Cabinet Office

I refer the hon. Member to the Written Statement of 14th of September, which sets out the reasons for the change to the timetable for introducing border import controls on goods from the EU.

The Government is working closely with the Devolved Administrations on the delay to the introduction of controls, especially on controls and checks on Sanitary and Phytosanitary goods which are a devolved matter.

Since the pandemic began, civil servants have been delivering the Government’s priorities from home and the workplace. This includes the vaccine rollout, one of the world’s most comprehensive economic responses and continuing to run vital public services.

Following the Government’s move to Step Four of the Roadmap on 19 July 2021, all Civil Service employers are making corporate decisions regarding the working arrangements of their staff and a return to greater workplace-working. Departments are gradually and steadily increasing the number of staff in workplaces, whilst ensuring they remain safe and secure through the regular review of building risk assessments.

The revised timetable for import controls set out in my written statement of 14 September 2021 allows businesses more time to adjust to new processes as they recover from the pandemic which has impacted supply chains across Europe. The nature of the border import controls for which businesses are preparing has not changed, and therefore any time or resource spent by businesses preparing for them will still be of value. The additional time will be used to further businesses' readiness for the introduction of these new requirements.

The Government also continues to support businesses trading with the EU in all sectors of industry, including putting in place additional staffing, comprehensive guidance for businesses and funding infrastructure to ease border processes.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have, therefore, asked the Authority to respond.

Professor Sir Ian Diamond | National Statistician

Baroness Whitaker

House of Lords

London
SW1A 0PW

22 September 2021

Dear Baroness Whitaker,

As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking what steps have been taken to ensure that departments, and other publicly-funded bodies, categorise Gypsies, Travellers and Roma as ‘white minority ethnic groups’ for statistical and reporting purposes, rather than designating them either as ‘white British’ or ‘minority ethnic’ (HL2813).

A core principle of the UK Statistics Authority’s strategy Statistics for the Public Good[1] is inclusivity. I can assure you that we are taking steps towards ensuring our statistics reflect the experiences of everyone in our society so that everyone counts and is counted, and that no one is forgotten.

Following consultation, research, and testing by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), a new ‘Roma’ response option was added to the ethnic group question within the higher-level ‘White’ category for Census 2021 for England and Wales[2]. This was in addition to the ‘Gypsy or Irish Traveller’ response option, which has been included since the 2011 Census[3].

Our Census 2021 output and analysis plans[4] include separate tailored analysis on both the Gypsy and Irish Traveller communities and the Roma communities in England and Wales. As part of developing this analysis we are engaging with Gypsy, Roma and Irish Traveller community organisations, as well as other government and expert users, to better understand the data and analysis needs around these communities.

The GSS (Government Statistical Service) harmonised standards set out how to collect and report statistics to ensure comparability across different data collections in Government. For ethnicity[5], we suggest reporting with greater granularity, which has been recommended by the Minister for Equalities (‘Departments and other agencies should publish a statement on GOV.UK outlining their plans to move their data collections to the Government Statistical Service’s (GSS) harmonised ethnicity data standard’.[6]) Over the past 12 months these standards have been adopted as the GDS’s (Government Digital Service) design pattern[7] for equalities information, meaning that Government digital services collecting administrative information are recommended to adopt these standards.

In addition, the GSS Harmonisation Champions Network[8], which includes representatives from all departments across Government which publish National Statistics, also encourage their departments to adopt these harmonised standards.

