Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how much his Department spent on public information campaigns promoting Government policies in the (a) 2021-22 and (b) 2022-23 financial years; and how much it has spent on such campaigns in the 2023-24 financial year as of 29 January 2024.
Answered by Alister Jack - Secretary of State for Scotland
The Office has spent the following on social media platforms to support UK Government policies and information campaigns in Scotland:
Year | Amount (£) |
23-24 (to date) | 17,725 |
22-23 | 49,893 |
21-22 | 39,818 |
Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how much his Department has spent on communications staff in the (a) 2022-23 financial year and (b) 2023-24 financial year as of 29 January 2024.
Answered by Alister Jack - Secretary of State for Scotland
Expenditure on communications staffing costs, including employer’s pensions and national insurance contributions, but excluding any VAT where applicable, was:
Year | Amount (£) |
23-24 (to end Dec 23) | 1,081,263 |
22-23 | 1,166,270 |
Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how much his Department has spent on special advisers in the (a) 2022-23 financial year and (b) 2023-24 financial year as of 29 January 2024.
Answered by Alister Jack - Secretary of State for Scotland
The information requested can be found in the Scotland Office and Office for the Advocate General annual report and accounts for financial year 2022-23. This can be accessed using the following link Scotland Office Annual Report 2022-23. The figures for the current financial year 2023-24 will be published in the department’s next annual report and accounts for financial year 2023-24 and laid in parliament by the set deadlines later this calendar year.
In addition to any salary costs, the department has incurred the following travel and subsistence costs in relation to Special Advisors during financial year 2022-23.
Financial Year | Travel & Subsistence (£) |
2022-23 | 61,857 |
Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether his Department is providing emergency humanitarian assistance to help avert famine in Tigray.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
Internal conflict, drought, and economic challenges are exacerbating humanitarian crises across Ethiopia. Famine risk in Tigray and elsewhere in Ethiopia increases as these factors are prolonged and if the international community does not expand humanitarian and development assistance. The UK recently increased our health, nutrition, water and sanitation, and protection programming across northern Ethiopia, including in Tigray. Since 2019, the UK has allocated more than £400 million to tackle humanitarian crises in Ethiopia.
Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will make representations to his counterpart in the Ethiopian Government on fully implementing the Pretoria Peace Agreement.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The former Foreign Secretary welcomed the November 2022 peace agreement between the Ethiopian Government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front, when he visited Ethiopia in December 2022. Since then, the UK has welcomed progress on implementation such as the handing over of heavy weapons, the establishment of a Tigray Interim Regional Administration, and the development of a comprehensive transitional justice policy. We continue to offer the UK's support, including for the successful implementation of the transitional justice policy. HM Ambassador to Ethiopia last year announced funding for the African Union's monitoring, verification and compliance mechanism to support the implementation of the Pretoria peace deal. Ministers and the British Embassy Addis Ababa continue to raise the importance of this issue with interlocutors in the Ethiopian Government.
Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if his Department will make representations to the Ethiopian Government to allow internally displaced Tigrayans to return.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The former Foreign Secretary welcomed the November 2022 peace agreement between the Ethiopian Government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front, when he visited Ethiopia in December 2022. There are no formal restrictions on internally displaced persons returning, however some areas of Tigray are under the control of regional militias or Eritrean forces. Ministers and the British Embassy Addis Ababa repeatedly raise the need for withdrawal of militias and foreign forces, including through a public statement in August 2023.
Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the financial settlement for Scotland.
Answered by John Lamont - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Scotland Office)
Despite what we hear from the SNP, the Scottish Government is well-funded.
As a consequence of the decisions made by this UK Government, the Block Grant is now at record levels, with an additional £2.4 billion across three fiscal events.
Scotland receives around 25% more per person than equivalent UK Government spending in other parts of the United Kingdom.
That translates into around £8.5 billion more per year on average.
Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the National Institute of Economic and Social Research Discussion Paper No. 549 entitled The Economic and Social Impacts of Lifting Work Restrictions on People Seeking Asylum, published on 25 June 2023, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of allowing asylum seekers to work.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Asylum seekers who have had their claim outstanding for 12 months or more, through no fault of their own, are allowed to work. Those permitted to work are restricted to jobs on the Shortage Occupation List. This is based on expert advice from the independent Migration Advisory Committee.
