Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of the legal cases in relation to the prorogation of Parliament.
Answered by Michael Ellis
No estimate has been made of the total costs of the prorogation litigation, which only recently concluded. We expect to know the final figures in November.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how many and what proportion of officials in his Department took sick leave for reasons relating to stress in the last 12 months; what proportion that leave was of total sick leave taken in his Department; and what the cost was to his Department of officials taking sick leave over that period.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) has had officials take sick leave for reasons relating to stress in the last 12 months. However, we are not in a position to release this data, as due to the small size of the office this could lead to individuals becoming identifiable.
The AGO is highly committed to the health and wellbeing of its staff, and works to help them to manage stress in the workplace. The AGO offers a range of guidance and services in place to support staff, including launching its own wellbeing statement and strategy, and receiving the commitment of the Executive Board to wellbeing. The staff volunteer led wellbeing group has organised numerous events for colleagues to help improve wellbeing and manage stress. The AGO also offers free counselling services for staff members.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how many staff of his Department who were transferred or seconded to work (a) in other Departments and (b) on other departmental briefs on preparations for the UK to leave the EU have since returned to his Department.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The Attorney General’s Office had one employee who joined DExEU on loan to support work on preparations for the UK to leave the EU. The employee subsequently moved permanently to another department and will not return to the Attorney General’s Office.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what recent estimate he has made of the cost to his Department of preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a deal.
Answered by Robert Buckland
HM Treasury has allocated over £4.2 billion of additional funding to departments and the Devolved Administrations for EU exit preparations so far. This breaks down as:
£412m of additional funding over the spending review period for the Department for Exiting the European Union, Department for International Trade and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office at Autumn Statement 2016.
£286m of additional funding for 17/18 (a full breakdown of which can be found in Supplementary Estimates 17/18:
Over £1.5bn of additional funding for 18/19. A full breakdown of the allocations can be found in the Chief Secretary’s Written Ministerial Statement, HCWS540, laid on the 13th March (https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2018-03-13/HCWS540/)
Over £2bn of additional funding for 19/20. A full breakdown of the allocations can be found in the Chief Secretary’s Written Ministerial Statement, HCWS1205, laid on the 18th December (https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2018-12-18/HCWS1205/)
The funding provided is in addition to the Attorney General’s Office’s efforts to reprioritise from business as usual toward preparations for the UK’s departure from the EU. This funding is to support preparation for all scenarios.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how many citizens of non-UK EU countries work in (a) his Department, (b) its agencies and (c) its non-departmental public bodies.
Answered by Robert Buckland
All Government Departments are bound by EU and UK requirements concerning right to work in the UK and, in addition, the Civil Service Nationality Rules. Documentary evidence of nationality is checked at the point of recruitment into the Civil Service as part of wider pre-employment checks.
Neither the Attorney General’s Office, the Government Legal Department, Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate, the Crown Prosecution Service or the Serious Fraud Office record information on staff who are from non-UK EU countries.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, whether gagging clauses have been used in contracts drawn up between his Department and any charities, voluntary sector organisations, social enterprises or companies with the intention of stopping any criticism of Ministers of his Department.
Answered by Robert Buckland
The Attorney General’s Office does not have any contracts with charities, voluntary sector organisations or social enterprises. The AGO has not had a “gagging clause” added to any contract with a company where AGO is a party.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what estimate he has made of the cost to his Department of leaving the EU in accordance with (a) the proposals set out in the Government’s White Paper and (b) a no-deal scenario.
Answered by Robert Buckland
At Autumn Budget 2017, the Chancellor also set aside £1.5 billion of additional funding for EU Exit preparations in 2019/20. Departments will be invited to bid for 2019/20 EU Exit preparation funding later in the year. Details of timings and process will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what the total cost to the public purse for his Department’s work preparing for the UK to leave the EU has been since 23 June 2016.
Answered by Robert Buckland
HM Treasury has allocated over £2 billion of additional funding to departments and the Devolved Administrations for EU exit preparations so far. This breaks down as:
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, which EU legislation within the Law Officers' Departments' responsibilities will (a) be incorporated into UK law through the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill and (b) require to be amended under powers in that Bill.
Answered by Jeremy Wright
The European Union (Withdrawal) Bill will convert European Union law into UK law as it applies in the UK at the moment of exit. This will ensure that, wherever possible, the same rules and laws will apply the day after exit as they did before.
The Government is still making a detailed assessment of what corrections will be required to make that law function appropriately on exit day. The Government’s current estimate is that we will need to make between 800 and 1,000 statutory instruments to make exit a reality in UK law.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how many civil servants in each unit of the Law Officers' Departments are in the redeployment pool.
Answered by Robert Buckland
Within the Law Officer’s Departments, the Attorney General's Office, Government Legal Department and Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate do not have a redeployment pool. The Crown Prosecution Service has eight staff currently in the redeployment pool and the Serious Fraud Office has less than five staff.