Finally, I’d like to highlight the work of the Inclusive Data Taskforce (IDTF), a group of senior academics and civil society leaders with expertise on a range of equalities topics and research methods. In October 2020, I commissioned this group to develop recommendations on how to make a step-change in the inclusivity of UK data and evidence in a broad range of areas, including ethnicity. Their recommendations will be launched on 28 September and will form the basis of a programme of work to be taken forward across government and more widely to radically improve the UK’s inclusive data infrastructure, including in relation to different ethnic groups.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Sir Ian Diamond

[1] https://uksa.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/statistics-for-the-public-good/

[2]https://www.ons.gov.uk/census/censustransformationprogramme/questiondevelopment/nationalidentityethnicgrouplanguageandreligionquestiondevelopmentforcensus2021

[3]https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/census/2011census/howourcensusworks/howweplannedthe2011census/questionnairedevelopment/finalisingthe2011questionnaire/final-recommended-questions-2011-ethnic-group_tcm77-183998.pdf

[4]https://www.ons.gov.uk/census/censustransformationprogramme/census2021outputs/2021dataproducts/analysis/ethnicgroupnationalidentitylanguageandreligion

[5] https://gss.civilservice.gov.uk/policy-store/ethnicity/

[6] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/second-quarterly-report-on-progress-to-address-covid-19-health-inequalities

[7] https://design-system.service.gov.uk/patterns/equality-information/

[8] https://gss.civilservice.gov.uk/about-us/champion-networks/harmonisation-champions/

The UK continues to work with our G7 partners to implement the vaccines commitments made at the G7 Leaders' Summit and to coordinate further international efforts, including ahead of the G20 Leaders' Summit in Rome 30-31 October, to support our shared goal of global vaccination from COVID-19.

The Government’s position on this matter is set out in Command Paper (CP 502), published on 21 July.

Article 1 of the Northern Ireland Protocol states that “This Protocol respects the essential State functions and territorial integrity of the United Kingdom.” Nonetheless, the Government is clear that the current governance arrangements under the Protocol must evolve to reflect the reality that the Protocol is an agreement between two sovereign and autonomous entities, not a relationship of subordination where one party’s rules have to be applied mechanically by the other. That is why the UK's Command Paper sets out the Government's intention to remove the remaining role of the EU institutions and of the CJEU in Northern Ireland.

The role was advertised on the Government’s Public Appointments website and also through a number of other channels and networks. Applications were assessed by a panel, which included an independent member, against the advertised criteria. Shortlisted candidates were interviewed and the panel recommended to ministers which candidates they found appointable. Subject to consideration by Ministers of the select committee’s report, the formal appointment will be made by Order in Council.

The Cabinet Office submits five year cash forecasts to the Office for Budget Responsibility in order for them to monitor the fiscal implications of the scheme, and the Government considers these long-term projections of expenditure, as published in their Fiscal Sustainability Reports, including expected pension cash flows as a percentage of GDP.

There would be clear risks to medicine supplies to patients in the absence of sustainable, long-term arrangements that take proper account of the nature of supplies of medicines as an inherent part of the delivery of national health services, such as those proposed by the Government in its Command Paper of 21 July.

The Government’s Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO) is responsible for producing the Service Standard (https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/service-standard) which guides government teams as to how they should design and produce content providing information regarding public services.

Government teams are required to make sure that all information is accessible across all channels, including online, phone, paper and face to face.

Government teams must also make sure that everyone can use their services, including disabled people, people with other legally protected characteristics, people who do not have access to the internet and/or lack the skills and/or confidence to use the internet. CDDO provides clear guidance on how to make non-digital parts of a government service as widely accessible as possible by providing a contact for users and providing forms in alternative formats for example, large print, braille or audio CD.

The Government does not set targets for the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI). However, the Government has set up several avenues to make sure we are making the most of AI, such as the independent AI Council.

Departments are also required to follow the Technology Code of Practice which includes guidance on the use of emerging technology. Emerging technology should only be used where it meets the users’ needs, and this includes the use of AI.

The Government continues to work with departments to establish what other efficiencies can be realised while also meeting the needs of citizens.

Government Ministers responsible for the supply chain ecosystem are working collectively, and in close partnership with industry, to drive the development and delivery of plans to strengthen supply chain resilience, supporting economic recovery and levelling up.

Government Ministers responsible for the supply chain ecosystem are working collectively, and in close partnership with industry, to drive the development and delivery of plans to strengthen supply chain resilience, supporting economic recovery and levelling up.

