Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much and what proportion of the Government's £290 billion annual public sector procurement expenditure has been disbursed by each (a) Government department, (b) local authority, (c) university, (d) research institute or research council, (e) NHS Trust and (f) further education institute in each of the last five financial years.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
This information is not held centrally.
The UK spends some £290 billion on public procurement every year. This huge amount of government spending must be leveraged to play its part in the UK’s economic recovery, opening up public contracts to more small businesses and social enterprises to innovate in public service delivery, and meeting our net-zero carbon target by 2050. The Government has already reviewed the Green Book to ensure it supports “levelling up” and is taking other steps for example through the National Infrastructure Strategy to ensure vibrant and resilient supply chains. Our ambitious plans for reform, set out in our recently published Green Paper on transforming procurement, aim to create a simpler regime that reduces costs for business and the public sector alike whilst complying with our international obligations.
The Government is committed to working to improve action to tackle modern slavery in supply chains, and has published commercial policy and guidance which advocates a systematic approach to identifying and tackling modern slavery and labour abuses in government supply chains, focussing on areas of the highest risk. We are keeping this matter under close review.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much and what proportion of the Government's £290 billion annual public sector procurement expenditure has been spent in each region of the UK in each of the last five financial years.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
This information is not held centrally.
The UK spends some £290 billion on public procurement every year. This huge amount of government spending must be leveraged to play its part in the UK’s economic recovery, opening up public contracts to more small businesses and social enterprises to innovate in public service delivery, and meeting our net-zero carbon target by 2050. The Government has already reviewed the Green Book to ensure it supports “levelling up” and is taking other steps for example through the National Infrastructure Strategy to ensure vibrant and resilient supply chains. Our ambitious plans for reform, set out in our recently published Green Paper on transforming procurement, aim to create a simpler regime that reduces costs for business and the public sector alike whilst complying with our international obligations.
The Government is committed to working to improve action to tackle modern slavery in supply chains, and has published commercial policy and guidance which advocates a systematic approach to identifying and tackling modern slavery and labour abuses in government supply chains, focussing on areas of the highest risk. We are keeping this matter under close review.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much and what proportion of the Government's £290 billion annual public sector procurement expenditure has been spent with or on (a) the private sector, (b) the voluntary sector, (c) SMEs, (d) public sector bodies, (e) goods and (f) services in each of the last five financial years.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
This information is not held centrally.
The UK spends some £290 billion on public procurement every year. This huge amount of government spending must be leveraged to play its part in the UK’s economic recovery, opening up public contracts to more small businesses and social enterprises to innovate in public service delivery, and meeting our net-zero carbon target by 2050. The Government has already reviewed the Green Book to ensure it supports “levelling up” and is taking other steps for example through the National Infrastructure Strategy to ensure vibrant and resilient supply chains. Our ambitious plans for reform, set out in our recently published Green Paper on transforming procurement, aim to create a simpler regime that reduces costs for business and the public sector alike whilst complying with our international obligations.
The Government is committed to working to improve action to tackle modern slavery in supply chains, and has published commercial policy and guidance which advocates a systematic approach to identifying and tackling modern slavery and labour abuses in government supply chains, focussing on areas of the highest risk. We are keeping this matter under close review.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish research commissioned by the Government and undertaken by external polling and communications agencies into public attitudes on the levelling up agenda.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
As has been the case with successive administrations, Government routinely works with suppliers to provide polling and market research work so as to understand public attitudes and behaviours to inform policy-making. Details of departmental expenditure and contracts are published on GOV.UK.
Cabinet Office does not hold this information centrally.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the current cost of all communication staff within the scope of the centralisation of communication project.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Reshaping Government Communication Service programme will further strengthen and unify the Government Communication Service (GCS), to be an even more effective and efficient service. Cabinet Office is leading the programme and working closely with ministerial departments and other public sector bodies. The programme has completed its discovery phase and is in its design phase, both of which will contribute to the outline business case and will help to identify the potential savings.
All communications staff are considered to be in scope for the RGCS programme. Last year, we received some initial data from departments and Arms Length Bodies, however more work will be done over the coming months to gather the necessary data to inform decision making.
The Cabinet Office has confirmed that its intention is for departments to have core teams for press, social media and rebuttal. We are working with departments to consider what a streamlined service could look like, in order to support statutory, operational or programme delivery.
Cabinet Office is continuously tracking and reviewing spending on cross-government campaigns, to ensure our communications are efficient. We will not spend more than is needed to be effective. Cabinet Office publishes expenditure on government communication spend, including our national campaigns, on a rolling monthly basis on gov.uk as part of routine government transparency arrangements at the link below:
www.gov.uk/government/collections/cabinet-office-spend-data.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the current spend on communications for those bodies within the scope of the centralisation of communication project.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Reshaping Government Communication Service programme will further strengthen and unify the Government Communication Service (GCS), to be an even more effective and efficient service. Cabinet Office is leading the programme and working closely with ministerial departments and other public sector bodies. The programme has completed its discovery phase and is in its design phase, both of which will contribute to the outline business case and will help to identify the potential savings.
All communications staff are considered to be in scope for the RGCS programme. Last year, we received some initial data from departments and Arms Length Bodies, however more work will be done over the coming months to gather the necessary data to inform decision making.
The Cabinet Office has confirmed that its intention is for departments to have core teams for press, social media and rebuttal. We are working with departments to consider what a streamlined service could look like, in order to support statutory, operational or programme delivery.
