Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much his Department spent on iPhones in each year since 2010.
Answered by Claire Perry
The Department for Transport and its executive agencies spend (all figures are net of VAT) on iPhones in each year since 2010 is in the table below.
Year
| DfT iPhone spend
|
2010
| Nil
|
2011
| Nil
|
2012
| £1,425
|
2013
| £22,265
|
2014
| £15,905
|
Total
| £39,595
|
The majority of the spend has been incurred by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency. This is as part of its new operating model ‘Next Generation Testing’, with the need to ensure staff have immediate access to support functions whilst they are working remotely. This includes the ability to visually and audibly show vehicle defects when having conversations with technical support specialists, with live video and interaction supported through the 'facetime' functionality, and access to electronic manuals and technical information on the move.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much his Department has spent on legal fees over prevention of release of information requested by Freedom of Information requests since 2010.
Answered by Claire Perry
The amount spent by this Department and its Executive Agencies on external legal fees in relation to withholding information requested under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, namely payments to the Treasury Solicitor’s Department and counsel, in each of the last five financial years, is as shown in the table below.
Financial year
| External legal spend (excluding VAT)
|
2009/10
| £17,495
|
2010/11
| £32,404
|
2011/12
| £311
|
2012/13
| £3,068
|
2013/14
| £69
|
2014/15
| £38,475
|
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many Freedom of Information requests his Department has declined to answer in full since 2010.
Answered by Claire Perry
Statistics on the number of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests answered by the Department for Transport are published by the Ministry of Justice. The published figures include information on the number of requests where the Department withheld some or all of the requested information. These reports can be accessed on the following webpage:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, on how many occasions his Department has had requests for appointments by exception to the Senior Civil Service turned down by the Civil Service Commission since 2010; and who was appointed for each such post.
Answered by Claire Perry
I refer the hon Member to the answer given to Question 213040 by my Rt Hon Friend, the Minister for the Cabinet Office (Mr Maude) today.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many Instant Rewards of what value were given to his Department's officials in (a) 2013 and (b) 2014 to date.
Answered by Claire Perry
The number of Instant Rewards awarded to employees in the Department for Transport, and the total amount spent in (a) 2013 and (b) 2014 is shown in the table below.
| Financial Year | Number of staff | Total Spend |
| 2013/14 | 2,079 | £774,138 |
| 2014/15 | 981 | £404,780 |
In 2013 the Department increased the size of the available pot for Instant Rewards following the decision to only pay end of year non-consolidated performance payments to the top 25% of employees. This has reduced the overall spend on non-consolidated performance payments by c. £1.4m.