Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how many (a) direct employees, (b) agency staff and (c) outsourced staff working for (i) his Department and (ii) agencies of his Department are paid less than the living wage, as defined by the Living Wage Foundation.
Answered by David Mundell
The Scotland Office does not employ staff directly. All staff that join do so on assignment, loan or secondment from other government bodies, principally the Ministry of Justice and the Scottish Government.
No people working for the Scotland Office or its sponsored body, the Boundary Commission for Scotland, who are (a) directly employed in the civil service or (b) employed on an agency basis are paid less than the living wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation.
The Scotland Office does not set the wages paid by its contractors to (c) outsourced staff working for the office, but can confirm that the rates payable are not less than the living wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, whether his Department has a carer's policy for its employees; and what other steps his Department has taken to support employees with caring responsibilities.
Answered by David Mundell
The Scotland Office do not employ staff directly. Staff that join do so on assignment, loan or secondment from other government departments. All staff have access to the Caring Policies provided by their parent departments.
These include entitlements such as paid special leave and unpaid career breaks set out in the home department’s special leave policy; steps to encourage staff to use the carers passport provided by the Charity for Civil Servants; a carers’ network; a carers’ champion; a dedicated section of their home departments’ intranet for carers; membership of Employers for Carers; and provision of advice and counselling through the Employee Assistance Programme.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what his Department's estimate is of the amount of EU legislation and regulation that can be incorporated into UK law without amendment.
Answered by David Mundell
The European Union (Withdrawal) Bill will convert European Union law into UK law as it applies in the UK at the moment of exit. This will ensure that, wherever possible, the same rules and laws will apply the day after exit as they did before.
The Government is still making a detailed assessment of what corrections will be required to make that law function appropriately on exit day. The Department for Exiting the European Union are working closely with departments across Government to ensure we make the changes required to deliver a functioning statute book on exit in the most efficient manner possible.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how many people working for his Department on a (a) directly employed, (b) agency or (c) outsourced basis are paid less than the living wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation; and how many of those people are employed on zero-hours contracts.
Answered by David Mundell
The Scotland Office does not directly employ any staff. The Office is staffed by civil servants on assignment, loan and/or secondment basis predominantly from the Ministry of Justice and the Scottish Government. No people working for the Scotland Office who are (a) directly employed in the civil service are paid less than the living wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation, nor are on a zero hours contract.
No people working for the Scotland Office on an (b) agency basis are paid less than the living wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation, nor are on a zero hours contract.
Information on workers on an (c) outsourced basis, paid less than the rate defined by the Living Wage Foundation and their contractual hours can only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how many (a) direct employees, (b) agency staff and (c) outsourced staff working for his Department are paid less than the living wage.
Answered by David Mundell
The Scotland Office does not employ staff directly. All staff that join the Scotland Office do so on assignment, secondment or loan agreement from other Government bodies. All staff on such arrangements are paid more than the rate defined by the Living Wage Foundation.
The Scotland Office has one contract which provides security for the office in Edinburgh. The Scotland Office does not set the wages paid by the contractors to its workers; however, the wage paid by the contractor is above the National Minimum Wage. Otherwise, the Scotland Office uses framework contracts for building services held by the Ministry of Justice and the Scottish Government.