Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will take steps to begin negotiations for a new trade agreement with the EU.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
I am responding as the Minister responsible for EU relations. This government is committed to improving the UK’s trade and investment relationship with the EU to tackle unnecessary barriers to trade, including by seeking to negotiate a SPS agreement. We are working with the EU to identify areas where we can strengthen cooperation for mutual benefit, and as part of this we will welcome EU leaders to the UK for the first UK-EU Leaders’ Summit on 19 May.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to fulfil the requirements of the National Resilience Framework, last updated on 4 December 2023.
Answered by John Glen
Strengthening national resilience is a key priority for the Government.
The Deputy Prime Minister delivered the first Annual Statement to Parliament on risk and resilience in December 2023. Since then, in February he has convened the UK Resilience Forum to garner insight from key stakeholders from across the resilience system and drive a whole of society approach. He will do so again in July.
The Government has already taken significant steps to implement the Resilience Framework, including publishing the most transparent ever National Risk Register, an updated list of Lead Government Departments for the risks it sets out and testing Emergency Alerts.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what funding is available for resilience support in case of emergencies for (a) local authorities, (b) Walsall Council and (c) the Black Country Integrated Care Board.
Answered by John Glen
As part of broad civil contingencies duties, all local authorities are expected to assess the risks of emergencies and have plans in place to respond to a range of scenarios.
In extreme emergency circumstances, discretionary funding may be made available where the expenditure of local authorities is more than could be reasonably expected to cover, such as severe weather events.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Prime Minister has an advisory role to the Sovereign on the appointment of Anglican bishops; and what assessment the Government has made of the potential merits of reviewing the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829.
Answered by Michael Ellis
Under reforms introduced in 2007 by the then Prime Minister, The Rt Hon Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister does not choose bishops or advise on the choice of bishops. His or her role is confined to putting the name of the nominated candidate to Her Majesty The Queen.
The Government does not have any current plans to review the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has deprioritised any Statutory Instruments in relation to the UK leaving the EU; and if he will publish the criteria his Department uses to deprioritise those Instruments.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Cabinet Office did not deprioritise any SIs and they were all laid in time for Exit Day.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how members of the public can access Government-commissioned reports on the gov.uk website which have been archived.
Answered by Matt Hancock
It is our policy to keep content published on GOV.UK available as a public record. Any content which is not current, or has been superseded, is clearly marked including Government-commissioned reports.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many (a) occupational pensions payments and (b) lump sum pensions payments from the Civil Service Pensions Scheme have been paid after the due date since the transfer of administration of that scheme from Capita to MyCSP.
Answered by Lord Maude of Horsham
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Leicester South on 8 January 2015 to UIN: 219343.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many buildings owned by his Department have been sold in each year since 2010.
Answered by Lord Maude of Horsham
The Cabinet Office sold the Freehold of 53 Parliament Street for £5.37m in March 2010.
The Government Property Unit, based in the Cabinet Office, has helped the Government exit over 1500 buildings, including over 800 freehold properties, in this Parliament. This has generated over £1.4 billion in receipts and achieved cumulative, gross run rate savings of over £600 million per year against a 2009/10 baseline.
If a previous Government had done more to dispose of unnecessary properties, the deficit which we inherited in 2010 would have been less.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall and Bloxwich)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many telephone lines with the prefix (a) 0845, (b) 0844 and (c) 0843 his Department (i) operates and (ii) sponsors; how many calls each such number has received in the last 12 months; and whether alternative numbers charged at BT local rates are available in each such case.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Cabinet Office does not operate or sponsor telephone lines with the prefix 0843, 0844 or 0845.