Asked by: Lord Morris of Aberavon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when the terms of reference for the UK COVID-19 public inquiry, chaired by Lady Hallett, will be published; and what are the reasons for the delay.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
The final terms of reference for the UK COVID-19 inquiry were published on 28 June 2022. This followed a full and extensive public consultation process led by the inquiry’s independent chair, in addition to engagement with the devolved administrations as required by the Inquiries Act 2005.
Asked by: Lord Morris of Aberavon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking, if any, to encourage civil servants to return to work in the office.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
Following the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions, civil servants have been increasingly returning to the office.
The Minister for Brexit Opportunities and Government Efficiency has written to departments to underline the importance of workplace attendance and request that they review their existing guidance on the minimum number of days staff work in the office to ensure we are making efficient use of the government estate.
Asked by: Lord Morris of Aberavon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many civil servants who are currently primarily working from home received London weighting additional allowances in the last year for which figures are available.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
London weighting was removed as a prescribed central allowance in the 1990s. Civil Service pay arrangements have been delegated to individual departments for all grades below the Senior Civil Service, since 1996. London pay arrangements will therefore vary significantly between departments.
There is no central source of data that links those working from home to pay conditions.
Asked by: Lord Morris of Aberavon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many executives in charge of government agencies receive annual bonuses; which executives receive such bonuses; and in each case, what is the value of those bonuses.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
As part of the Government’s commitment to transparency, departments have published aggregated annual information on their bonus spend on their own websites since 2011. This promotes scrutiny of how taxpayers’ money is spent. The latest data, which covers the performance years 2019/20 and 2020/21, was published on Government Departments’ websites on 31 March 2022. This data includes information on total bonus spend, the number of civil servants receiving bonuses, and the size of payments.
Regarding the second question: executive agencies publish individualised data on payments received by their Board-level members in their Annual Accounts. This includes data on which executives receive bonuses, and the size of any payments. Since 2010, the Government has made bonuses across the Civil Service more tightly focussed on top performance; current spend on them is around 1 percent of the total Civil Service paybill.
Asked by: Lord Morris of Aberavon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many civil servants received bonuses in addition to their salaries in the last year for which figures are available.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
As part of the Government’s commitment to transparency, departments have published aggregated annual information on their bonus spend on their own websites since 2011. This promotes scrutiny of how taxpayers’ money is spent. The latest data, which covers the performance years 2019/20 and 2020/21, was published on Government Departments’ websites on 31 March 2022. This data includes information on total bonus spend, the number of civil servants receiving bonuses, and the size of payments.
Regarding the second question: executive agencies publish individualised data on payments received by their Board-level members in their Annual Accounts. This includes data on which executives receive bonuses, and the size of any payments. Since 2010, the Government has made bonuses across the Civil Service more tightly focussed on top performance; current spend on them is around 1 percent of the total Civil Service paybill.
Asked by: Lord Morris of Aberavon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government at what level in Government the drafting instructions to the Office of Parliamentary Counsel for the original clause 11 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill were approved; and whether they were approved at Ministerial level.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The policy for clause 11 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill, as introduced to Parliament, was approved by the Cabinet through the standard processes for collective agreement. Drafting instructions to the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel to give legal effect to this policy were approved at official level in accordance with normal practice. The final drafting of the clause was then collectively agreed by the Cabinet for introduction of the Bill.
Asked by: Lord Morris of Aberavon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the reply by Lord Young of Cookham on 25 January (HL Deb, cols 1083–1085), what action they are taking to widen the pool of talent for appointment to public bodies.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
In December 2017, the Government published a Public Appointments Diversity Action Plan which sets out the range of activities we are undertaking to attract and to support new and diverse talent into public appointments. It sets out our ambition that, by 2022, 50% of all public appointees should be female and 14% of all public appointments should be from ethnic minorities (currently 43% and 10% respectively). It also announced a review of the barriers preventing disabled people from taking up public appointments. Other actions include improving the recruitment process to maximise opportunities for candidates from the broadest range of backgrounds, developing the networks through which to raise awareness of public appointments, and establishing a group of mentors who will provide peer-to-peer support for new and high potential candidates.
Asked by: Lord Morris of Aberavon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Young of Cookham on 5 December 2017 (HL3493), what significant increase in the decision-making powers for the devolved administrations they are considering; and whether they will retain any of the powers returned from Brussels which are currently vested in the devolved administrations.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The Government is working closely with the devolved administrations to determine where common approaches will and will not be required in the future. The Government is clear that none of the existing decision-making powers of the devolved administrations will be taken away and that it expects an increase in the decision making powers for the devolved administrations as a result of this process.
Asked by: Lord Morris of Aberavon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they gave an accurate statement to Buckingham Palace regarding the state of negotiations with the Democratic Unionist Party following the 2017 General Election.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
Updates were provided to the Palace following the 2017 General Election accurately reflecting the latest understanding of discussions with the Democratic Unionist Party on reaching a Confidence and Supply Agreement.
Asked by: Lord Morris of Aberavon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, following the Prime Minister's letter to Sir John Chilcot on 17 June, what further steps they are taking to ascertain when the Maxwellisation process of the Chilcot Inquiry is to be completed.
Answered by Lord Bridges of Headley
A meeting between Sir Jeremy Heywood and Sir John Chilcot took place in early July. It was a constructive discussion in accordance with the Prime Minister’s letter, during which Sir John and Sir Jeremy discussed the additional assistance the Inquiry will wish to call upon in its closing stages and agreed some steps that can be taken now to assist the inquiry in its work. Sir John has confirmed it is his intention to provide the Prime Minister with a timetable for completion of the Inquiry’s work once the Maxwellisation process, a confidential process between individuals and the Inquiry, is complete.