Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an assessment of the (a) effectiveness of the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 and (b) potential merits of adopting that legislation nationwide.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The UK Government works closely and discusses a range of matters with colleagues in the Welsh Government. Consideration of the effectiveness of devolved legislation is a matter for the relevant devolved legislature and government. The Cabinet Office therefore has not carried out a specific assessment of the effectiveness of the Well-being of Future Generations Act 2015.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how often he has discussions with the Infected Blood Inquiry on the implementation of compensation recommendations.
Answered by John Glen
I, and my predecessors in this role, have not had formal discussions with members of the Infected Blood Inquiry team, to protect the Inquiry’s independence from Government. The Government has committed to update Parliament through an oral statement on next steps within 25 sitting days following the publication of the Inquiry’s final report on 20 May, and it is our intention to make this statement as soon as possible.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department issues guidance on the issuing of compensation to victims of institutional failures.
Answered by John Glen
The Government has been steadfast in its commitment to providing diverse compensation schemes that cater to varying needs and circumstances and remains committed to upholding the rule of law, ensuring that all citizens have access to effective mechanisms for resolving grievances, and holding institutions accountable. Each Department responsible for a compensation scheme issues guidance to claimants for engaging with their respective scheme.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
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 - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
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.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
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.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
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
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.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
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
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.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
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
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.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
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
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.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
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.