Cabinet Office is continuously tracking and reviewing spending on cross-government campaigns, to ensure our communications are efficient. We will not spend more than is needed to be effective. Cabinet Office publishes expenditure on government communication spend, including our national campaigns, on a rolling monthly basis on gov.uk as part of routine government transparency arrangements at the link below:
www.gov.uk/government/collections/cabinet-office-spend-data.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the restructuring of Government communications, what criteria were used in setting the expected maximum figure of 30 communications staff per Department.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Reshaping Government Communication Service programme will further strengthen and unify the Government Communication Service (GCS), to be an even more effective and efficient service. Cabinet Office is leading the programme and working closely with ministerial departments and other public sector bodies. The programme has completed its discovery phase and is in its design phase, both of which will contribute to the outline business case and will help to identify the potential savings.
All communications staff are considered to be in scope for the RGCS programme. Last year, we received some initial data from departments and Arms Length Bodies, however more work will be done over the coming months to gather the necessary data to inform decision making.
The Cabinet Office has confirmed that its intention is for departments to have core teams for press, social media and rebuttal. We are working with departments to consider what a streamlined service could look like, in order to support statutory, operational or programme delivery.
Cabinet Office is continuously tracking and reviewing spending on cross-government campaigns, to ensure our communications are efficient. We will not spend more than is needed to be effective. Cabinet Office publishes expenditure on government communication spend, including our national campaigns, on a rolling monthly basis on gov.uk as part of routine government transparency arrangements at the link below:
www.gov.uk/government/collections/cabinet-office-spend-data.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many and what proportion of staff are in scope of the centralisation of communication project, by (a) Department and (b) Arm’s Length Body.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Reshaping Government Communication Service programme will further strengthen and unify the Government Communication Service (GCS), to be an even more effective and efficient service. Cabinet Office is leading the programme and working closely with ministerial departments and other public sector bodies. The programme has completed its discovery phase and is in its design phase, both of which will contribute to the outline business case and will help to identify the potential savings.
All communications staff are considered to be in scope for the RGCS programme. Last year, we received some initial data from departments and Arms Length Bodies, however more work will be done over the coming months to gather the necessary data to inform decision making.
The Cabinet Office has confirmed that its intention is for departments to have core teams for press, social media and rebuttal. We are working with departments to consider what a streamlined service could look like, in order to support statutory, operational or programme delivery.
Cabinet Office is continuously tracking and reviewing spending on cross-government campaigns, to ensure our communications are efficient. We will not spend more than is needed to be effective. Cabinet Office publishes expenditure on government communication spend, including our national campaigns, on a rolling monthly basis on gov.uk as part of routine government transparency arrangements at the link below:
www.gov.uk/government/collections/cabinet-office-spend-data.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent estimate he has made of the range of savings from the centralisation of communication project.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Reshaping Government Communication Service programme will further strengthen and unify the Government Communication Service (GCS), to be an even more effective and efficient service. Cabinet Office is leading the programme and working closely with ministerial departments and other public sector bodies. The programme has completed its discovery phase and is in its design phase, both of which will contribute to the outline business case and will help to identify the potential savings.
All communications staff are considered to be in scope for the RGCS programme. Last year, we received some initial data from departments and Arms Length Bodies, however more work will be done over the coming months to gather the necessary data to inform decision making.
The Cabinet Office has confirmed that its intention is for departments to have core teams for press, social media and rebuttal. We are working with departments to consider what a streamlined service could look like, in order to support statutory, operational or programme delivery.
Cabinet Office is continuously tracking and reviewing spending on cross-government campaigns, to ensure our communications are efficient. We will not spend more than is needed to be effective. Cabinet Office publishes expenditure on government communication spend, including our national campaigns, on a rolling monthly basis on gov.uk as part of routine government transparency arrangements at the link below:
www.gov.uk/government/collections/cabinet-office-spend-data.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish a (a) detailed cost breakdown of the £2.6 million spent on the television studio in 9 Downing Street and (b) cost-benefit analysis of that spending.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
(a)
A breakdown of the figures given out in response to a Freedom of Information Act request on 06/01/2021 is as follows” -
The Government is establishing facilities within 9 Downing Street which will be used for daily broadcasting by a number of news organisations. This will necessarily require one-off capital works, including audio-visual equipment, internet infrastructure, electrical works and lighting.
This spending is in the public interest as the new broadcasting of lobby briefings will increase public accountability and transparency about the work of this Government now and in the future.
Such spending on maintenance and technical facilities reflects that 9 Downing Street (the Privy Council Office) is a Grade 1 listed building.
https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1267063
All such listed buildings must be maintained to high heritage standards, reflecting the buildings’ important role in the cultural fabric of our nation.
A breakdown of the costs which we hold are below.
Media centre Ph1 fees | £96,157.67 ex vat |
Media centre Ph1 enabling works. | £135,201.85 ex vat |
Media centre Broadband equipment | £33,394.63 ex vat |
LBC application | £9,050.30 ex vat |
Core drill | £1,456.06 ex vat |
Enabling order 2 | £285,788.29 ex vat |
Main works ph1 | £1,848,695.12 ex vat |
Media Centre Ph1 Long Lead items | £198,023.75 |
Annual figures on expenditure on property, plant and equipment by the Cabinet Office can be found in the departmental annual report and accounts.
(b)
In assessing the business case for the spending (i.e. the costs and the benefits), it was noted that No 9 Downing Street is a Grade 1 listed building which has not been updated or modernised for over 50 years. Over half of the cost of this project provides for modernisation to a substantial part of the building in line with the Cabinet Office’s statutory duties to preserve and maintain it, through making the roof sound, strengthening the floor, new heating and cooling, and electrical wiring replacement. The space being converted was idle and dilapidated and this project maximises the capability of the building. It was also deemed necessary to the success of the project to bring in technical expertise from specialist contractors.