Lord Watson of Wyre Forest

The £5m funding is available for projects across England to celebrate the centenary of the 1918 Representation of the People Act, educate young people about democracy and encourage women to get involved in politics at all levels.

The Government Equalities Office is in the process of agreeing how the Centenary Fund will be allocated. Given the limited time available and the size of the fund, a full public consultation was not feasible. Instead, we chose to consult widely with women’s organisations and non-governmental organisations on how the Government could support projects next year.

As announced in April this year, the first statue of Millicent Fawcett, a leader of the suffrage movement, was erected in Parliament Square and funded from the £5 million Centenary Fund. Government has contributed just over £706,000 towards the statue’s costs.

We are setting up a £1.5million Women’s Suffrage Centenary Grant Scheme specifically to support local and community groups across the regions of England to celebrate the centenary. This grant scheme has two funding streams: the small grants stream has a ceiling of £2,000 to support small local celebratory events. The larger grant stream will cover projects from £2,000 to £125,000 that will principally focus on increasing young people’s understanding and engagement with democracy as well as encouraging women to participate in public life. There will be a grant administrator to oversee the scheme which will be opening soon.‎ I have written to all members of the House to alert them to our plans and will be writing again when the scheme opens.

We are also developing plans for supporting the reach, impact and legacy of existing centenary activities in a number of cities across England that have a strong suffrage history.

The Barnett formula has been applied to this funding in the usual way and it is for the devolved administrations to decide how they choose to mark the centenary.

As I said during my oral statement on Syria: Refugees and Counter-Terrorism on 7 September 2015, Official Report, column 23, these individuals presented a clear and present danger to the country and this action was taken because there was no alternative. The Attorney General was consulted and was clear there was a legal basis for this action in international law. Our Permanent Representative has informed the President of the United Nations Security Council of this activity, which was conducted in the self-defence of the UK.

As I said during my oral statement on Syria: Refugees and Counter-Terrorism on 7 September 2015, Official Report, column 23, these individuals presented a clear and present danger to the country and this action was taken because there was no alternative. The Attorney General was consulted and was clear there was a legal basis for this action in international law. Our Permanent Representative has informed the President of the United Nations Security Council of this activity, which was conducted in the self-defence of the UK.

As I said during my oral statement on Syria: Refugees and Counter-Terrorism on 7 September 2015, Official Report, column 23, these individuals presented a clear and present danger to the country and this action was taken because there was no alternative. The Attorney General was consulted and was clear there was a legal basis for this action in international law. Our Permanent Representative has informed the President of the United Nations Security Council of this activity, which was conducted in the self-defence of the UK.

I refer the hon. Member to my oral statement on Syria: Refugees and Counter-Terrorism on 7 September 2015, Official Report, column 23.

Details of my meetings with external organisations are published on a quarterly basis and are available via the gov.uk website.

Civil servants, including special advisers, may use a taxi or Government car in properly defined circumstances. Information about the use of taxis and government cars for the most senior civil servants are published on a quarterly basis at www.gov.uk.

Details of official hospitality at Chequers is published on a quarterly basis and is available via the gov.uk website.

The majority of my time is spent in Downing Street and I regularly spend time in Chequers and my constituency.

No public money has been spent.

Details of meetings with external organisations, including meetings with newspaper and other media proprietors, editors and senior executives, are published on a quarterly basis and can be accessed via the gov.uk website.

Table 1 shows the number of learners aged 24+ participating in further education courses at Level 3 or above from 2010/11 to 2013/14.

Table 1: FE and Skills participation at Level 3+ and ages 24+, 2010/11 to 2013/14

Notes:
1) The source is the Individualised Learner Record.
2) This tables includes Apprenticeships, Workplace Learning, Community Learning and Education and Training provision (including the Offenders’ Learning and Skills Service) taken at General Further Education Colleges (including Tertiary), Sixth Form Colleges, Special Colleges (Agricultural and Horticultural Colleges and Art and Design Colleges), Specialist Colleges and External Institutions.
3) Volumes are rounded to the nearest hundred.
4) Age and gender are based upon self-declaration by the learner.

I refer the hon. Member to the Written Statement I made on 11 June 2015, Official Report, column 42WS.

Details of my meetings are available on the gov.uk website.

The Department has identified and recovered the whole of two duplicate supplier payments totalling £1,000 in this period.

