Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department's data entitled Cabinet Office ministerial overseas travel, July to September 2023, published on 21 March 2024, how much of the £28,700 costs incurred by the Deputy Prime Minister for his visit to New York from 19 to 23 September 2023 were attributable to his share of the £192,198 costs of the RAF flight used for that visit.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The total cost of the RAF flight used for the journey to New York on 19 September 2023 includes the costs arising from the movement of military personnel.
Costs for the full trip were outlined in the ministerial travel data entitled Cabinet Office ministerial overseas travel, July to September 2023, published on 21 March 2024.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department's data entitled Cabinet Office ministerial overseas travel, July to September 2023, published on 21 March 2024, whether the £192,198 cost of the RAF flight used for the journey to New York on 19 September 2023 includes the costs arising from the movement of military personnel between the UK and the USA on that flight.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The total cost of the RAF flight used for the journey to New York on 19 September 2023 includes the costs arising from the movement of military personnel.
Costs for the full trip were outlined in the ministerial travel data entitled Cabinet Office ministerial overseas travel, July to September 2023, published on 21 March 2024.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department's report entitled Evaluation Task Force Output and Outcome Indicators (March 2024), published on 22 March 2024, how many and what proportion of Evaluation Accelerator Fund projects were rated (a) amber and (b) red as of 1 March 2024.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Evaluation Task Force (ETF) committed to publicly report on a series of output and outcome indicators in response to recommendations featured in the ‘Evaluating Government Spending’ NAO report in 2022 and the Public Accounts Committee’s recommendation for the ETF to establish quantifiable metrics on the scale and quality of evaluation across government. The indicators are not wholly controlled or ‘owned’ by the ETF. Driving progress towards the targets outlined in the ETF strategy are dependent on cross-government partners working together to build an improved evaluation ecosystem which creates more and higher quality evaluation in government.
All information related to the proportion of projects rated Red, Amber, Green across Evaluation Accelerator Fund and ETF priority projects are included in the Technical Annex published alongside the main output and outcome indicator report. This can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/evaluation-task-force-output-and-outcome-indicators-march-2024
For completeness, the table below outlines the number and proportion of projects that were rated Red, Amber, Green across both indicators related to this PQ. Please note these figures have been recently updated and are now included on the ETF website.
| Project RAG ratings (number and proportion) | ||
Indicator | GREEN | AMBER | RED |
1.4 Proportion of Evaluation Accelerator Fund projects on track (RAG rated 'Green') | 11 (58%) | 6 (32%) | 2 (10%) |
1.6 Proportion of ETF priority projects with robust evaluation plans (cumulative) | 13 (62%) | 7 (33%) | 1 (5%) |
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 12 January to Question 7525, for what reason the finalised costs for the Deputy Prime Minister’s visit to the United States from 19 to 23 September have not yet been confirmed; and when he plans to publish the data.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Costs for the Deputy Prime Minister’s visit to the United States to lead the UK delegation to the UN General Assembly from 19 to 23 September are in the final stages of validation and will be published shortly.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 25 January to Question 8377 on Peter Bone, whether the severance payments incorrectly paid to (a) Mr Peter Bone, (b) Ms Nadine Dorries, (c) the Rt hon. Member for Bexleyheath and Crayford, (d) the hon. Member for Erewash and (e) the former Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in the Lords, have been recovered.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
We have previously set out that in any case where a former minister has been paid severance incorrectly, the relevant department will seek to recover the payment. It would not be appropriate to comment further on individual cases.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to your Department's publication entitled Rt Hon Liz Truss MP and Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP overseas travel, October to December 2022, updated 30 March 2023, what the cost was of the accommodation used by the Prime Minister on his visit to Indonesia between 13 and 17 November 2022.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Government publishes details on gov.uk of the total cost of overseas Ministerial travel, including costs of travel, and on other costs (visas, accommodation, meals).
But as has been the case under successive administrations, the Government does not publish granular detail on Ministers’ travel at home or abroad, nor details of those accompanying them.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Cabinet Office Ministerial Overseas Travel Transparency data, what the cost was of the (a) plane tickets and (b) accommodation used by the former President for COP26 on his visits to Indonesia between (i) 15 and 17 February 2022 and (ii) 30 August and 1 September 2022.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Government publishes on gov.uk details of the total cost of overseas Ministerial travel, including costs of travel, and on other costs (visas, accommodation, meals).
But as has been the case under successive administrations, the Government does not publish granular detail on Ministers’ travel at home or abroad, nor details of those accompanying them.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the severance payments for former ministers published on Page 132 of HM Treasury's Annual Report and Accounts for 2022/23, published on 20 July 2023, for what reason the former Lord Commissioner of the Treasury, the Rt hon. Member for Bexleyheath and Crayford, was awarded a payment on 26 October 2022, in the context of his age at the date he ceased to hold office.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
I thank the Rt Hon Member for bringing this to my attention. The Ministerial and other Pensions and Salaries Act 1991 sets out the entitlement for Ministers who leave office.
Such payments should not apply where a person has attained the age of sixty-five. If a former Minister was incorrectly given a severance payment, the relevant department will contact the individual to recover the over-payment.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to page 194 of his Department's Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23, published on 4 July 2023, for what reason the former Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in the Lords was awarded a severance payment on 31 December 2022 in the context of her age at the date she ceased to hold office.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
I thank the Rt Hon Member for bringing this to my attention. The Ministerial and other Pensions and Salaries Act 1991 sets out the entitlement for Ministers who leave office.
Such payments should not apply where a person has attained the age of sixty-five. If a former Minister was incorrectly given a severance payment, the relevant department will contact the individual to recover the over-payment.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, for what reason the former Deputy Leader of the House of Commons was awarded a payment on 27 September 2022, in the context of his age at the date he ceased to hold office.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
I thank the Rt Hon Member for bringing this to my attention. The Ministerial and other Pensions and Salaries Act 1991 sets out the entitlement for Ministers who leave office.
Such payments should not apply where a person has attained the age of sixty-five. If a former Minister was incorrectly given a severance payment, the relevant department will contact the individual to recover the over-payment.