 2023.

During the same period, the department has had no spend from the apprenticeship Levy fund. All NIO apprenticeships during this period were covered through the Civil Service-wide apprenticeship schemes, therefore the NIO specifically has not spent any levy funds.


Written Question
Northern Ireland Office: Billing
Tuesday 28th March 2023

Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)

Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what assessment he has made of the proportion of invoices his Department paid to small and medium-sized enterprises within five days in (a) the 2021-2022 financial year and (b) each of the last 12 months.

Answered by Steve Baker - Minister of State (Northern Ireland Office)

All Government Departments publish payment performance quarterly showing the percentage of invoices paid in 5 days, the percentage of invoices paid in 30 days, and net debt interest liability. This is available on GOV.UK. The Northern Ireland Office’s payment performance is available at:

NIO Prompt Payment Data Link

In addition, in accordance with regulation 113 of the Public Contract Regulations 2015, Contracting Authorities are required to publish annually the percentage of invoices paid in 30 days online. This is available as part of the annual report for 21/22:

Annual Report and Accounts 21/22

The Procurement Bill, currently passing through Parliament, will create a simpler and more transparent procurement regime that will further open up public procurement to SMEs. The Bill includes a new duty on contracting authorities to have regard to the particular barriers facing SMEs. Specifically, the Procurement Bill will imply 30 day payment terms into every sub-contract that is substantially for the purpose of performing a public contract. This will ensure SMEs at every tier of the public supply chain can benefit from faster payments, even if 30 day terms aren't explicitly written into the contract.


Written Question
Northern Ireland Office: Work Experience
Monday 17th February 2020

Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)

Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many people aged (a) 16 and under and (b) over 16 years old undertook work experience in his Department in each of the last three years.

Answered by Robin Walker

During the last three years there has been no formal work experience undertaken in the Northern Ireland Office by anyone over 16 years old.

Informal work experience for people below the age of 16 was undertaken on seven occasions over the last three years.


Written Question
Northern Ireland Office: Honours
Tuesday 5th November 2019

Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)

Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what proportion of staff in his Department in receipt of each category of Honour in (a) December 2018 and (b) June 2019 were (i) from ethnic minority backgrounds and (ii) female aged (A) under 30, (B) 31 to 40, (C) 41 to 50 and (D) aged over 50.

Answered by Julian Smith

The Government is committed to ensuring that the honours system is fully representative of UK society. The proportion of women and people from ethnic minorities receiving recognition on each honours list is available on GOV.UK as is a breakdown of ethnicities of recipients is published on the Ethnicity Facts and Figures website at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/honours-recipients-by-ethnicity

Information on ages is not correlated with other diversity factors. We also publish the proportion of honours by independent committee on GOV.UK. The numbers of honours recipients in the Northern Ireland Office are very small and vary from year to year. Releasing the requested data would identify the individuals and they have given permission for their data to be used for statistical purposes only.


Written Question
Northern Ireland Office: Ethnic Groups
Monday 22nd July 2019

Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)

Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many BAME staff are employed at (a) grade 7, (b) grade 5 and (c) grade 3 in her Department.

Answered by John Penrose

I can confirm there are no BAME staff employed at Grade 3 within the Northern Ireland Office. Fewer than five staff have declared as BAME at both Grades 7 and 5 and in order to comply with Data Protection Act requirements, I am unable to disclose this number as a full answer would risk the identification of individuals.


Written Question
Northern Ireland Office: Brexit
Friday 19th October 2018

Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)

Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, whether she plans to publish her Department's preparations for no deal.

Answered by Shailesh Vara

We firmly believe it is in the interests of both the EU and the UK to strike a deal. That remains the goal on both sides and we are confident that this will be achieved. But it is the job of a responsible Government to prepare for all scenarios, so we have already carried out very significant ‘no deal’ preparations for the unlikely event that we reach March 2019 without agreeing a deal.

We have already published over 100 technical notices so that businesses and citizens have time to prepare in the event of a 'no deal' scenario. These are available on Gov.uk in a centralised location that is easy for people to access and use.


Written Question
Northern Ireland Office: Staff
Monday 15th October 2018

Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)

Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what change there has been in staffing levels in his Department since June 2016.

Answered by Shailesh Vara

The headcount in the Northern Ireland Office is currently 152 with 44 vacancies. In 2016, the headcount was 110 with 16 vacancies.


Written Question
Northern Ireland Office: Brexit
Tuesday 5th December 2017

Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)

Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what estimate he has made of the (a) number of officials to be employed by his Department and (b) his Department's payroll in (i) 2018, (ii) 2019, (iii) 2020, (iv) 2021 and (v) 2022 as a result of the UK leaving EU.

Answered by Chloe Smith

EU exit affects a number of work areas across my Department and will therefore encompass a proportion of workload for many staff, the amount of which will vary over time.

The number of officials employed by my department is kept under regular review to ensure we have the appropriate resources to manage the departure from the EU.

Given the interactions between EU exit work and the Department’s other priorities, it would not be possible to give a year by year figure.


Written Question
Northern Ireland Office: Brexit
Wednesday 1st November 2017

Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)

Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, whether his Department was consulted by the Department for Exiting the European Union on the economic impact assessments conducted for the UK leaving the EU.

Answered by Chloe Smith

The Government is carrying out an ongoing programme of comprehensive analytical work that will inform our negotiating position with the EU, to define our deep and special partnership with the EU and inform our understanding of how Brexit will affect the UK’s domestic policies and frameworks.

My officials are working with officials across government, in close coordination with the Department for Exiting the European Union, to ensure the delivery of a holistic programme of analysis across government.