Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 19 December 2022 to Question 107078 on Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Electronic Purchasing Card Solution, how many purchases with a value less than £500 were made against her Department’s budget through a Government procurement card in 2021.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
In accordance with the Answer of 19 December 2022 to Question 107078, the Department made 572 transactions for the purchase of goods and services with a value less than £500, using a Government Procurement Card.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to her Department’s publication of spending over £500 with an electronic purchasing card for May 2022, for the accommodation of which individuals was £1,193.42 paid to the Hilton Back Bay Boston on 19 May 2022, and what was the purpose of that visit.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
In May 2022, officials from the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation (CDEI) were invited to speak at the Privacy-Enhancing Technology Summit in Boston, USA. The purpose of the trip was to support the CDEI's work programme on Responsible Data Access, including the delivery of the UK-US Privacy-Enhancing Technologies prize challenges. In line with departmental policy, value for money was assessed prior to confirming the visit and the Government Procurement Card was utilised to accommodate individuals during an official visit.
In accordance with the Data Protection Act, the Department will not disclose the names of the individual officials.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to her Department’s publication of spending over £500 with an electronic purchasing card for September 2022, what item her Department purchased from Click Netherfield Ltd. on 1 September 2021, and for what purpose that item is used by her Department.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
In September 2021, the Department hired a glass vitrine to display a ceramic cockerel in the Scottish Parliament building during the Edinburgh International Culture Summit. The ceramic was a gift from Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Boris Johnson during a visit to Ukraine.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what their Department spent in 2021 on purchasing goods and services with a value of less than £500 on a government procurement card.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The Department utilises Government Procurement Cards to purchase low-value goods and services as an efficient method of payment. In 2021, the Department spent £67,757.40 on goods and services, with a value of less than £500, using a Government Procurement Card. The majority of purchases using a Government Procurement Card, based on the total value of spend, are above £500 and published to GOV.UK on a monthly basis as part of the Department’s commitment to transparency.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to her Department’s publication of spending over £500 with an electronic purchasing card, for the accommodation of which individuals was (a) £1,688.99 paid to Meruorah Komodo on 8 July 2022, and (b) £3,426.84 paid to TheMulia.Com on 24-25 August 2022; and what was the purpose of each of those visits.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The Department represents the UK in delivering its international digital and technology objectives within a number of multilateral forums.
As part of the Indonesian G20 Presidency, Department officials attended the third and fourth Digital Economy Working Group in July and August 2022. G20 venues were designated by the Indonesian G20 Presidency for all Digital Economy Working Group meetings and the Ministerial Meeting - with the expectation that all delegations stayed in the same hotel where the G20 meetings took place. The purpose of this spend was therefore to pay for the accommodation of officials negotiating on behalf of the UK during the third G20 Digital Economy Working Group meetings in July 2022 and the fourth G20 Digital Economy Working Group meeting in August 2022, leading into the G20 Digital Ministerial.
In accordance with the Data Protection Act, the Department will not disclose the names of the individual officials.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to her Department’s publication of electronic purchasing card spending over £500 for April 2021 to March 2022, what items or services were purchased from Coywood Computers for £1,478.99 on 10 February 2022; and or what reason that purchase was made using the Klarna payment service.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
In February 2022, the Department sourced 50 x HP laptop chargers from Coywood Computers for the IT service desk. The stock was required to replenish business as usual (BAU) stock to support the business with increased demand for temporary/loan chargers, whilst working in the office, and replacements for faulty chargers.
The online retailer was selected based on stock availability, at a time when technology demands were significantly higher in the Department and our regular supply chain faced long lead-times for sourcing products.
The purchase was made directly through the retailer's website and the goods were fully paid at the point of purchase, with no additional transaction fees.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what was the total value of non-cash vouchers awarded to staff working for his Department as performance-related bonuses in (a) 2017-18, (b) 2018-19, (c) 2019-20, (d) 2020-21 and (e) 2021-22.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The total spend on non-cash reward vouchers has been obtained from departmental records and is as follows. This includes administration costs, which cannot be separated from the voucher values within time and cost limits.
2017-18 - £4,011
2018/19 - £4,826
2019/20 - £11,521
2020/21 - £9,772
2021-22 - £85,975
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 9 November to Question 77342 on Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Redundancy Pay, how many special advisers working in her Department had their employment terminated, after their appointing minister ceased to hold office, from 29 June to 9 November 2022; at what pay band each was employed; and whether each had been in post for (a) 0-3 months, (b) 3-6 months, (c) 6-12 months or (d) more than 12 months.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
In line with the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 and the Model Contract for Special Advisers, a Special Adviser's appointment automatically terminates following a change of Administration; when their appointing Minister leaves office; or in the event of a General Election. Under these circumstances, Special Advisers are contractually entitled to a severance payment.
The contract sets out that Special Advisers who are later re-appointed to Government must repay their severance pay, less the amount of salary that they would have been paid had they been employed during the period between their termination and their re-appointment.
The contracts of all Special Advisers in DCMS were automatically terminated on the change of Administration. The contract also sets out that Special Advisers are entitled to receive three months’ pay if termination occurs at any time during the first year of service, with an additional month’s pay for each completed year of service after the first year, subject to an overall maximum of six months’ pay. Where individuals were immediately re-appointed, severance was not payable.
Information on Special Adviser numbers and costs, including pay bands, is published annually in the Annual Report on Special Advisers as per the requirements of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much money her Department has spent on (a) staff activity, (b) external research and advice, (c) public consultation and (d) stakeholder engagement related to the proposed privatisation of Channel 4 since the start of the 2021-22 financial year.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
In the 2021-22 financial year, the department's costs for policy development related to Channel 4, including staff activity, external research and advice, public consultation and stakeholder engagement, were approximately £600,000. For the 2022-2023 financial year to date, these activities are estimated to have costs of £1.4 million.
This work has supported the development of options to help address the challenges that Channel 4 is facing to its long term success and sustainability. The Secretary of State has said that she is reviewing the business case for a sale of Channel 4 and will set out more detail in due course.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what total amount of money has been paid out by her Department in severance payments for former (a) Ministers and (b) special advisers since 29 June 2022; how much of that money has subsequently been repaid to her Department as a result of individuals (A) rejecting the payment or (B) returning to new roles; and in how many cases where individuals were in post for (I) 0-3 months, (II) 3-6 months, (III) 6-12 months and (IV) more than 12 months has their full severance payment been retained as of 2 November 2022.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The provision of severance payments for Ministers is set out in legislation. Details of the severance payments made to Ministers when leaving office are published in departments’ annual reports and accounts.
Similarly, the provision of severance payments for special advisers is set out in the Model Contract, which is available on GOV.UK, including provisions for repayment of severance if reappointed. The cost of severance payments made to special advisers across government is published annually by the Cabinet Office.