Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment his Department has made of the financial effect on widowed people of the civil service pension rules on remarriage and cohabitation.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The Government Actuary’s Department completed the quadrennial actuarial valuation as at 31 March 2016 and showed that the average annual pension for surviving adult dependants in the Civil Service pension arrangements was around £2,100 for male dependants and around £4,700 for female dependants. The pensions of widows, widowers and surviving civil partner pensions, under the Classic section of the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme, cease if they remarry or cohabit. An average of around 120 pensions cease on remarriage or cohabitation per year for the period 2008 to 2019.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many companies or entities his Department (a) controls or (b) has significant influence over whose accounts are not audited by the National Audit Office.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
All Cabinet Office arms length bodies are audited by the National Audit Office.
Details of Cabinet Office Joint Ventures are published in the annual report.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what guidance his Department has issued cross-government on how long emails should be retained by Departments for (a) civil servants, (b) special advisors and (c) Ministers.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
Departments are responsible for their own record keeping. Record management requirements do not differ between civil servants (including special advisers) and Ministers. The Cabinet Office has not issued cross-government guidance on how long emails should be retained.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what controls his Department requires from Government departments to identify and disclose the award of Government contracts to entities owned or controlled by Government ministers and senior civil servants from their own or other departments.
Answered by Chloe Smith
Ministers and Civil Servants are bound respectively by the requirements of the Ministerial Code, the Civil Service Code and the Civil Service Management Code, which include provisions for the management of potential conflicts of interest.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what controls his Department requires from Government departments to identify and disclose the award of Government contracts to entities owned or controlled by major political party donors.
Answered by Chloe Smith
Ministers and Civil Servants are bound respectively by the requirements of the Ministerial Code, the Civil Service Code and the Civil Service Management Code, which include provisions for the management of potential conflicts of interest.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what information his Department holds on the use of offshore accounts by government decision makers; and whether additional risk controls or mitigations are put in place where the use of offshore accounts by those individuals is identified.
Answered by Oliver Dowden
I refer the Hon. member to the response which I gave to PQ 12393 on Monday 10 February.
All public office holders are expected to comply with the law as it applies to offshore banking activity.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when his Department last undertook a review of the adequacy of controls on the use of offshore bank accounts by Ministers and senior civil servants.
Answered by Oliver Dowden
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer which I gave to PQ 8404 on Monday 3 February 2020.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the requirements are for (a) senior officials and (b) Ministers of his Department to disclose their ownership and use of offshore banking arrangements.
Answered by Oliver Dowden
All public office holders are expected to comply with the law as it applies to offshore banking activity.
Ministers and Civil Servants must also uphold the standards of conduct as set out in the Ministerial and Civil Service Code respectively, as well as the seven principles of public life.