We are aware that the National Institute of Economic and Social Research published analysis on 25 June 2023, which set out the estimated fiscal impact to the UK should there be a relaxation of the policy. It is the Home Office assessment that any analysis in this area is dependent on making assumptions from limited evidence and will therefore produce uncertain results.
Whilst we keep all policies under review, there are no immediate plans to change the existing policy. It is important that we distinguish between individuals who need protection and those seeking to work here who can apply for a work visa under the Immigration Rules. The Government has always been clear that asylum seekers do not need to make perilous journeys in order to seek employment in the UK. Those in need of protection should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach – that is the fastest route to safety.
Unrestricted access to employment could act as an incentive for more migrants to choose to come here illegally; leading to further dangerous journeys across the Channel and supporting the business model of people smugglers, rather than claim asylum in the first safe country they reach. This could also undermine the legal routes for those seeking to work in the UK under the Points Based System. These routes include Skilled Worker, Global Talent, and Health and Care routes, which are supporting UK businesses to recruit workers with the skills and talent they need from around the world.
Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many staff were employed at Queen Elizabeth House in each UK Government department or arms-length body (a) full time, (b) part time, (c) on a consultancy basis and (d) as civil servants as of 8 January 2023.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The number of civil servants reported in post by government departments and executive agencies as at 31 March 2023 based in Queen Elizabeth House is presented in the table below. The postcode for Queen Elizabeth House, 1 Sibbald, Edinburgh is EH8 8FT.
Information on consultants based or employed at Queen Elizabeth House is not centrally available.
Table 1: Civil Servants whose postcode of government establishment or other workplace where employed or based is EH8 8FT, by civil service organisation and working pattern, as at 31 March 2023
Civil Service Organisation | Headcount of all civil servants in full-time role | Headcount of all civil servants working in a part-time role | Total headcount of all civil servants |
Building Digital UK | [s] | 0 | [s] |
Cabinet Office (excl. agencies) | 10 | 0 | 10 |
Central Civil Service Fast Stream | [s] | 0 | [s] |
Competition and Markets Authority | 55 | 15 | 70 |
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (excl. agencies) | 80 | [s] | 85 |
Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (excl. agencies) | 10 | 0 | 10 |
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (excl. agencies) | 20 | [s] | 20 |
Department for International Trade | 30 | [s] | 35 |
Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (excl. agencies) | 30 | [s] | 35 |
Department for Transport (excl. agencies) | 5 | 0 | 5 |
Department of Health and Social Care (excl. agencies) | [s] | 0 | [s] |
Government Actuary’s Department | 10 | [s] | 15 |
Government Commercial Organisation | [s] | 0 | [s] |
Health and Safety Executive | 50 | 5 | 55 |
HM Revenue and Customs (excl. agencies) | 1,825 | 395 | 2,220 |
Home Office | [s] | 0 | [s] |
Ministry of Justice (excl. agencies) | [s] | 0 | [s] |
Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland (incl. Office of the Advocate General for Scotland) | 75 | 10 | 80 |
Scottish Government (excl. agencies) | [s] | 0 | [s] |
Valuation Office Agency | 5 | 5 | 10 |
Total | 2,220 | 440 | 2,655 |
Source: Annual Civil Service Employment Statistics (ACSES), Cabinet Office
[s] = confidential and suppressed due to small numbers of between 1 and 4.
Numbers are rounded to the nearest five.
Additional departments and their civil servants may be based/employed at Queen Elizabeth House but may not show in the data due to non-reporting of postcode information when reporting their locations information to Cabinet Office through ACSES.
The data in the table refers to civil service organisations and civil servants only. Data for non-civil service organisations are not available centrally.
Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Answer of 27 March 2023 to Question168058 on Visas: Ukraine, whether he plans to make an announcement on the extension of visas under the (a) Homes for Ukraine scheme, (b) Ukrainian Family Scheme and (c) Ukraine Extension Scheme beyond the initial three-year period.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
We are mindful that permission will start to expire, for the first arrivals under our Ukrainian schemes, from March 2025, and their need for certainty beyond that point to help them to plan ahead, for example if remaining in the UK, entering into rental agreements and living here independently. As a result, we actively keep the Ukraine schemes under consistent review.
The UK Government stands with Ukraine and firmly believes that Ukraine will be safe again. When it’s safe to do so, Ukraine will need the repatriation of its citizens to help recover and rebuild their economy and infrastructure.