Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much his Department spent on press and public relations in each financial year since 2019-20.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
Government departments rightly have an obligation to work with and support the media in their reporting.
Like any large organisation, they will employ staff to work with journalists, to help communicate their work and policies to the public.
This is primarily carried out by media relations staff employed by departments. Like all areas of government spending - costs are reviewed regularly to ensure value for money.
The Government Communications Service works with all central government organisations to ensure that, where taxpayers’ money is being spent on government communications, it is cost-effective and reflects best practices.
Cabinet Office spend on press and public relations since 2019-20 are below. These figures represent the departmental spend on the Cabinet Office press office (including pay and relevant contracts):
2019/20: £976,994.11
2020/21: £1,185,192.91
2021/22: £1,111,282.00
2022/23: £1,181,350.41
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many security passes for his Department have been reported as (a) missing and (b) stolen in the last 12 months.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The Government takes the protection of information extremely seriously. Departments are required to have robust controls in place to manage risk to their assets including data and mobile devices.
The departmental security unit records and considers whether an investigation is appropriate for each reported loss from the Department.
Any security pass reported as lost is immediately deactivated.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether there have been any power cuts on their Department's property in each of the last three years.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
For the purposes of this answer, we are interpreting power cuts to mean unplanned loss of power to a building or floor of a building.
We can confirm from the information available, that there have been two incidents in the specified period:
10 South Colonnade, London, where Cabinet Office is a tenant, 2023.
Cheylesmore House, Coventry, 2023.
In both incidents, communication to affected users was swift and continuous thus keeping people fully informed of the status of the incident. Post events, lessons learnt sessions were held and where appropriate, mitigations and processes were created should future similar events take place, not just at those localities but nationally as well.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what data their Department holds on the (a) number and (b) total cost of replacing (i) laptops, (ii) mobile phones, (iii) memory sticks and (iv) external hard drives that have been (A) lost and (B) stolen in the last year.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The Cabinet Office provides laptops and mobile phones to over 10,000 users in 2023-24. The Cabinet Office supplies fully security encrypted mobiles and laptops. We do not issue memory sticks or external drives.
There are occasional incidents where equipment is reported lost or stolen. Staff are required to report such incidents, and cases are investigated. Any loss is unfortunate and should be avoided, but invariably reflects that such devices may need to be taken out of a workplace environment.
The following table includes the numbers and costs related to the lost/stolen devices.
| Laptops | Mobile Phones | Memory Sticks | External Data Drives |
Number Lost | 28 | 108 | N/A | N/A |
Cost of Lost Replacement | £23,911.20* | £40,280* | N/A | N/A |
Number Stolen | 21 | 10 | N/A | N/A |
Cost of Stolen Replacement | £23,010.52* | £3,585* | N/A | N/A |
*Some devices not approved for replacement
Given steps taken to secure information, we do not believe there has been any data loss or compromise as a result of these losses.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the proposed border target operating model on the availability of food.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The Border Target Operating Model proposes a new control regime for imports of animal and plant products. It will implement an innovative, risk-based approach to border controls for imports ensuring that goods can flow and checks, delays and waste are minimised.
As set out in our Food Strategy published in 2022, the resilience and reliability of food supply chains is a key objective of this Government.
The draft Border Target Operating Model was developed with input from business. Our innovative and risk-based approach to border controls will limit complexity for businesses, whilst providing the critical border controls that will keep the UK safe from a range of biosecurity, human health and security threats.
Many food products will require no new certification or checks, and where they are needed importers will be able to complete them more simply. Some businesses may need to adapt their business models, and we will support them to do that.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment the Government has made of the potential impact of the Border Target Operating Model on levels of food waste.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The Border Target Operating Model proposes a new control regime for imports of animal and plant products. It will implement an innovative, risk-based approach to border controls for imports ensuring that goods can flow and checks, delays and waste are minimised.
As set out in our Food Strategy published in 2022, the resilience and reliability of food supply chains is a key objective of this Government.
The draft Border Target Operating Model was developed with input from business. Our innovative and risk-based approach to border controls will limit complexity for businesses, whilst providing the critical border controls that will keep the UK safe from a range of biosecurity, human health and security threats.
Many food products will require no new certification or checks, and where they are needed importers will be able to complete them more simply. Some businesses may need to adapt their business models, and we will support them to do that.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an estimate of the monetary value of the benefits delivered by urban wetlands.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon lady Parliamentary Question of 22 May is attached.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, which consultations published by their Department are awaiting a response; and when each of those responses (a) were initially planned to and (b) will be published.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
Information is available on gov.uk on all open and closed consultations published by the Cabinet Office including the closing date for open consultations and, where available, the Government's response.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much his Department has spent on promotional materials for cost of living support payments.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The promotion of cost of living payments was funded by both the Department of Work and Pensions and Cabinet Office at different times in the 2022/23 Financial Year.
Cabinet Office publishes expenditure on a rolling monthly basis on gov.uk as part of routine government transparency arrangements. This can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cabinet-office-spend-data.
The Department for Work and Pensions publishes details of all departmental spending over £25,000 on a monthly basis. This can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dwp-payments-over-25-000.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish the (a) number and (b) destinations of all domestic flights taken by officials in his Department in each of the last 5 years.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The requested information is not centrally held, and complying with this request would incur a disproportionate cost to the department. Comprehensive details of Senior Officials’ Business Expenses, encompassing domestic flights are available on GOV.UK.