On staffing, I refer the Hon. Member to the answer given to PQ31420 on 27 July 2021.

As announced on 14 September, full customs declarations and checks on goods coming to the UK from the EU under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement will be introduced as planned on 1 January 2022, although safety and security declarations will not be required until 1 July 2022. The Northern Ireland Protocol is still under review and therefore providing an accurate estimate of the level of staffing would not be substantive.

In addition to the information provided in the response to PQ 16063, the following cross-government exercises have been conducted since 2010 in relation to pandemic preparedness and response:

• April 2021: an official-level exercise to test contingency plans for the risk of an emergence of a significant variant of COVID-19.

• May 2021: a Ministerial-level exercise to rehearse the response to the outbreak of a significant variant of COVID-19.

• August 2021: a series of official-level wargames to test cross-government COVID-19 arrangements for the Autumn / Winter period.

As explained in the response to PQ 16063, the Government does not publicly comment in detail on pandemic preparedness exercises. This includes exercises that test plans for ongoing emergencies, including COVID-19. This is to allow Ministers, officials and emergency planners to develop policies and plans while ensuring that the full, candid and proper deliberation of lessons learned is not influenced or impacted by the possibility of public exposure.

In addition to the information provided in the response to PQ 16063, the following cross-government exercises have been conducted since 2010 in relation to pandemic preparedness and response:

• April 2021: an official-level exercise to test contingency plans for the risk of an emergence of a significant variant of COVID-19.

• May 2021: a Ministerial-level exercise to rehearse the response to the outbreak of a significant variant of COVID-19.

• August 2021: a series of official-level wargames to test cross-government COVID-19 arrangements for the Autumn / Winter period.

As explained in the response to PQ 16063, the Government does not publicly comment in detail on pandemic preparedness exercises. This includes exercises that test plans for ongoing emergencies, including COVID-19. This is to allow Ministers, officials and emergency planners to develop policies and plans while ensuring that the full, candid and proper deliberation of lessons learned is not influenced or impacted by the possibility of public exposure.

This information is not held centrally.

I refer the hon. Member to the answers given to PQ 43369 on 9 September 2021, and PQ 43371 on 10 September 2021.

The Government constantly monitors public awareness of its communication campaigns. We use regular evaluations to maximise the impact of our campaigns across the UK.

We are committed to supporting individuals with disabilities through every stage of this pandemic. Progress in this area means that COVID-19 guidance is available across multiple channels in a range of alternative formats. Many of our most crucial content assets come in alternative accessibility formats including Easy Read, large text formats, videos with British Sign Language interpretation, and audio. Important health communications, also, regarding COVID-19 symptoms, Stay Alert and NHS Test and Trace content, are available in alternative formats, including Easy Read, British Sign Language and Audio. COVID-19 statements and speeches from the Prime Minister are now also made available in transcript form on GOV.UK, aligning with accessibility standards.

We continuously engage with disability charities using polling and focus groups with hard-to-reach audiences to better understand how our communications are received and how this affects COVID-safe behaviours. We use these insights to improve government messaging, mitigate anxieties and challenge misinformation.

Examples of new guidance are discussed in regular sessions with disability charities and experts in accessibility; this provides an opportunity for these groups to review and make recommendations on how to better government communications. We will continue to work with these organisations to ensure COVID-19 communications are as accessible as possible.

The Government constantly monitors public awareness of its communication campaigns. We use regular evaluations to maximise the impact of our campaigns across the UK.

We are committed to supporting individuals with disabilities through every stage of this pandemic. Progress in this area means that COVID-19 guidance is available across multiple channels in a range of alternative formats. Many of our most crucial content assets come in alternative accessibility formats including Easy Read, large text formats, videos with British Sign Language interpretation, and audio. Important health communications, also, regarding COVID-19 symptoms, Stay Alert and NHS Test and Trace content, are available in alternative formats, including Easy Read, British Sign Language and Audio. COVID-19 statements and speeches from the Prime Minister are now also made available in transcript form on GOV.UK, aligning with accessibility standards.

