Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what energy supplier supplies gas and electricity to his Department's offices at Sanctuary Buildings.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Minister of State (Department for Education) (Higher and Further Education)
In the 2020-21 financial year the department spent approximately £1.83 million on energy bills. This is less than 1% of the department’s budget.
The Government Property Agency procures energy through the Crown Commercial Services energy frameworks. Electricity is supplied to Sanctuary Buildings by EDF and gas is supplied by Corona Energy.
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of his Department's budget is spent on energy bills.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Minister of State (Department for Education) (Higher and Further Education)
In the 2020-21 financial year the department spent approximately £1.83 million on energy bills. This is less than 1% of the department’s budget.
The Government Property Agency procures energy through the Crown Commercial Services energy frameworks. Electricity is supplied to Sanctuary Buildings by EDF and gas is supplied by Corona Energy.
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when the National Crime Agency and the Financial Conduct Authority received the first complaints alleging that banks had forged customer signatures to repossess homes, businesses and other property.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government expects all companies to obey the law and relevant regulations. Anyone with evidence of such forgery taking place should report it to their bank in the first instance. If their concerns remain, or they do not have a direct relationship with the lender, they should report it to the relevant authorities.
Although the Treasury sets the legal framework for the regulation of financial services it does not have investigative or prosecuting powers of its own and is not able to intervene in individual cases. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) requires all authorised firms to have systems and controls in place to mitigate the risk that they be used to commit financial crime. Whilst the police have primary responsibility for investigating fraud the FCA also has powers to take a variety of enforcement action against firms that carry out fraudulent activity.
The chair of the Treasury Select Committee wrote to NCA Director General Lynne Owens on the issue of bank signature forgery in July 2019. The matter was assigned to the National Economic Crime Centre for consideration in September 2019.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Government Property Agency will in future, as part of its due diligence checks on facility management companies it wishes to contract with, assess whether they have financial links with supply chain financing providers.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government Property Agency has not asked our facilities management suppliers whether they have, or have had, any financial links to Greensill Capital or another supply chain financing provider.
GPA's principal suppliers are government strategic suppliers; the Cabinet Office Market and Suppliers team closely monitors the financial health of these strategic suppliers and has regular discussions with their management.
GPA procurement processes are aligned with legal and commercial policy requirements. At the moment, there is no requirement to specifically enquire about company links with supply chain financing providers as part of due diligence.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Government Property Agency (GPA) has asked the Facility Management companies it contracts services from whether they had any financial links with Greensill Capital or have links with another supply chain financing provider; and what assessment the GPA has made of the financial stability of such companies.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government Property Agency has not asked our facilities management suppliers whether they have, or have had, any financial links to Greensill Capital or another supply chain financing provider.
GPA's principal suppliers are government strategic suppliers; the Cabinet Office Market and Suppliers team closely monitors the financial health of these strategic suppliers and has regular discussions with their management.
GPA procurement processes are aligned with legal and commercial policy requirements. At the moment, there is no requirement to specifically enquire about company links with supply chain financing providers as part of due diligence.
Asked by: Lord Teverson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government which regulators in (1) the UK, and (2) England, are fully funded by the industries or sectors that they regulate and receive no grant in aid from their sponsoring departments for those regulatory activities.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The following list includes bodies with non-devolved regulatory functions which received no Grant in Aid in 2016-17. It is based on information available to the Cabinet Office, and may not be comprehensive. In particular it does not include bodies whose regulatory activities are fully funded by the sectors they regulate, but which receive grants for non-regulatory activities.
Animals in Science Regulation Unit;
Architects’ Registration Board;
Assay Offices;
British Hallmarking Council;
Claims Management Regulation Unit;
Commissioners of Irish Lights;
Companies’ House;
Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency;
Financial Conduct Authority;
Financial Reporting Council;
Gambling Commission;
Groceries Code Adjudicator;
Intellectual Property Office;
Land Registry;
Legal Services Board;
Northern Lighthouse Board;
Office for Nuclear Regulation;
Office of Rail and Road;
Office of the Public Guardian;
OFWAT;
Oil and Gas Authority;
Prudential Regulation Authority;
Security Industry Authority;
Trinity House;
Vehicle Certification Agency.