Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish research commissioned by the Government and undertaken by external polling and communications agencies into public attitudes on the levelling up agenda.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
As has been the case with successive administrations, Government routinely works with suppliers to provide polling and market research work so as to understand public attitudes and behaviours to inform policy-making. Details of departmental expenditure and contracts are published on GOV.UK.
Cabinet Office does not hold this information centrally.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether it is his Department's policy that elections scheduled for May 2021 go ahead as planned.
Answered by Chloe Smith
Primary legislation states that the elections will go ahead in May 2021.
We continue to work closely with the electoral community, including electoral suppliers, and public health bodies to resolve challenges and ensure everyone will be able to cast their vote safely and securely - and in a way of their choosing.
Measures are planned to support absent voting at short notice. Guidance will be published in good time ahead of the polls and this matter will be kept under review. The House will be kept updated.
The Government has also engaged with the Parliamentary Parties Panel to ensure that views from political parties are taken on board.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the Government's policy is on the use of non-disclosure agreements in the civil service for settling cases involving racial discrimination or abuse grievances.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The Cabinet Office publishes guidance on the use of confidentiality clauses in the Civil Service. This is publicly available here. It makes clear that such clauses should not be used to prevent staff from raising or discussing allegations of bullying, harassment or discrimination.
As part of the Government's evidence for the Women and Equalities Committee report on the use of non-disclosure agreements in discrminination cases, we provided details on the number of non-disclosure agreements used in the Civil Service including those that were used in cases of alleged discrimination. This represents the latest data we have available.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many non-disclosure agreements have been used by each Government department for settling grievance cases in each of the last five years.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The Cabinet Office publishes guidance on the use of confidentiality clauses in the Civil Service. This is publicly available here. It makes clear that such clauses should not be used to prevent staff from raising or discussing allegations of bullying, harassment or discrimination.
As part of the Government's evidence for the Women and Equalities Committee report on the use of non-disclosure agreements in discrminination cases, we provided details on the number of non-disclosure agreements used in the Civil Service including those that were used in cases of alleged discrimination. This represents the latest data we have available.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, many non-disclosure agreements have been used by each Government department for settling discrimination cases in each of the last five years.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The Cabinet Office publishes guidance on the use of confidentiality clauses in the Civil Service. This is publicly available here. It makes clear that such clauses should not be used to prevent staff from raising or discussing allegations of bullying, harassment or discrimination.
As part of the Government's evidence for the Women and Equalities Committee report on the use of non-disclosure agreements in discrminination cases, we provided details on the number of non-disclosure agreements used in the Civil Service including those that were used in cases of alleged discrimination. This represents the latest data we have available.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Cabinet Secretary is undertaking an inquiry into the circumstances by which the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government made his decision on the Westferry Printworks development, PA/18/01877/A1 on 14 January 2020.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government has yesterday published a comprehensive statement to the Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee on the manner in which the Westferry planning appeal was determined, and released a comprehensive collection of associated documents into the public domain; and I also refer the Hon. Member to the Secretary of State’s speech in the Opposition Day Debate.
The Cabinet Secretary has not undertaken an investigation; he has written to the Hon. Member in relation to this matter in reply to his letter. Given the Hon. Member publicly released his original letter, I am placing a copy of this reply in the Libraries of the House.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Prime Minister, how many times and on what dates he has met with Richard Desmond since he became Prime Minister.
Answered by Boris Johnson
Details of Ministerial meetings with external organisations are published on gov.uk.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish a list all meetings the Prime Minister has had with donors to the Conservative Party since he became Prime Minister.
Answered by Chloe Smith
Ministers publish details of their government meetings with external individuals and organisations on GOV.UK.
The Government does not collate details of whether such individuals or organisations have made donations to any political party in the past.
This would not be a material consideration in deciding whether to hold any meeting, nor with the topics discussed.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, on which dates data on people who are medically extremely vulnerable to covid-19 and should therefore be shielded has been provided to local authorities; and the details of how many individuals were provided on each occasion.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The Government Digital Service (GDS) - acting as the data controller for the shielded patient list (SPL) (ie persons who are medically extremely vulnerable to covid-19), as supplied by the NHS - has provided data of individuals on this list to local authorities. GDS initially provided data from the ‘registered list’ to local authorities in late March. From 2 April GDS provided the entire SPL, which was updated by the NHS on 9 April and 6 May, and then on a rolling basis.
Individual local authorities are only able to access SPL records where the postcode matches their relevant area.
The number of NHS SPL individuals was 2,232,175 as at 26 May 2020 and the number of 'registered list' individuals was 1,190,213 as at 26 May 2020. Note that the ‘registered list’ is broadly a subset of the SPL, not additional to it.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what contingency plans he has in place for the elections on 7 May 2020 in the event of a covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The Government continues to assess the impact of Covid-19 and is reviewing any implications for the delivery of public services on an ongoing basis. Our approach has been, and will continue to be, guided by the evidence and latest advice from medical experts, including the Chief Medical Officer.
We are currently working to facilitate the local, mayoral, and Police and Crime Commissioner elections on 7 May going ahead as planned.
We will of course continue to monitor the situation, and we are developing our responses and contingency plans as necessary.