We continuously engage with disability charities using polling and focus groups with hard-to-reach audiences to better understand how our communications are received and how this affects COVID-safe behaviours. We use these insights to improve government messaging, mitigate anxieties and challenge misinformation.

Examples of new guidance are discussed in regular sessions with disability charities and experts in accessibility; this provides an opportunity for these groups to review and make recommendations on how to better government communications. We will continue to work with these organisations to ensure COVID-19 communications are as accessible as possible.

The Cabinet Office publishes details of all contracts over £10,000 on Contracts Finder and spend over £500, including on public information campaigns, on gov.uk on a rolling basis. This will include expenditure on this campaign and will be broken down by supplier.

This contract was modified in accordance with Regulation 72.1.(c) and 72.1.(b) of the Public Contract Regulations. Further detail is available in the Tenders Electronic Daily supplement to the Official Journal of the EU.

Border Force has recruited fifty full-time equivalents for the purpose of implementing the Northern Ireland Protocol at a total cost of approximately £1.4m.

Other Departments have recruited small numbers of additional staff but have generally managed the requirements of the Protocol through reprioritization.

The Prime Minister and US President announced the establishment of a UK/US Expert Working Group on international travel following their meeting on 10 June 2021. Since then, the group met in full regularly over the summer to discuss the reopening of travel between the UK and US, as well as further engagement between the UK and US chairs, our embassy in Washington, and technical discussions.

Facilitated by the UK/US Working Group, the UK reopened travel for double vaccinated US residents on 2 August, meaning that they no longer need to self isolate on arrival into the UK.

On 20 September, the US announced that they will allow double vaccinated British nationals to enter the US from November, completing the fully vaccinated travel corridor. Travellers will need proof of full vaccination and a negative COVID test taken three days before departure and will not need to quarantine.

The Government is committed to levelling-up through relocating high quality Civil Service Jobs. At Budget 2020 we set out our ambitions to relocate 22,000 roles out of London by 2030, bringing new jobs and investment to all nations and parts of the UK, with senior roles being created in areas such as Glasgow, Belfast, Cardiff, Darlington and Wolverhampton. The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster during his time as Chief Secretary to the Treasury encouraged Departments to frontload the majority of moves over this next Spending Review. I can confirm that we now have early commitments to move up to 15,000 civil service roles by 2024/25.

Departments will decide on their locations taking into account a range of factors including skills, transport links and capacity to meet their needs and flourish in their chosen locations, as well as ensuring locations are suitable for the long term success and sustainability of the civil service.

The Government is committed to protecting and promoting the combined strengths of our Union, the most successful political and economic union in history. It is vital that we continue to work together across the UK on our common challenges including recovering from Covid-19 and supporting the NHS.

My Right Honourable Friend, the Secretary of State for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing, and Communities, is now the Minister responsible for the Union portfolio.

Every death from this virus is a tragedy and our deepest sympathies are with everyone who has lost loved ones. The Government remains steadfast in our commitment to ensuring that these families secure the opportunity to scrutinise the Government’s response to managing the pandemic that they deserve.

The Prime Minister made clear in his statement to this House on 12 May that bereaved families and others will be consulted on the inquiry’s terms of reference before they are finalised.

Departments, as separate employers, have the flexibility to make their own corporate decisions on working arrangements. Throughout the pandemic, many Cabinet Office staff have continued to work in the office in order to deliver key functions, in line with government guidance. We are now steadily and safely increasing numbers in the office, in line with the latest government guidance and as building risk assessments are reviewed and updated.

We continue to communicate regularly with our staff about our plans.

National gallantry awards are considered by the independent George Cross Committee and recognise the bravery of those who have put themselves in danger to save, or attempt to save someone’s life. The committee makes recommendations based on the degree of risk and how aware the nominee was of the danger.

