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Written Question
Office of Government Property: Software
Friday 1st March 2024

Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to page 123 of the Cabinet Office Annual Reports and Accounts 2022-23, published on 19 September 2023, what the intangible software development asset developed by the Office for Government Property was; and for what reason there was a change in approach to the project.

Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The Intangible asset relates to build costs of a bespoke software solution to capture strategic information across government property. A recovery of £300,000 (incl VAT) was made from the technology supplier. This recovery is not reflected in the £1,202,000 figure (on page 123).

The project approach changed as the technology supplier was unable to deliver a solution to meet the requirements, despite multiple deadline extensions. Based on commercial advice, the contract was terminated. A new contract has now been awarded to a provider of an off-the-shelf product, which is currently being configured. Where possible, products that were developed in the previous written off solution, such as user requirements and data standard, have been recycled for the current delivery.


Written Question
Food: Supply Chains
Wednesday 8th June 2022

Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 31 May to Question 5626, what the (a) content and (b) design of his Department's workshops on businesses handling inflationary pressures were; which public food sectors were involved; and what advice was given on mitigating any potential global food price shocks.

Answered by Jacob Rees-Mogg

The Government Commercial Function has provided general guidance on handling inflationary pressures to Contracting Authorities. It would not be appropriate to comment on the content or guidance specifically as this is commercially sensitive. The interpretation and application of the guidance is wholly within the remit of a Contracting Authority. The food sector was not uniquely identified within the guidance.


Written Question
Office for Veterans' Affairs: Finance
Tuesday 13th April 2021

Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the total reduction to the budget of the Office for Veterans' Affairs.

Answered by Johnny Mercer - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Minister for Veterans' Affairs)

The Office for Veterans’ Affairs’ budget has not been confirmed and the Cabinet Office budget for 2021/22 will be published in due course. Support for veterans is funded through a variety of Government channels, including the OVA and individual departments delivering veterans’ services. This year, more funding than ever before has been made available to veterans’ mental health services in NHS England, and unprecedented support has been offered to the service charity sector.

The OVA works to champion veterans across government, driving new approaches and policies in areas that will improve the support the nation offers veterans over the long term, in line with the commitments made by all four nations of the Union in the Strategy for our Veterans. Examples of this are through better use of data to drive change, improved digitisation to make services easier to access and navigate, developing a coherent research strategy to improve our understanding of issues affecting veterans and to improve collaboration across the veterans sector.


Written Question
Civil Servants: Veterans
Wednesday 3rd February 2021

Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Making the Civil Service a Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative, how many veterans have (a) applied to the Civil Service through that initiative and (b) been successful in securing a job through that initiative to date.

Answered by Johnny Mercer - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Minister for Veterans' Affairs)

Since the pilot of ‘Making the Civil Service a Great Place to Work for Veterans’ was launched on 5 October 2020, up to 31 December 2020, unvalidated data shows that 856 veterans have applied for jobs using the scheme (6% of total applicants), with 9 job offers made to veterans (13% of all job offers). This indicates that on participating vacancies, a higher proportion of job offers are held by veterans compared to the proportion of all applicants who are veterans. In addition to this, since the launch of the pilot in four Government departments, the Welsh Government and National Crime Agency have joined the scheme, ensuring a higher number of vacancies are made available to veterans.


Written Question
Veterans: Coronavirus
Wednesday 16th December 2020

Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department's news story, New study to understand effect of COVID-19 on veterans, published on 13 June 2020, when he will publish the report into the effect of covid-19 on veterans.

Answered by Johnny Mercer - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Minister for Veterans' Affairs)

Results from the study conducted by the Kings’ Centre for Military Health Research into the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on veterans will be published independently by Kings’ College London. The report will be submitted for academic peer review by the end of 2020, with full publication expected in early 2021 after the review process has taken place.

The key themes examined in the report will cover veterans’ health, wellbeing and employment. The cohort surveyed has been followed by Kings’ College London since 2003, allowing for insightful comparison to previous data concerning the health and wellbeing of veterans.


Written Question
Veterans: Coronavirus
Friday 29th May 2020

Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment his Department has made of the future need of veterans as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.

Answered by Johnny Mercer - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Minister for Veterans' Affairs)

This Government is committed to making sure the United Kingdom is the best place to be a veteran anywhere in the world. We recognise that COVID-19 will present new and particular challenges to veterans. Ministers and officials, in the Office for Veterans’ Affairs, the Ministry Of Defence and other departments, have regular engagement with veterans and the Armed Forces charity sector and this has continued during COVID 19. The Government is currently developing its understanding of how COVID 19 has changed the needs of veterans and how we can meet those requirements. This will guide future iterations of the Government's Strategy for our Veterans.


Written Question
Childbirth
Thursday 30th January 2020

Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many babies were born prematurely in each (a) nation and (b) region of the UK in each of the last five years.

Answered by Chloe Smith

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have therefore asked the Authority to respond.


Written Question
Social Services: Finance
Thursday 16th November 2017

Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if the Government will establish a group of Ministers and officials to discuss proposals for the long-term funding of social care.

Answered by Damian Green

The Government has already established an Interministerial Group to oversee the development of its Green Paper on Care and Support.


Written Question
Malnutrition
Thursday 16th November 2017

Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the number of deaths in England caused by malnutrition in each of the last 10 years.

Answered by Chris Skidmore

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.


Written Question
Tickets: Fraud
Tuesday 16th December 2014

Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many reports of ticket fraud have been made to Action Fraud in the last full year for which figures are available; and how many such reports related to tickets purchased through legitimate secondary ticketing platforms.

Answered by Rob Wilson

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.