Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he has submitted a witness statement to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry in Module Five in his capacity as a previous (a) Chair of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority and (b) Mayor of London.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The Inquiries Act 2005 empowers the Chair of an Inquiry to require the production of evidence, including from witnesses. The Prime Minister has received no requests for a witness statement from the Chair of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry. The London Fire Commissioner (which replaced LFEPA in 2017) is a core participant in the Inquiry.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what proportion of staff employed by the Department for Exiting the European Union were apprentices.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
Data regarding the number of apprentices in each Government Department is published yearly as part of routine Government transparency. The most recent report was published in September 2019, covering the 2018-2019 financial year, and can be found on GOV.UK:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-apprenticeship-data-2018-to-2019
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what proportion of staff employed by No. 10 Downing Street are apprentices.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
Data regarding the number of apprentices in each Government Department is published yearly as part of routine Government transparency. The most recent report was published in September 2019, covering the 2018-2019 financial year, and can be found on GOV.UK:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-apprenticeship-data-2018-to-2019
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Prime Minister, which ministers attended the meeting with SPAC Nation at Downing Street on 9 May 2018.
Answered by Boris Johnson
Details of ministerial meetings are published and available on the gov.uk website; no such Ministerial meeting took place.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Prime Minister, what the purpose was of the visit by SPAC Nation to Downing Street on 9 May 2018.
Answered by Boris Johnson
Details of ministerial meetings are published and available on the gov.uk website; no such Ministerial meeting took place.
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, how much has been spent on the Get ready for Brexit communications campaign as of 25 October 2019.
Answered by Chloe Smith
I refer the Hon Member to the answer given to grouped PQs 290437, 290765 and 290970 on the 30th September 2019.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what his Department's budget for communications was in each of the last three years for which data is available.
Answered by David Lidington
The Cabinet Office Communications Unit budget was £1,153,000 for 2016/17, £1,669,000 for 2017/18 and £1,886,000 for 2018/19.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has reviewed its policy on awarding grants as a result of the cancellation of the Garden Bridge project.
Answered by Chloe Smith
Whilst not connected to the cancellation of the Garden Bridge project, the Cabinet Office published a set of minimum standards for government general grants in December 2016. The standards cover the end-to-end process and are designed to ensure that government grants administration is efficient, effective and offers value to taxpayers. The standards and supporting guidance 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, whether his Department plans to undertake a review of the recommendations contained in the report by Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts entitled, Third Party Election Campaigning – Getting the Balance Right, published in March 2016.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The Government has no plans to legislate to amend the rules on third party campaigning in line with Lord Hodgson’s package of recommendations. However, we are continuing to consider his recommendation on digital imprints.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department is taking to (a) diversify public sector supply chains and (b) ensure greater account is given to social value in those supply chains.
Answered by Oliver Dowden - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
In most of the markets from which the Government buys, there is plenty of competition. Where consolidation has reduced competition we take steps to encourage more.
There are now more small suppliers than ever looking to bid for Government business. As of end of November 2018, there were 44,963 registered individual users on Contracts Finder from 30,161 organisations. 20,397 of these (c. 67.6%) are SMEs. Additionally, we now encourage prime contractors to advertise subcontracting opportunities on Contracts Finder to diversify the supply chain further.