Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government which minister is accountable for the Privy Council office; and what reporting mechanisms exist to Parliament in relation to the activities of the office.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Privy Council Office provides the Secretariat to the Privy Council and is a constituent part of the Cabinet Office. The Minister with responsibility for the Privy Council Office is the Lord President of the Council and Leader of the Commons, the Rt Hon Penny Mordaunt.
Relevant Government policy ministers are accountable to Parliament for all matters conducted through the Privy Council.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate was made by the Privy Council office of the number of people who can be safely accommodated in the picture gallery of St James’ Palace.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Privy Council Office is not responsible for estimating the number of people who can be safely accommodated in the Picture Gallery of St James' Palace.
St. James's Palace has a maximum occupancy figure for each of its State Rooms developed in line with the relevant legislation on public safety (including fire safety and evacuation) in historic buildings.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many of those attending the Accession Council, other than members of the Royal Family, were not Privy Councillors.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The published list of attendees at the Accession Council held on 10th September 2022 is available on the Privy Council website, and can be found here. This includes both members of the Privy Council and non-members. We do not hold a separate list identifying those who attended who were not Privy Counsellors.
The Privy Council Office does not record information relating to past or present political party memberships held by Privy Counsellors.
The Privy Council Office does not hold information related to a Privy Counsellor’s ‘defined disability’.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many of those invited to attend the Accession Council had a defined disability.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The published list of attendees at the Accession Council held on 10th September 2022 is available on the Privy Council website, and can be found here. This includes both members of the Privy Council and non-members. We do not hold a separate list identifying those who attended who were not Privy Counsellors.
The Privy Council Office does not record information relating to past or present political party memberships held by Privy Counsellors.
The Privy Council Office does not hold information related to a Privy Counsellor’s ‘defined disability’.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, of the 200 members of the Privy Council invited to attend the Accession Council on Saturday 10 September, how many of those past and present politicians were (1) members of the Conservative Party, (2) members of the Labour Party, (3) members of the Liberal Democrat Party, and (4) members of other parties.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The published list of attendees at the Accession Council held on 10th September 2022 is available on the Privy Council website, and can be found here. This includes both members of the Privy Council and non-members. We do not hold a separate list identifying those who attended who were not Privy Counsellors.
The Privy Council Office does not record information relating to past or present political party memberships held by Privy Counsellors.
The Privy Council Office does not hold information related to a Privy Counsellor’s ‘defined disability’.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, for individuals beginning work at airports and requiring airside clearance, what is the average time between the point the individual is offered the job to the point where such clearance is granted.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
I should advise that National Security Vetting (NSV) undertaken by Her Majesty’s Government, remains separate from concurrent industry background checks. Background checks as conducted by industry can take between 12 and 14 weeks to complete. The Department for Transport (DfT) has implemented changes to help reduce these industry timescales utilising HMRC data to support reference checks.
The Cabinet Office acts as a service provider for NSV clearances only. For national security reasons I am unable to share processing times for security clearances. However, I can advise that United Kingdom Security Vetting (UKSV) expedite all NSV cases for the aviation industry, in response to operational challenges currently impacting the aviation sector. Security checks for the aviation sector are being processed in a timely manner with no current delays.
In line with the practice followed by successive administrations, the Government does not otherwise comment on security matters.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord True on 7 June (HL708), what are the original (1) regions, and (2) nations, given as the living address for the 63 current holders the Companion of Honour at the time their honour was awarded; and what percentage of current holders came from each region or nation.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
There are currently 63 living recipients of the Companion of Honour. Information is only held on 41 living recipients. Honours data is routinely destroyed by the Cabinet Office in accordance with our data retention policy for honours and not all the nominations were processed by the Cabinet Office, therefore we do not hold all of the information requested.
Data is collected using the county that the recipient gives as their correspondence address; this is usually their current home address and does not necessarily reflect their area of origin.
Regional data for living Companion of Honour recipients:
Region | Number of living Companion of Honour recipients per region | Percentage of living Companion of Honour recipients per region |
East | 3 | 4.8% |
East Midlands | 1 | 1.6% |
London | 18 | 28.6% |
North East | 0 | 0.0% |
Northern Ireland | 1 | 1.6% |
North West | 0 | 0.0% |
Scotland | 3 | 4.8% |
South East | 10 | 15.9% |
South West | 1 | 1.6% |
Wales | 0 | 0.0% |
West Midlands | 2 | 3.2% |
Yorkshire & Humberside | 1 | 1.6% |
Abroad | 1 | 1.6% |
No information held | 22 | 34.9% |
Data for living Companion of Honour recipients by nation:
Nation | Number of Companion of living Honour recipients per nation | Percentage of living Companion of Honour recipients per nation |
England | 36 | 57.1% |
Northern Ireland | 1 | 1.6% |
Scotland | 3 | 4.8% |
Wales | 0 | 0.0% |
Abroad | 1 | 1.6% |
No information held | 22 | 34.9% |
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of private companies using internet addresses suggesting those sites are linked to the government, such as GovNet.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
Government departments have a set of processes in place to tackle fraudulent websites set up by private companies, for example sites purporting to be government using government-type domains. The nature of the action depends on the type of site and can include asking the domain registrar to suspend the domain, reporting to Action Fraud or National Trading Standards or reaching out directly to organisations concerned to tell them to stop using misleading branding or information. In some cases, we work with the Government Legal Department to take direct legal action.
Some sites, although potentially misleading, are able to operate within legal boundaries. In these cases, we work to ensure that government services are correctly listed and rank highly in search engine results. This helps to ensure that they are easy for people to find and identify as government services. Where misleading websites have paid for prominent positioning in search results, we also raise this with the relevant search engine.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord True on 25 May (HL293) and the revised arrangements for an Accession Council, how many Privy Councillors were present at the last Accession Council to affirm the transition of the monarchy.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
In 1952, Part I of the Accession Council was held on Wednesday 6th February 1952. There were 191 attendees, comprising some 165 Privy Counsellors, representatives of the Realms and the Commonwealth, and the City of London. Part II of the Accession Council was held on Friday the 8th February 1952, on the return of The Queen from Kenya, and attended by 175 Privy Counsellors.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many honours above OBE level were awarded to people who were (1) living in, or (2) working or providing service to, the South Yorkshire area at the time of their nomination for an honour in The Queen's Birthday Honours List 2022.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
There are currently 63 living recipients of the Companion of Honour. We do not collect the information requested on political affiliation, nor do we monitor areas of residence after an award is bestowed.
In supporting the levelling up agenda, Her Majesty’s Government would like to see representation in the honours system from across the whole of the United Kingdom, reflecting the extraordinary contributions made across the country.
Data is collected using the county that the recipient gives as their correspondence address; this is usually their current home address and does not necessarily reflect their area of origin.
The percentage of BD22 recipients living in each region by level is attached.
The Government publishes honours transparency data broken down by both town/city and county. Data is collected using the county the recipient gives as their correspondence address (usually their home address rather than their places of origin). This data relates only to the main Prime Minister’s List and does not include data from the Defence List or the Overseas and International List, which are not administered by the Cabinet Office. The transparency data for the Queen’s Birthday Honours List 2022 can be accessed at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-queens-birthday-honours-2022