The Committee only considers nominations for actions that took place within the previous five years. This reflects a need to ensure awards are timely, can draw on the judgement and knowledge of those involved at the time and can benefit from assessment against other contemporaneous actions. The only exception to this is where it is necessary to wait for the outcome of judicial proceedings, for example an inquest. Even in those circumstances, it is generally expected that the actions meriting an award would have taken place within, or only very little beyond five years.

Headline Civil Service employment figures, on both a headcount and full-time equivalent basis, are published as part of Public Sector Employment Statistics by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) each quarter. The latest dataset, containing the Civil Service headcount time series back to 1999, is available from the ONS website at the following link:

https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/publicsectorpersonnel/datasets/publicsectoremploymentreferencetable

An updated List of Ministerial Responsibilities will be published in due course.

The Government is fully committed to helping our veterans receive the support they need. Last month, the Defence Secretary and the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care met service charities, academics and other relevant experts to discuss the impact of the withdrawal from Afghanistan on the mental health of veterans and their families. In response to this meeting, the Prime Minister announced an additional £5M for the service charity sector to improve the accessibility of services, and better signpost the range of statutory and charitable support available to veterans, including those affected by events in Afghanistan.

The Cabinet Office, Office for Veterans’ Affairs is working at pace with key partners and the sector to determine how to distribute and use this funding most effectively and efficiently. Charities will be asked to report on the impact of the additional funding they receive.

I refer the Rt Hon Member to the answer given to PQ45797 on 14 September 2021.

I refer the Rt Hon Member to the answer given to PQ45797 on 14 September 2021.

I refer the Rt Hon Member to the answer given to PQ45797 on 14 September 2021.

I refer the Rt Hon Member to the answer given to PQ45797 on 14 September 2021.

I refer the Rt Hon Member to the answer given to PQ45797 on 14 September 2021.

The Government is aware that the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) is currently experiencing a backlog of complaints due to the increased casework from the pandemic and the pressure this has put on the Health Service.

As an independent organisation, the Ombudsman receives its funding directly through the Parliamentary Vote. It is my understanding that the PHSO intends to write to the member to provide more information on its current pressures.

At the request of the Prime Minister, the then Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Rt Hon Michael Gove MP, led a review into COVID-status certification, which concluded in July.

As published in the COVID-19 Response: Autumn and Winter Plan on 14 September, in order to help businesses prepare their own contingency plans, the Government will shortly publish more detail about the proposed certification regime that would be introduced as part of Plan B.

At the request of the Prime Minister, the then Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Rt Hon Michael Gove MP, led a review into COVID-status certification, which concluded in July.

As published in the COVID-19 Response: Autumn and Winter Plan on 14 September, in order to help businesses prepare their own contingency plans, the Government will shortly publish more detail about the proposed certification regime that would be introduced as part of Plan B.

At the request of the Prime Minister, the then Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Rt Hon Michael Gove MP, led a review into COVID-status certification, which concluded in July.

As published in the COVID-19 Response: Autumn and Winter Plan on 14 September, in order to help businesses prepare their own contingency plans, the Government will shortly publish more detail about the proposed certification regime that would be introduced as part of Plan B.

Over 600 responses to the Green Paper were received, which have been analysed in detail; the feedback received has been invaluable in helping us to develop our thinking in a number of areas. We continue to work with key stakeholders on the details of our proposals. The plan is to publish the formal Government response to the consultation in the coming months, in advance of introduction of the Procurement Bill. The Bill will be introduced when Parliamentary time allows.

Over 600 responses to the Green Paper were received, which have been analysed in detail; the feedback received has been invaluable in helping us to develop our thinking in a number of areas. We continue to work with key stakeholders on the details of our proposals. The plan is to publish the formal Government response to the consultation in the coming months, in advance of introduction of the Procurement Bill. The Bill will be introduced when Parliamentary time allows.

The latest available data centrally, as at 31 March 2021, shows there were 130 Civil Servants earning a full-time equivalent salary in excess of £160,000. Responsibility for employees of local government sits with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

This information is not held centrally.