The Department does not maintain a central register but an analysis of the Departmental financial system and records identified that since 2010, the following duplicate payments were made and recoveries undertaken:

10/11 nil

11/12 nil

12/13 £726 of which all was recovered

13/14 £1835.40 of which all was recovered

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given today by the Minister of State for the Armed Forces, the right hon. Member for Rayleigh and Wickford, to PQ 198710.

The No10 Data Science Team has a remit to improve the way in which key decisions are informed by data, analysis, and evidence using cutting-edge data science techniques. This enables the Government to use the best available evidence, throughout the policy and decision-making process, to drive long-term systems change and enable staff to collectively solve the most pressing policy challenges. They also use data to track delivery of government priority programs, working closely with Delivery Unit. The Government would not normally comment on the details of policy development and formation nor the process by which collective decisions are made across government.

The team also runs a transformation program including: (1) project rAPId, a free, open source, lightweight data sharing system; (2) the No10 Innovation Fellowships, bringing industry expertise in AI into central government on year-long secondments to improve public services; (3) Evidence House, a program to upskill civil servants in data science, AI and software engineering; and crowdsource technical solutions to complex problems; and (4) creating and managing the new Incubator for Artificial Intelligence, a 30-strong team of AI experts who are working on rapid delivery of AI projects in line with the Prime Minister’s priorities.

I am informed that the noble Lord has been sent responses from the lead departments, (1) by the Ministry of Defence and (2) by the Department for Business and Trade.

The Cabinet Office intends to publish guidance on the use of non-corporate communications channels as soon as possible. This will replace the guidance published in 2013.

The Cabinet Office intends to publish guidance on the use of non-corporate communications channels as soon as possible. This will replace the guidance published in 2013.

Central Government contracts above £10,000 are published on Contracts Finder, including the awarded value of the contract. (https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk)

Central Government contracts above £10,000 are published on Contracts Finder, including the awarded value of the contract. (https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk)

Central Government contracts above £10,000 are published on Contracts Finder, including the awarded value of the contract. (https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk)

The policy of Government is as set out in Paragraph 21 ‘Official information: standards of conduct and procedures’ and states, "The police are entirely operationally independent of Government and have the right and duty to investigate criminal activity wherever it occurs. No part of Government is above the law. In respect of unauthorised disclosure of official information under, for example, the Official Secrets Act, if the police find evidence of a suspected breach of the criminal law, it is entirely within the powers of the police to begin an investigation under their own auspices, whether or not the Government has raised the incident with them."

A copy is in the Library of the House and is available at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/228774/7863.pdf

There are no plans to establish a Public Inquiry on the conduct of the EU referendum. The EU referendum was carried out based on legislation passed by Parliament and almost three quarters of the electorate took part. The EU referendum provisions were carefully scrutinised and ratified by Parliament. In line with the precedent for referendums, there was a six week period in which the formal result and administration of the EU Referendum could be challenged by judicial review. We treat the integrity and security of our democratic processes extremely seriously.

If offences are alleged, it is right that they are investigated thoroughly by the appropriate agencies. That is what is happening at the moment and those agencies and investigations are independent of government.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The Government has said previously that we have not seen evidence of successful foreign

interference in UK elections and we take any allegations of interference in UK democratic

processes by a foreign government extremely seriously. That remains the case. We know

that certain states routinely use disinformation and other means as a foreign policy tool,

and have seen evidence of this happening elsewhere. It should therefore not surprise us

that they might try to influence democratic processes in the UK.

The Government has said previously that we have not seen evidence of successful foreign

interference in UK elections and we take any allegations of interference in UK democratic

processes by a foreign government extremely seriously. That remains the case. We know

that certain states routinely use disinformation and other means as a foreign policy tool,

and have seen evidence of this happening elsewhere. It should therefore not surprise us

that they might try to influence democratic processes in the UK.

The Government has not received an advance copy of the report, and therefore cannot speak to who is named in it.

The Electoral Commission is accountable to Parliament, via the Speaker’s Committee, and does not report directly to Ministers.

In that context, the Government has not received advance copy of such a report, and would not normally expect to receive advance reports on its casework decisions.

The National Security Capability Review (NSCR) identifies areas where we can do further cross-government work, including as one example on our strategic communications. The NSCR will set out further details when published.

The National Security Capability Review (NSCR) identifies areas where we can do further cross-government work, including as one example on our strategic communications. The NSCR will set out further details when published.