Asked by: Uma Kumaran (Labour - Stratford and Bow)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many (a) away days and (b) leadership conferences for senior civil servants his Department organised between 4 July 2022 and 4 July 2024; and what the cost of these were.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Between 4 July 2022 and 4 July 2024, the Cabinet Office has not organised any away days for Senior Civil Servants. During the same period, there were a total of seven leadership conferences for Senior Civil Servants.
27 October 2022 | £13,170 |
19 January 2023 | £27,750 |
25 April 2023 | £28,245 |
6 July 2023 | £32,141 |
12 October 2023 | £19,705 |
18 January 2024 | £20,725 |
25 April 2024 | £18,710 |
Asked by: Uma Kumaran (Labour - Stratford and Bow)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when he plans to respond to Question 23666 on Cabinet Office: Media, tabled on 13 January 2025.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
I apologise to the Honourable Member for the delay in responding to her Parliamentary Question of 13 January. An answer has now been issued, as of 3 February.
Asked by: Uma Kumaran (Labour - Stratford and Bow)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much their Department spent on (a) media and (b) voice training for Ministers between 4 July 2022 and 4 July 2024.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office routinely provides or procures media or voice training for Ministers and Senior Officials who carry out frequent or high-profile media appearances in the course of their official duties. The Cabinet Office spent c.£75,800 on this type of training during the time period stated.
Asked by: Uma Kumaran (Labour - Stratford and Bow)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps she is taking to help tackle the ethnicity pay gap.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
As set out in the King’s Speech in July, the government is committed to introducing mandatory ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting for large employers. These measures will be part of the upcoming Equality (Race and Disability) Bill.
We will shortly be consulting on our proposals to help us shape the legislation.
Asked by: Uma Kumaran (Labour - Stratford and Bow)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how much their Department spent on (a) media and (b) voice training for Ministers between 4 July 2022 and 4 July 2024.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Business and Trade has not spent anything on media and voice training for Ministers between 4 July 2022 and 4 July 2024.
Asked by: Uma Kumaran (Labour - Stratford and Bow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much their Department spent on (a) media and (b) voice training for Ministers between 4 July 2022 and 4 July 2024.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Between 4 July 2022 and 4 July 2024, the Department has spent £23668 on media and voice training for Ministers.
This spend only came to light after the original answer was published.
The training took place in 2023.
Asked by: Uma Kumaran (Labour - Stratford and Bow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what (a) training and (b) support local authorities will receive to ensure the Children Not In School register does not inadvertently disadvantage parents of children with special educational needs.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill for statutory Children Not in School registers in every local authority in England, and the accompanying duties on parents and out-of-school education providers to provide information for these registers, will support local authorities in identifying all children not in school in their areas, including those with special educational needs (SEN). By identifying these children, local authorities will be better able to support them and their families so they can achieve and thrive.
In order to make sure that these measures are implemented appropriately, the department has established stakeholder implementation forums to enable us to engage with a wide group of stakeholders at regular intervals during the progress of the Bill and subsequently after. This includes a group of home educating representatives and families, some of whom have children with SEN, and we are factoring their views into our delivery and the planned support offer to local authorities.
The department will be issuing statutory guidance to support local authorities to carry out their new duties proportionately. As part of our planned engagement with stakeholders, we will consider whether additional support is required, such as training for local authority staff.
Asked by: Uma Kumaran (Labour - Stratford and Bow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has had discussions with representatives of the mobile phone industry on (a) using technology to prevent stolen phones from being re-used and (b) the adequacy of security on banking phone apps.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
A series of meetings have already been held, and we will be holding a Home Office Mobile Phone Theft Summit, drawing together representatives from the mobile phone industry, including tech companies, and law enforcement to see what more can collectively be done to break the business model of mobile phone thieves.
As part of our Safer Streets Mission, this government is determined to crack down on theft and other crimes that make people feel unsafe in our communities, including strengthening neighbourhood policing, tackling anti-social behaviour and restoring public confidence.
Asked by: Uma Kumaran (Labour - Stratford and Bow)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to his Written Statement of 12 November 2024 on the UK’s 2035 Nationally Determined Contribution emissions reduction target under the Paris Agreement, HCWS206, what steps his Department is taking to assess the potential health impacts of different pathways for implementing mitigation ambitions.
Answered by Kerry McCarthy - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The UK’s 2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), to reduce all greenhouse gas emissions by at least 81% on 1990 levels is an economy-wide target, covering all greenhouse gases, sectors and categories and aligned with limiting global warming to 1.5c. Our NDC is aligned with the advice of the independent Climate Change Committee (CCC) and consistent with the effort required to deliver our ambitious Carbon Budget 6 (2033-2037). In providing advice on pathways to meet CB6 and the UK’s 2050 Net Zero target, the CCC emphasised the host of health benefits attached to the net zero transition and appointed an expert advisory group on Health to support their advice.
Asked by: Uma Kumaran (Labour - Stratford and Bow)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for (a) his policies and (b) the IPCC’s seventh assessment cycle of negotiations on the Global Stocktake at COP29 in Baku.
Answered by Kerry McCarthy - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The UK is fully committed to taking forward the outcomes of the Global Stocktake, including through our recently announced 1.5 aligned Nationally Determined Contribution of at least 81% reduction in emissions by 2035 based on 1990 levels. We are disappointed that COP29 failed to follow up on historic commitments made at COP28 and will champion ambition to ensure that COP30 delivers on implementation of the Global Stocktake. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is expected to agree the scope and timeline for the publication of its Seventh Assessment Report at its next plenary in February 2025.