Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many (1) successful, and (2) unsuccessful, cyberattacks have been identified in each government department over the past 12 months.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The government does not comment on issues concerning national security.
The Government Cyber Security Strategy, published in January 2022, sets out how we will build and maintain our cyber defences. A key objective of the strategy covers how the Government will minimise the impact of cyber security incidents. Departments will need to prepare for incidents, be able to respond and contain when they inevitably do happen and learn the lessons from them after the event.
Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, over the past 12 months, how many individual devices issued by government departments have been identified as containing malware.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The government does not comment on issues concerning national security.
The Government Cyber Security Strategy, published in January 2022, sets out how we will build and maintain our cyber defences. The strategy outlines how departments must be able to minimise the impact when malware is found.
Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the monthly expenditure for hospitality, entertainment, and related purposes, at No 10 Downing Street for the period from March 2020 to December 2021.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
10 Downing Street is a constituent part of the Cabinet Office. The Cabinet Office publishes transparency data by type of expenditure each month. I will place in the Library the published data for that period.
Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many bottles of wine were purchased for hospitality, entertainment, and related purposes, for consumption at No 10 Downing Street for the period from March 2020 and December 2021.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
10 Downing Street is a constituent part of the Cabinet Office. The Cabinet Office publishes transparency data by type of expenditure each month. I will place in the Library the published data for that period.
Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they amended the guidance on responding to parliamentary questions to take account of the use of external contractors in preparing and drafting responses.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
Departments are responsible for their responses to written parliamentary questions. Written parliamentary questions receive final sign off from Ministers.
The Cabinet Office has produced guidance for civil servants on drafting answers to parliamentary questions. This can be found on the gov.uk website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/drafting-answers-to-parliamentary-questions-guidance.
Civil servants and Ministers conduct these duties in line with their respective codes of conduct.
The Department of Health and Social Care has outlined that the department’s contract included a general clause for Deloitte to provide support to civil servants in responding to written questions, freedom of information requests and media queries. They have not been directly responsible for drafting replies.
Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to ensure there are no conflicts of interest when the preparation of (1) responses to parliamentary written questions, (2) responses to parliamentary urgent questions, and (3) background briefings, are made by external contractors to departments.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
Departments are responsible for their responses to written parliamentary questions. Written parliamentary questions receive final sign off from Ministers.
The Cabinet Office has produced guidance for civil servants on drafting answers to parliamentary questions. This can be found on the gov.uk website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/drafting-answers-to-parliamentary-questions-guidance.
Civil servants and Ministers conduct these duties in line with their respective codes of conduct.
The Department of Health and Social Care has outlined that the department’s contract included a general clause for Deloitte to provide support to civil servants in responding to written questions, freedom of information requests and media queries. They have not been directly responsible for drafting replies.
Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of written answers to questions tabled by members of both Houses of Parliament were drafted by external contractors in the current parliamentary session.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
Departments are responsible for their responses to written parliamentary questions. Written parliamentary questions receive final sign off from Ministers.
The Cabinet Office has produced guidance for civil servants on drafting answers to parliamentary questions. This can be found on the gov.uk website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/drafting-answers-to-parliamentary-questions-guidance.
Civil servants and Ministers conduct these duties in line with their respective codes of conduct.
The Department of Health and Social Care has outlined that the department’s contract included a general clause for Deloitte to provide support to civil servants in responding to written questions, freedom of information requests and media queries. They have not been directly responsible for drafting replies.
Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government which departments use external contractors to prepare responses to questions tabled by members of the House of Lords and Members of Parliament; and, in each case, how often such contractors are used.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
Departments are responsible for their responses to written parliamentary questions. Written parliamentary questions receive final sign off from Ministers.
The Cabinet Office has produced guidance for civil servants on drafting answers to parliamentary questions. This can be found on the gov.uk website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/drafting-answers-to-parliamentary-questions-guidance.
Civil servants and Ministers conduct these duties in line with their respective codes of conduct.
The Department of Health and Social Care has outlined that the department’s contract included a general clause for Deloitte to provide support to civil servants in responding to written questions, freedom of information requests and media queries. They have not been directly responsible for drafting replies.
Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government on what date the Prime Minister was first briefed by officials on the potential threats posed by COVID-19 to the UK economy.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
The Prime Minister and Cabinet have been regularly briefed on COVID-19 since the outbreak of the virus. These briefings have included assessments of the potential impacts to the UK economy and public health. These issues have also regularly been discussed at meetings of the COBR Committee. Additionally, since 16 March, a series of Cabinet Committees have convened to support the Government’s efforts.
Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government on what date the Cabinet was first briefed about the threats posed to public health and the economy by COVID-19.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
The Prime Minister and Cabinet have been regularly briefed on COVID-19 since the outbreak of the virus. These briefings have included assessments of the potential impacts to the UK economy and public health. These issues have also regularly been discussed at meetings of the COBR Committee. Additionally, since 16 March, a series of Cabinet Committees have convened to support the Government’s efforts.