Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department is taking steps to monitor profits made by public procurement suppliers that accrue to offshore trusts.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The driving principle behind public procurement policy is to award contracts on the basis of value for money, which means the optimum combination of cost and quality over the lifetime of the project.
The Government expects businesses to take all necessary steps to enable themselves to comply with their tax obligations, to ensure a fair and level playing field.
HM Revenue & Customs require certain large multinational enterprises to report details of their economic activities in each country where they operate and the taxes paid in each country. There are penalties for those that file late or fail to do so.
The Procurement Bill introduces new mandatory grounds for the exclusion of bidders which are found guilty of tax evasion or involvement in abusive tax avoidance schemes, whether in the UK or overseas.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much of the Public Sector Fraud Authority target of identified fraud benefits has been recovered as of 18 November 2022.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The £180m target for the PSFA in 2022/23 includes recovered fraud and fraud prevented by early action. Therefore, all fraud benefits are required to go through a multi stage review process and also be independently audited. Until this audit process has been completed, we are unable to report progress against the target. However, early indications are that we are on track to meet the target.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, Pursuant to the Answer to the answer of 31 October 2022 to Question 74642 on Electronic Messaging, when his Department plans to publish new guidance on the use of personal email addresses by Ministers.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The Cabinet Office intends to issue guidance to departments on the use of non-corporate communications channels early in 2023. This will replace the guidance on the use of private email that was issued in 2013.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent discussions he has with the Public Sector Fraud Authority on protecting the public purse by reducing fraud.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
I had an introductory meeting with the Public Sector Fraud Authority (PSFA) on 31 October. We discussed how the PSFA is providing expert support to departments and public bodies about the fraud risks and threats they face, and its progress towards delivering £180m of identified fraud benefits within its first year.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many civil servants have been assigned to work on the investigation into the conduct of the Deputy Prime Minister as of 24 November 2022.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
As set out in the published Terms of Reference, the investigation will be undertaken by Adam Tolley KC, with support from officials in the Cabinet Office.
Those officials will work under the direction of the investigator and in line with the Civil Service Code.
The number of officials assigned to the investigation at any one time will vary. The investigation will be provided with the necessary resources to be carried out in line with the Terms of Reference.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department received any complaints regarding the former Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union's conduct between July and November 2018.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The Prime Minister has appointed Adam Tolley KC to conduct an independent investigation into formal complaints which have been made about the conduct of the Rt Hon Dominic Raab MP, the Deputy Prime Minister, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice.
The Terms of Reference for the investigation have been published on gov.uk. [https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/terms-of-reference-investigation-into-formal-complaints/terms-of-reference-for-the-investigation-into-formal-complaints-about-the-conduct-of-the-deputy-prime-minister-html]
Following the establishment of the independent investigation, and the Cabinet Office receiving a further formal complaint relating to Mr Raab's conduct at the Department for Exiting the European Union, the Prime Minister has additionally asked the investigator to establish the specific facts surrounding this complaint, in line with the Terms of Reference for the existing investigation.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much his Department spent on recruitment for Non-Executive Director appointments in (a) 2019, (b) 2020 and (c) 2021.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
Assuming the Rt Hon Lady's question refers to the appointment of non-executive directors to Arms Length Bodies, the Cabinet Office does not hold specific information on the recruitment costs.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many staff worked for the Department for Exiting the European Union in June 2018.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The National Statistics show that at 30 June 2018, there were 560 staff on a headcount basis and 550 staff on an FTE basis working at the Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU). There were approximately 110 staff in addition to this figure who remained on the payroll of their home department whilst on loan to DExEU.
This information was published by ONS as part of their Public Sector Employment Statistics release and is available at the following ONS web address: