Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether their Department has a Chief Risk Officer responsible for national security risks relating to the work of their Department.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Government identifies and assesses risks to the nation through the internal, classified National Security Risk Assessment, and the external National Risk Register, the most recent version of which was published in August. As set out in the UK Government Resilience Framework, each risk in the National Security Risk Assessment is owned and managed within Lead Government Departments.
Where those risks, including national security risks, relate to the work of the Cabinet Office, they are managed through the department's risk management processes. This includes oversight from a Chief Risk Officer.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what guidance his Department provides officials with (a) developed vetting and (b) other security clearances on public interactions.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
All staff are given a security induction when joining the department that includes the required security behaviours, a modified version of this induction is repeated for experienced Civil Servants when a new access pass is required.
Alongside this the Resilience and Security team also offer security briefings to Ministers, staff with security concerns or elevated risk and travel advice for all staff.
All staff are reminded, in writing, on receipt of their vetting clearance, that their actions should meet the standards of behaviour set out in the Civil Service Code and the Civil Service Management and that their behaviour must not place themselves in a position where they could be compromised.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many publicly-owned buildings in the UK contain reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Departments have been asked to report on the current picture of suspected and confirmed RAAC in their estates as soon as possible. This will be updated on a regular basis as new buildings are identified and surveying and remediation are carried out.
Government published lists of education settings confirmed as having RAAC on Wednesday 6 September and committed to providing further updates.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department co-ordinates a cross-Government strategy on China; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
As the Honourable Gentleman will be aware, the Cabinet Office is responsible for coordinating cross-Government strategy across a range of issues including China.
The Integrated Review Refresh sets out the Government’s approach to our security, defence, and foreign policy priorities. It remains the case that we do not publish National Security strategies on China or other issues.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the Government's definition is of foreign interference.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The Government defines Foreign Interference as activity conducted on behalf of a foreign state that undermines UK interests through actions which are either corruptive, deceptive, coercive or criminal.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to recommendation W in the report on China by the Intelligence and Security Committee, published on 13 July 2023, HC 1605, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of requiring that the Intelligence and Security Committee be notified of any (a) company or person being a high-risk vendor of telecommunications equipment and (b) specification of the limits placed on the use of such equipment.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
HM Government is considering each of the recommendations and conclusions in the Intelligence & Security Committee’s report on China and will publish a full response to the report in due course, in the usual manner.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the report by the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament entitled China, published on 13 July 2023, HC 1605, how many downloads there have been of the report (a) in total and (b) by country in which the report was downloaded; and what the top ten countries by number of downloads were.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The Intelligence and Security Committee published its report on China through its own website, isc.independent.gov.uk, which it manages. Consequently, HM Government is not in a position to provide information relating to downloads of the report.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an estimate of the total cost to the public purse of spending on consultancy by Departments in each year from 2019 to 2022.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
Data on the cost of consultancy spend across government is not centrally held and is held by each department. There is a legitimate case for consultancy spend in certain circumstances, where it represents value for taxpayer money.
Each department will publish their total consultancy spend as part of their own Annual Reports and Accounts which are available on Gov.uk.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Written Ministerial Statement of 24 November 2022 on Security Update on Surveillance Equipment, HCWS386,whether any surveillance equipment produced by companies subject to the National Intelligence Law of the People’s Republic of China is connected to departmental core networks.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
On 24 November 2022, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster published a Written Ministerial Statement noting that departments had been instructed to disconnect surveillance equipment from core departmental networks, where it had been produced by companies subject to the National Intelligence Law of China. Government departments have been implementing this policy along with other protective security controls. It is a longstanding Government policy that specific security arrangements regarding Government estates are withheld on security grounds.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Government has purchased any products manufactured by Hikvision or Dahua in the last three years.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
We can confirm that the Cabinet Office has not contracted directly with either of the named suppliers during the period in question.
As has been the case under successive administrations, it is not government policy to comment on the government’s security arrangements. This includes any specific details regarding the make and model of security systems, which are withheld on national security grounds.
Each Department is responsible for their own procurement decisions. Details of Government contracts above £10,000, and £25,000 in the wider public sector, are published on Contracts Finder (https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder).