Asked by: Pat McFadden (Labour - Wolverhampton South East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what the total cost to the public purse was of legal (a) support and (b) representation to Ministers in (i) her Department and (ii) the predecessor Department in relation to their official conduct in each of the last three years.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
Such information is not centrally recorded or collated in the form requested. More generally, I would refer the hon. Member to the long-standing policies on legal expenditure, as set out recently by Cabinet Office Ministers on 12 March 2024, Official Report, PQ 17709 and 12 March 2024, Official Report, House of Lords, Cols. 1901-1904.
Asked by: Pat McFadden (Labour - Wolverhampton South East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many times the Office for Investment met with (a) Infosys and (b) Infosys representatives in 2023.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
An official from the Office for Investment attended a meeting between Infosys and the Minister for Investment on 27 April 2023, in Bengaluru, India.
The Office for Investment did not attend any meetings prior to this or afterwards with Infosys or their representatives in 2023.
Asked by: Pat McFadden (Labour - Wolverhampton South East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many domestic overnight visits were undertaken by Ministers in (a) her Department and (b) its predecessor Department in each of the last three financial years; and what the cost of those visits was.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The number of overnight ministerial domestic visits undertaken over the last 3 financial years are as follows. The total costs provided are limited in scope, to only the Minister themselves, and to those booked through the Department's, and its predecessor's (the Department for International Trade), contracted travel provider, which covers costs of rail, air and hotel; where these costs were available.
Financial Year | Total number of overnight visits | Total Cost |
2021 - 2022 | 22 | £6,470.97 |
2022 - 2023 | 12 | £4,493.86 |
2023 - 2024 | 15 | £4,514.84 |
Asked by: Pat McFadden (Labour - Wolverhampton South East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, to which domestic destinations Ministers in her Department and its predecessor Departments have attended overnight visits in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The regions visited with an overnight stay over the last 3 financial years are as follows:
Financial Year | Regions visited |
2021 – 2022 | Scotland – 12 Northern Powerhouse – 4 Wales – 1 South West – 2 Jersey – 1 Northern Ireland – 2 |
2022 – 2023 | Scotland – 3 Northern Ireland – 4 South West – 2 Northern Powerhouse – 2 Wales – 1 |
2023 – 2024 | Northern Powerhouse – 3 Northern Ireland – 7 Midlands – 1 Scotland – 1 Channel Islands – 2 South West – 1 |
Asked by: Pat McFadden (Labour - Wolverhampton South East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what guidance her Department issues on the use of WhatsApp.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
All departments in central government, including arms lengths bodies apply the published guidance: Using non-corporate communication channels (e.g. WhatsApp, private email, SMS) for government business). This was published by the Cabinet Office in March 2023.
It applies to all individuals in central government (ministers, special advisers, officials, contractors, non-executive board members and independent experts advising ministers). The Department for Business and Trade uses the central guidance and has applied it since March 2023.
Asked by: Pat McFadden (Labour - Wolverhampton South East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what reports and guidance their Department and its predecessor Department has produced in the last three years; and how much was spent on their (a) printing and (b) distribution.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The requested information is not centrally held, and complying with this request would incur a disproportionate cost to the Department. Reports and guidance that the Department has published can be found on gov.uk.
Asked by: Pat McFadden (Labour - Wolverhampton South East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what estimate she has made of the amount of money lost to fraud and error by her Department in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Government is proud of its record in proactively seeking to find and prevent more fraud in the system. We have established the dedicated Public Sector Fraud Authority (PSFA). In its first year it delivered £311 million in audited counter fraud benefits.
The PSFA produces a Fraud Landscape Report. This provides data on fraud and error detection, loss and recoveries in central government, outside of the tax and welfare system. The 2020/21 Report was published in March 2023.
Due to the recent Machinery of Government changes, the Department for Business and Trade have not yet published any fraud and error estimates.
The latest published figures available for the Department for International Trade are available in the 2022 Cross-Government Fraud Landscape Annual Report.
The latest Government figures made available in the BEIS Annual Report and Accounts (2022/2023), for all BEIS activities, indicated that estimated expected losses due to fraud and error within the Bounce Back Loan Scheme will be £1.74bn. There are not material levels of fraud and error within the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme or the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme.
Other losses include £4 million in relation to 2 suspected fraudulent payments within the Future Fund Scheme.
Asked by: Pat McFadden (Labour - Wolverhampton South East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how much funding her Department and its predecessor Department (a) budgeted for and (b) spent on advertising in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Department buys advertising media through its media buying agency Omnicom Media Group UK Ltd. Advertising is used to promote investment and UK exports.
The Department’s general ledger records spend with Omnicom Media Group for the last three years for which figures are available as follows:
2020/21: £15,102,407.21
2021/22: £11,890,853.20
2022/23: £13,124,598.26
Advertising is part of the Department’s wider marketing strategy. Budgeting is carried out at the marketing category level, so no records are held on sums specifically budgeted for advertising.
These figures relate to the Department’s predecessor department, the Department for International Trade.
Asked by: Pat McFadden (Labour - Wolverhampton South East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many and what proportion of digital posts in her Department were vacant on 26 February 2024.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
As part of the 2022 to 2025 roadmap, all departments made a commitment to reduce their digital and data vacancies to under 10% of total Government Digital and Data headcount by 2025. This is to drive modernisation and digitisation in Government, improving public services for the British people and saving taxpayer money.
Overall, good progress has been made with total current vacancies in the Department for Business and Trade at 24% (91 vacancies). To further support recruitment, the department has an internal dedicated team to lead the end-to-end recruitment process and access recruitment agency support where required.
Asked by: Pat McFadden (Labour - Wolverhampton South East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what subscriptions to (a) newspapers, (b) magazines and (c) online journals her Department and its predecessor Department has paid for in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Business and Trade has centrally managed subscriptions for the Economist and the Financial Times for financial years 2022/23 and 2023/24. Information on locally sourced and managed subscriptions is not routinely collected and to make it available could only be done at a disproportionate cost.