Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what assessment he has made of his Department's compliance with section 3.1.8 of the Civil Service Management Code.
Answered by Julian Smith
While my Department does not currently have any Trade Union representatives, all staff are employed under the terms and conditions of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and staff have access to the services of Trade Unions in the MoJ. My Department is aware that it has an obligation to provide reasonable paid time off to recognised trade union representatives to undertake trade union duties. This includes paid time off to Health and Safety representatives as set out in section 3.1.8 of the Civil Service Management Code.
The MoJ, in line with the legislative obligation set out in the Trade Union Act (2016), annually publishes information relating to facility time for relevant union officials. Facility time is defined by the Act as including time off taken by a relevant union official that is permitted by the official’s employer, including under “regulations made under section 2(4) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974”.
The Government recognises there are significant benefits to both employers and employees when organisations and unions work together effectively to deliver high quality public services, but facility time within the public sector must be accountable and represent value for money.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what estimate she has made of the additional staff required by her Department in the event that the UK leaves the EU (a) with and (b) without a deal.
Answered by John Penrose
EU exit affects a number of work areas across the Department and will therefore encompass a proportion of workload for many staff, the amount of which will vary over time. The Department has restructured its approach to the way it handles EU exit work, moving from an initial central EU exit co-ordinating team of 7 to the current position where EU exit work is distributed widely across the whole department. Many of the same staff spend a proportion of their time preparing for leaving the EU (a) with and (b) without a deal. Those proportions vary continuously over time. As such it is difficult to quantify the number of staff working on preparing for the UK to leave the EU under any one possible scenario.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many staff were employed in her Department on (a) 20 December 2018 and (b) 23 June 2016.
Answered by Karen Bradley
On 20 December 2018, there were 165 staff working in my Department. In July 2016, (the nearest date we have for June staff numbers), there were 115 staff working in my department.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what estimate she has made of the (a) number and (b) proportion of staff employed by her Department in receipt of universal credit; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Shailesh Vara
The Northern Ireland Office does not record or collate information on staff in receipt of Universal Credit.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many equality impact assessments have been carried out in the last three years on public service reforms which impact on (a) departmental staff and (b) members of the public; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
The Northern Ireland Office considers equality issues in exercising its functions, to comply with all relevant equality legislation and to ensure it understands how its activities will affect different people. Although there is no legal requirement to publish equality impact assessments under the public sector equality duty at Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, the Department must also comply with the requirements of Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998.
In accordance with Schedule 9 4.(2)(d) of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, the Department is required to publish details of all policy screenings or Equality Impact Assessments (EQIAs) on a six monthly basis and include a summary of all screening reports and EQIAs in its Section 75 Annual Progress Report. The latest reports can be found on the Northern Ireland Office website at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications?departments%5B%5D=northern-ireland-office&page=2
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what meetings (a) Ministers and (b) officials in her Department have had with representatives of (i) the Taxpayers' Alliance, (ii) the Confederation of British Industry, (iii) the Institute of Economic Affairs, (iv) the Adam Smith Institute, (v) the Freedom Association, (vi) the Politics and Economics Research Trust and (vii) the Midlands Industrial Council in the last 12 months.
Answered by Ben Wallace
Details of Ministers' and Permanent Secretaries meetings with external organisations are published up to 31 March 2015 and can be accessed on Gov.uk at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ministers-transparency-publications.
Further publications of Ministerial and Permanent Secretaries meetings will be published in due course.