Asked by: Florence Eshalomi (Labour (Co-op) - Vauxhall)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he plans to introduce a voluntary exit programme for civil servants in his Department.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has no current plans to introduce a department-wide voluntary exit programme for civil servants. However, this does not preclude individual business areas within MOD from applying to the Cabinet Office to run voluntary exit programmes to deliver workforce efficiencies.
Asked by: Florence Eshalomi (Labour (Co-op) - Vauxhall)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what payments were made to civil servants in his Department for relocation costs to government offices outside London in 2021.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
It is taking time to collate the required information to answer the hon. Member’s Question. I will write to her when the information is available, and a copy of this letter will be placed in the Library of The House.
Asked by: Florence Eshalomi (Labour (Co-op) - Vauxhall)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 18 October 2022 to Question 61147, how many civil servants are employed in his Department on overseeing the storage of Personal Protective Equipment specific to the threat of covid-19.
Answered by Sarah Atherton
All Ministry of Defence (MOD) PPE, for whatever purpose, is stored and managed by the MOD’s delivery partner Team Leidos. It is considered a commodity with a shelf-life and as such is managed and maintained within the Logistic Commodities and Services Transformation (LCST) programme, as such there are no civil servants directly responsible for its receipt, storage and issue. There are however civil servants working in the Commissioning and Managing Organisation (CMO) within the DE&S that oversee the entirety of the contractual Key Performance Indicators for LCST.
Asked by: Florence Eshalomi (Labour (Co-op) - Vauxhall)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many staff in his Department are managing ministerial social media accounts as either (a) their primary responsibility or (b) as part of their role.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
Ministers' social media accounts are primarily personal accounts, and will include political or constituency content created by Ministers themselves or their parliamentary offices and political advisers. It is often appropriate however, for content relating to Government policies, guidance and announcements to be posted from these accounts - this includes ministerial statements, content from official visits or government announcements.
Where this is the case, content can be created by civil servants where this helps to inform and explain to the public about the policies overseen by a minister or highlights their work as a government Minister, rather than in any political role.
In addition to the Civil Service Code, the Government Communications Service offers propriety in digital and social media guidance and is available to discuss questions relating to social media when working with ministers.
Asked by: Florence Eshalomi (Labour (Co-op) - Vauxhall)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what private companies are currently contracted to provide security services at his Department’s buildings that contain Ministerial private offices; and whether there are closed circuit television cameras in any Ministerial private office within his Departmental estate.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
Security equipment installed and maintained at MOD Main Building which contains Ministerial private offices is provided through PFI contractor MODUS. Operation of the security equipment at MOD Main Building is not carried out by external companies. There are no closed-circuit television cameras in any Ministerial private office.
Asked by: Florence Eshalomi (Labour (Co-op) - Vauxhall)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what declarations of interests have been made by his Department’s non-executive directors; and where those interests are published.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
Non-executive directors comply with the provisions of the Cabinet Office's Code of Conduct for Board Members of Public Bodies.
Board members are required to submit any declarable interests annually; this information forms part of the independent National Audit Office review ahead of the publication of Departmental annual report and accounts.
Information on any relevant interests will be published in the Department annual report and accounts, which are available on gov.uk.
Asked by: Florence Eshalomi (Labour (Co-op) - Vauxhall)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what financial payments his Department makes to its non-executive directors; how many times his departmental Board will meet in 2021-22; and what work the non-executive directors undertake.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
This information is published in the Department's annual report and accounts, available on gov.uk.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ministry-of-defence-annual-report-and-accounts-2019-to-2020
The Department's report and accounts for 2021-22 will be published in due course, in the usual way.
Departmental boards provide strategic leadership for each central Government department, as well as advising on/challenging how the department is performing. Each board is chaired by the Secretary of State and includes junior Ministers, the Permanent Secretary and non-executive board members. Non-executives are appointed to Government departments from the public, private and voluntary sectors.
Their role is to provide advice and bring an external perspective.
A summary of the work of non-executive directors across Government can be found in the Government Lead Non-Executive's annual report, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-lead-non-executives-annual-report-2019-to-2020
Asked by: Florence Eshalomi (Labour (Co-op) - Vauxhall)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many freedom of information requests has his Department referred to the central Cabinet Office Clearing House for advice on handling in each year since 2016.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The Ministry of Defence has referred requests to the Cabinet Office 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