Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many Grenfell Tower fire survivors and families have received legal representation funded by the Government; and how much has been set aside to fund the legal representation of those affected by the Grenfell Tower fire.
Answered by Oliver Dowden
Funding for legal representation for those affected by the Grenfell Tower fire is a matter for the independent Grenfell Tower Inquiry, to be decided in line with the Inquiries Act 2005, the Inquiry Rules 2006, the Inquiry’s costs protocol (‘Protocol Relating to Legal Representation at Public Expense’) and the Prime Minister’s determination on funding.
Paragraph 6 of the Inquiry’s costs protocol confirms that the Prime Minister has determined that the survivors and their families, the bereaved families and local residents affected by the tragic events at Grenfell Tower will automatically meet the requirements of the Inquiry Rules in respect of financial resources. A copy of the protocol can be found on the Inquiry’s website.
The Inquiry will publish details of its expenditure after the end of the financial year.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to address the disparities and inequalities revealed by the race disparity audit, published on 10 October 2017.
Answered by David Lidington
Following the publication of the Race Disparity Audit’s Ethnicity facts and figures website on 10th October, the Prime Minister reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to tackle the disparities identified by the Audit.
The Government has already launched an initial programme of work to tackle some of the disparities. This includes the Department for Work and Pensions taking action to improve ethnic minority employment rates in twenty targeted areas, action by the Ministry of Justice to implement recommendations made in the recent Lammy Review and the Department for Education taking forward an external review to improve practice in exclusions. Further announcements on future Government work will be made in due course.
Tackling these disparities involve not just Government but local public services, the voluntary sector and businesses. The Government has made a commitment that it will “explain or change” key ethnic disparities identified by the Audit. Where significant disparities between ethnic groups cannot be explained by wider factors, the Government will work with
partners to change them.
The Race Disparity Unit in the Cabinet Office will be responsible for coordinating the Government’s response to the Audit. The Unit consists of 20 members of staff, including digital, data and policy professionals.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what resources he has dedicated to working on the Government's policy response to the findings of the race disparity audit, published on 10 October 2017.
Answered by David Lidington
Following the publication of the Race Disparity Audit’s Ethnicity facts and figures website on 10th October, the Prime Minister reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to tackle the disparities identified by the Audit.
The Government has already launched an initial programme of work to tackle some of the disparities. This includes the Department for Work and Pensions taking action to improve ethnic minority employment rates in twenty targeted areas, action by the Ministry of Justice to implement recommendations made in the recent Lammy Review and the Department for Education taking forward an external review to improve practice in exclusions. Further announcements on future Government work will be made in due course.
Tackling these disparities involve not just Government but local public services, the voluntary sector and businesses. The Government has made a commitment that it will “explain or change” key ethnic disparities identified by the Audit. Where significant disparities between ethnic groups cannot be explained by wider factors, the Government will work with
partners to change them.
The Race Disparity Unit in the Cabinet Office will be responsible for coordinating the Government’s response to the Audit. The Unit consists of 20 members of staff, including digital, data and policy professionals.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what plans he has to develop (a) a new strategy for resilience in major disasters and (b) a new civil disaster response taskforce.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Work is underway across Government to support local resilience to major disasters. This includes consideration of the response capabilities that could be better provided from the local and national levels when faced with major crises.
This may include strengthening existing systems, and introducing a surge capability to respond to major civil crisis as outlined in the Queen’s Speech.