Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to invest in the digital transformation of government services.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The UK is recognised internationally as a world leader in digital government. The Government Digital Service (GDS) was set up in 2011 with the purpose of digitally transforming government and its services. It leads government’s Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) function, helping departments build and run services that are digital by default and focused on the needs of citizens.
Departments have built their digital professionalism and capability and there are now approximately 800 digital services, including applying online for a UK passport, applying for your full or provisional driving licence, checking your state pension, and the voter registration digital service. As an example, over 90% of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Association’s (DVLA) transactions (over 1 billion in 2017/18) are now completed online. Government continues to update current and create new digital services to benefit citizens in their interactions with government.
GDS this month published the Government Technology Innovation Strategy which looks at creating the right foundations to use emerging technologies in government. This will help digitally transform government even more by using innovative technology solutions to make government more efficient and save taxpayers’ money. Alongside this, ‘A guide to using artificial intelligence in the public sector’ was published following a review of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in government by GDS and the Office for Artificial Intelligence (OAI).
The £20m, 3-year GovTech Catalyst Programme has supported central and local government, devolved administrations, and public sector bodies to find innovative solutions to operational service and policy delivery challenges. It provides public sector organisations a safe space to experiment with innovative technologies by providing them with funding, purely for research and development. The Catalyst also encourages the sharing of digital learning and resources, which allows public sector organisations to identify other groups across the UK working on similar problems. The Programme helps government deliver on a key principle of the UK’s Digital Strategy, to improve the digital business sector in the UK, by providing tech companies of all sizes opportunities with the public sector.
Over 10,000 civil servants have also now been trained by the GDS Academy; new standards have made services across government consistent, accessible and intuitive; and departments have delivered digital services to make essential transactions with citizens easier and more efficient.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of an analysis by the National Infrastructure Forum suggesting there may be instability in the construction sector as a result of government infrastructure projects.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The Government welcomes The National Infrastructure Forum’s report and the contributions it makes to how government and industry can best work together to deliver vital infrastructure.
The National Infrastructure and Construction Pipeline sets out planned infrastructure and construction investment across the public and private sectors. By providing Government with the data that informs the creation of the Pipeline, both the public and private sectors are demonstrating commitment to the planned projects and programmes within the Pipeline. These will be in various stages of delivery and each publication of the Pipeline includes a delivery progress update. The National Infrastructure and Construction Pipeline therefore gives greater transparency and certainty to the construction sector, rather than creating instability.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to extend the scope of freedom of information laws to include bodies in the private sector that provide public services.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The Government has already introduced a range of measures to increase transparency in public sector contracts and is publishing more data than ever before. At present, the Government has no plans to legislate in this area.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to work with social media companies to gather migration data when compiling official immigration statistics.
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.
Dear Lord Taylor,
As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am replying to your Parliamentary Question asking what plans there are, if any, to work with social media companies to gather migration data when compiling official immigration statistics (HL12724).
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is responsible for publishing migration statistics for the United Kingdom. ONS has recently set out an ambitious programme of work to transform migration statistics[1], to better understand the impact of migration on local areas and reduce reliance on surveys. The programme is initially focusing on sources from within government bodies, using new data sharing powers approved by Parliament. The programme recognises the potential value of alternative data sources and the intention is to explore these as we progress.
Yours sincerely,
John Pullinger
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that they meet their target of awarding small and medium-sized enterprises 33 per cent of public works contracts by 2022.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
This Government is committed to supporting small businesses and we continue to aspire to 33% of Government procurement spend on goods, services and works goes to SMEs by 2022.
In April the government announced a number of measures to help achieve this, including:
· Requiring greater transparency by prime contractors to increase SMEs visibility in the supply chain;
· Improving the visibility of supply chain opportunities to SMEs; and
· Consulting on how to improve prompt payment to SMEs in the supply chain.
We have already streamlined our procurement processes to assist small businesses, and we continue to focus on breaking down the barriers that might deter SMEs from bidding for Government contracts.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to re-evaluate their outsourcing process when awarding public sector contracts.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The Government uses the Green Book to inform transparent, objective and evidence-based sourcing decisions. The framework set out in the Green Book ensures that the policy can be achieved in strategic, commercial, financial and economic terms.
The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster recently announced changes to public sector outsourcing and new ways in which public services can be contracted and delivered in his speech to Reform on 25 June 2018.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to increase gender diversity at board level positions in public bodies.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
In increasing the gender diversity of new appointees each year we have made considerable progress. In 2016/17, the proportion of women as new appointees to the boards of public bodies rose to 49% from 34% in 2013/14.
In December 2017 Government launched its Diversity Action Plan for Public Appointments. This includes a commitment that by 2022, half of public appointees should be female and 14% should be from ethnic minorities, bringing representation on public boards in line with the wider population.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of how the competences currently held at the EU level will be distributed between the various countries in the UK after Brexit; and what impact this will have on the management of the devolution settlement and on relations between those countries.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The Government has committed that EU exit will result in a significant increase in the decision making powers of each of the devolved legislatures. The Government’s provisional frameworks analysis, published on 9 March, sets out where frameworks may and may not be needed in respect of the 153 policy areas where EU law intersects with devolved competence. It indicates that legislative frameworks will only be needed in a minority of areas. Moreover, our ongoing discussions with the devolved administrations suggest that within these areas, legislation may only be required in relation to specific elements, rather than the entire policy area. Constructive discussions with the devolved administrations continue.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of figures published by the Office for National Statistics which show that, in the past year, around 95 per cent of new workers were born outside the UK.
Answered by Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Immigrants who have come to the UK to work have brought significant benefits to Britain – we are a tolerant, welcoming nation encouraging the brightest and best to come to our shores. That will always be the case.
But it’s clear that there is no consent in Britain for uncontrolled migration from Europe.
It is important to note that those who hold British Citizenship can also be classed as non UK born.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to tighten cyber security, in the light of the breach at Yahoo.
Answered by Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen
Cyber security is recognised by the Government as a Tier One national security threat alongside deterring state-based threats and terrorism. In response to that threat and recognising the United Kingdom’s position as one of the most digitally advanced economies in the world, the Government is publishing its new five year National Cyber Security Strategy (NCSS) later this year.
The National Cyber Security Strategy defines the government’s vision and ambition for the future: a UK that is secure and resilient to cyber threats and sets out a comprehensive plan to better protect the UK from those threats. The new strategy includes delivering a new National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), to take the lead in our ambitious plans to improve UK cyber security and involves creating a programme of active cyber defence which will have the ability to counter-attack in cyber space.
To fund the strategy, the Government announced that it has set aside £1.9bn of investment in cyber including a new National Cyber Security Programme (NCSP).
The Government has also put in place a wide range of cyber security guidance and support for businesses. This includes:
Industry must also act by ensuring staff have the right training, skills and tools to operate safely online.