Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the date of completion of the Cabinet Office Review, code-named Operation Yellowhammer, that was published in the Sunday Times on 18 August.
Answered by Earl of Courtown - Captain of the Queen's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)
As is the usual practice, we do not comment on leaked documents. Any leak is unacceptable and the leak of any information is disappointing. However, On 11th September 2019 we published an iteration of the planning assumptions which largely reflect the work carried out under the previous government, which are dated 2 August.
Operation Yellowhammer is a cross government programme of work to ensure that government is prepared to mitigate the potential impacts of Brexit in the event that the UK leaves without a deal. The programme is underpinned by planning assumptions that are not a prediction of what is going to happen, but reflect a responsible Government preparing for reasonable worst-case scenarios. A reasonable worse case assumption provides a challenging and stretching scenario to aid planning. Such an approach is good risk management.
We are currently undertaking a review of the reasonable worst case scenario planning assumptions for Operation Yellowhammer and will publish the revised version in due course. As you’d expect, the assumptions are under constant review, particularly as our preparations advance at pace.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to reduce staff turnover in Government departments.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
Activity to address high staff turnover, which runs the risk of losing corporate memory, includes: using career pathways and frameworks to support the development of expertise for roles and professions; pay related solutions for both the Senior Civil Service and delegated grades, including enabling departments to give capability based pay rewards at the delegated grades; and, encouraging the use of Pivotal Role Allowances.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many public consultations they have initiated since May 2015; how many have resulted in a published report or conclusion; how many of those were produced within six months of the closing date of the consultation; and for how many public consultations they have yet to publish a report or conclusion.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
Granular information on consultations across all individual departments is not centrally held in the form requested, as individual departments are responsible for their consultations. The Cabinet Office is responsible for the Government Consultation Principles, which provide departments with guidance on conducting consultations. That guidance sets out that consultations and any response to them should be published on gov.uk. The Cabinet Office is taking further steps to assess the number of public consultations which have closed but have not concluded.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of Government contractors were paid on time in the last year for which figures are available.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
This information is not held centrally. Government departments publish their payment performance on a quarterly basis on GOV.UK, but this does not provide an analysis by supplier.
Data published in 2016-17 shows that all major departments, apart from one (at 69%), were meeting their 5 days payment target and that all departments were paying at least 98% of their invoices within the 30 day target, with a third of departments achieving 100%.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to review the preparedness of the UK to deal with severe cold weather conditions.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The Government constantly reviews preparedness for the risks facing the UK, drawing on the National Risk Assessment (NRA) and Resilience Capabilities Programme (RCP). This includes preparedness to respond to and recover from severe cold weather. In addition, following any major event, debriefs are undertaken by relevant Departments and agencies to identify any lessons learned and improve future responses. This is the case with respect to the recent period of cold weather, where the Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat) is considering the recent water supply issue, identifying the causes of the problems and reviewing the response of the water companies. The results will be published by 15 June.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government which departments are responsible for considering the implications of the Race Disparity Audit; and which is the lead department for co-ordinating action on its findings.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
Government departments remain responsible for considering the implications of the findings of the Race Disparity Audit on their policies and services. A specialist unit in the Cabinet Office will consider and co-ordinate the next steps.
The Government has launched a programme of work to tackle some of the ethnic disparities identified in the Audit. This covers the Department for Work and Pensions taking action in twenty targeted ‘hotspots’, the Ministry of Justice taking forward a number of recommendations made in the recent Lammy Review and the Department for Education taking forward an external review to improve practice in exclusions. Further announcements on future Government work will follow in the coming months.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
Her Majesty's Government what percentage of the UK's workforce in 2016 were non-British nationals.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the consent of Parliament will be obtained to a new agreement governing the UK’s relationship with the EU.
Answered by Lord Bridges of Headley
This is a matter for the new Prime Minister and their Cabinet. As the PM has said, we have now got to look at all the detailed arrangements, and Parliament will clearly have a role in making sure that we find the best way forward.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bates on 2 November (HL2691), when they expect to be able to collect reliable data on the incidence and cost of internet fraud; and whether they will publish that information.
Answered by Lord Bridges of Headley
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bridges of Headley on 23 November (HL3395), how many breaches of government websites there were in 2014 where no national security considerations apply.
Answered by Lord Bridges of Headley
For security reasons we do not comment on specific details of cyber security attacks. GCHQ typically responds to an average of 70 sophisticated attacks on government networks per quarter.