Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has referred any freedom of information requests received by his Department to the central Cabinet Office Clearing House for advice on handling in the past two years.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The Clearing House function does not have full time members of staff, and its work is done by a small team of people in the FOI team, including the Deputy Director of Freedom of Information and Transparency, alongside their other day to day responsibilities. There is no separate budget for the Clearing House.
The Cabinet Office does not routinely capture data on the number of requests which are referred to the Clearing House. However, in 2020, Clearing House gave advice on 516 aggregated ‘round robins’ (requests made to more than one department and that have repeat characteristics); a small proportion of over 30,000 requests received by government departments in the same time period.
The Cabinet Office has referred requests to the Clearing House where appropriate and in line with the published criteria, which is available on gov.uk here - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cabinet-office-and-freedom-of-information.
Information on Freedom of Information statistics is also published on gov.uk here - https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the total allocated budget was for the renovations and refurbishment of the Downing Street flat; and whether that budget has been exceeded.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer by my noble friend, Lord True (Minister of State at the Cabinet Office), to PQHL14191 on 23 April 2021.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 18 May 2021 to Question 1107 on Elections: Proof of Identity, whether a voter's photographic ID will need to match the address where they are registered to vote in order to be valid.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
Showing proof of identification is something people of all walks of life already do everyday. It is a reasonable and proportionate approach to extend this practice to voting and give the public confidence that their vote is theirs, and theirs alone.
Of the broad range of documents that will be accepted, including, for example, various concessionary travel passes, Proof of Age Standards Scheme (PASS) cards, and photocard parking permits issued as part of the Blue Badge scheme, many do not contain a voter’s address. An address will not need to be included on identification in order to vote. In addition, expired photographic identification will be accepted as long as the photograph is of a good enough likeness to allow polling station staff to confirm the identity of the holder.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the renovations and refurbishment of the Downing Street flat, how much of the £30,000 annual public grants allocated by his Department for that purpose has been spent.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer by my noble friend, Lord True (Minister of State at the Cabinet Office), to PQHL14191 on 23 April 2021.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 18 May 2021 to Question 3021, who was the private supplier responsible for the works funded personally by the Prime Minister.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
Works funded personally by the Prime Minister were contracted privately; there has been no cost to taxpayers.
Under successive administrations, it has been the case that spending funded personally by the incumbent Prime Minister is a private matter.
In the same way, MPs’ expenses which are funded by taxpayers are made public and rightly subject to public scrutiny; however, how Hon. Members spend their earned income is a private matter for them.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, who the suppliers were for the most recent refurbishment and renovation of the Prime Minister's residence in Downing Street; and what the criteria were for selecting those suppliers.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
Works funded by the Cabinet Office have been undertaken by Mitie. Mitie has a framework agreement with the Cabinet Office for works on the Downing Street estate.
Works funded personally by the Prime Minister were contracted privately.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much (a) public and (b) private money has been spent on renovation and refurbishment of the Downing Street flats since the Prime Minister took up office in July 2019.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer by my noble friend, Lord True (Minister of State at the Cabinet Office), of PQ HL14191, on 23 April 2021.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much (a) funding from the public purse and (b) private funding has been spent on renovations and refurbishment of the Downing Street flat since Boris Johnson became Prime Minister in July 2019.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer by my noble friend, Lord True (Minister of State at the Cabinet Office), of PQ HL14191, on 23 April 2021.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what renovations and refurbishments have been made to the Downing Street flat since Boris Johnson became Prime Minister in July 2019.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer by my noble friend, Lord True (Minister of State at the Cabinet Office), of PQ HL14191, on 23 April 2021.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Wyre)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, if his Department will publish the full cost of the photographic identification research carried out by IFF Research published on 31 March 2021.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
As legislation is brought forward to enable the national roll out of voter identification, appropriate impact assessments, which include information on costs, will be provided for Parliament in the normal way.
Showing identification to prove who they are is something people of all walks of life already do everyday. It is a reasonable and proportionate approach to extend this practice to voting and give the public confidence that their vote is theirs, and theirs alone.