Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect full compensation payments to have been made to the victims of the infected blood scandal and to family members of those victims who have already died.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Government has committed to update Parliament through an oral statement on next steps within 25 sitting days following 20 May. It is our intention to make this statement as soon as possible. Additionally, we have tabled a Government amendment ahead of Report Stage of the Victims and Prisoners Bill to fix technical deficiencies, whilst working in the spirit of Dame Diana Johnson’s amendment. The amendment has been tabled with the intention of speeding up the implementation of the Government’s response to the Infected Blood Inquiry.
Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they will announce details of a full and comprehensive scheme for victims of the infected blood scandal; and when they expect the first payments to be made under the new scheme.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Inquiry is expected to publish their final report on 20th May and the Minister for the Cabinet Office has committed to updating Parliament within 25 sitting days of the publication of the final report. The Government is appointing clinical, legal and social care experts to advise the Cabinet Office on detailed technical considerations to make informed choices in responding to the Inquiry’s recommendations on compensation.
Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they are coordinating and disseminating lessons learned from the various current and recent past public inquiries, in particular where there are recommendations regarding policy-making procedures and machinery of government; and whether they plan to publish the steps they intend to take as a result.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Each inquiry chair will present their conclusions and recommendations to an inquiry’s sponsor minister. It is the responsibility of the lead department to determine how best to progress and implement the inquiry’s recommendations and the department will publish its response on Gov.uk.
The Cabinet Office takes the lead on the Covid, Grenfell and Infected Blood Inquiries and looks forward to acting on lessons learned.
Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many senior civil servants are based for work outside London and the South East and, of those, how many (1) transferred from London and the South East and (2) were recruited locally.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
As at December 2022, the number of Senior Civil Servants (SCS) based outside London and the South East is 2,130 (33.7%) on a full-time equivalent basis (FTE), including around 50 SCS who work overseas in a variety of roles. This data is provisional and subject to routine revisions over time.
Through the Places for Growth Programme, we aim to have 50% of UK-based SCS roles based outside of London by 2030. There have been 316 SCS roles relocated since March 2020, bringing more opportunities for civil servants to progress their careers in the regions and nations of the UK.
We do not hold a breakdown of SCS that have relocated from London and the South East or those that have been recruited into SCS roles locally.
Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they will publish the findings of Sir Michael Barber's “rapid review” of Government delivery.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
Sir Michael Barber conducted a rapid review to help ensure the Government is in the very best shape to level up and build back better from the pandemic. Rather than documenting specific findings in a report, Sir Michael gave operational advice to the Prime Minister and the Cabinet Secretary on how a refreshed delivery unit could be established. This approach was accepted and the creation of the new No10 Delivery Unit was announced on 21 April.
Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made toward establishing a government hub in York; which minister has overall responsibility for the project; and how they intend to update Parliament on further developments.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
As the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster set out in his Ditchley Speech, the Government is determined to ensure that the Civil Service is better distributed across the country. The Places for Growth Programme is working with departments and public bodies to firm up relocation plans and further details will be announced in due course.
The Places for Growth programme is exploring opportunities across the whole of the UK. Lord Agnew is the Cabinet Office Minister of State with direct responsibility for this programme.
Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many government hubs they are proposing to establish outside of London and the South East; and when they expect each of these to be fully operational.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
As the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster set out in his Ditchley Speech, the Government is determined to ensure that the Civil Service is better distributed across the country. The Places for Growth Programme is working with departments and public bodies to firm up relocation plans and further details will be announced in due course.
The Places for Growth programme is exploring opportunities across the whole of the UK. Lord Agnew is the Cabinet Office Minister of State with direct responsibility for this programme.
Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether there have been any changes to the Cabinet Office document Drafting answers to parliamentary questions: guidance since 2 February 2011; and what assessment they have made of the compliance of the Written Answers by Lord True on 11 March (HL2127, HL2128, HL2129, HL2130, HL2131 and HL2132) with this guidance (1) in general, and (2) with specific reference to paragraphs three and five of that document.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
This Government takes parliamentary accountability very seriously. The Cabinet Office complies with guidance on written Parliamentary Questions. This guidance is regularly reviewed and frequent discussions take place across Whitehall regarding possible improvements in the answering of questions from parliamentarians.
The information requested in the Parliamentary Questions HL2127, HL2128, HL2129, HL2130, HL2131 and HL2132 remains a policy in development. Parliament will be updated in due course in the usual manner as the policy, and its delivery, progresses.
Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many of the 22,000 civil service roles due to be moved out of London will be (1) of Grade 7 or below, and (2) of Grade SCS1 and above; and when they expect these roles will be filled.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
The Government has committed to relocating a minimum of 22,000 Civil Service roles outside of central London over the next decade, this will include the West Midlands alongside other parts of the UK. There is now a policy presumption against the creation of new public bodies in London.
As part of the Places for Growth programme, the Government will seek to establish sustainable career pathways into senior grades so that London is not the only route for progression to the Senior Civil Service. The programme is working with departments and public bodies to develop plans that ensure that roles across all grades are relocated.
Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many public bodies they plan to move from London and the south east of England to elsewhere in the UK during this Parliament.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
The Government is clear the administration of government needs to be less London-centric. The Cabinet Office has established the Places for Growth programme to drive the necessary planning and preparation within departments and public bodies to locate roles and bodies out of London in the regions and nations of the United Kingdom.
The programme has introduced a presumption against the creation of new public bodies with a base in London. As such, 15 new public bodies have been established out of London since 2017.
Plans are focusing on the relocation of roles, through natural churn and new recruitment, rather than relocation of staff in post. It is intended that the majority of relocated roles will be recruited from local labour markets, offering career progression for civil servants throughout the UK.