Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an estimate of the number of documents relating to the 1984-85 Miners Strike that have not been published.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The Cabinet Office does not hold a register of retained documents. Collecting this data would require physical examination of many files and would exceed the cost threshold.
In accordance with the requirements of the Public Records Act 1958, most Cabinet Office records of the 1984-85 miners’ strike have been transferred to The National Archives and are open to the public.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 30 January 2023 to Question 135209 Government Departments: Advertising, what percentage of the Government’s advertising budget is spent with local news media.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
I refer the Hon. member to the answer given to PQ 133739 on 3 February 2023.
Additionally, we recognise the enormous trust that the public have in local media and the important role that local media therefore play in spreading our messages. As well as local and regional advertising, Government campaigns also make use of a full range of low and no cost channels in order to reach local communities.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he is taking steps to increase Government advertising spending with domestic based local news media compared to multinational tech companies.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The channels selected for government paid marketing campaigns are driven by the target audience. Local media channels such as print and radio are often used in campaigns to help reach particular audiences in a specific region. No matter the form of communication, we constantly and regularly evaluate the effectiveness of our campaigns, including the role local media plays, to ensure that we reach the right audience in the most efficient way.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when the Government plans to make interim compensation payments to (a) the estates of people who have died and (b) people whose children or parents have died as a result of infected blood products.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
I refer the hon Member to the statement I made in the House on 15 December where I announced that the moral case for compensation was formally accepted. I also set out the work being carried out across government in consideration of the compensation framework study - which included specific reference to those groups who were not able to claim interim compensation.
This work is intended to ensure that the Government is prepared to act swiftly in response to Sir Brian Langstaff’s final report when it is delivered.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 8 December 2022 to Question 902659 on Prison officers: retirement, and to the Answer of 19 December 2022 to Question 110664 on Cabinet Office: Transfer of Questions, which Department leads on Government policy relating to prison officer pension age.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
HM Treasury leads on all public sector pension scheme policy making and sets clear parameters within which pension scheme rules must be set, including the pension age for public servants.
The Cabinet Office is responsible for making the Civil Service pension scheme regulations. This pension scheme covers the overwhelming majority of civil servants in active service, including prison officers, and must be delivered within the wider HM Treasury policies.
Finally, the Ministry of Justice leads on local policy relating to prison officer terms and conditions. It may consider utilising employment, retirement and pension flexibilities for particular groups, if affordable and as they deem appropriate.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, for , what the value of contracts awarded to Surgo was in each of the last five years.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
Details of Government contracts above £10,000, and £25,000 in the wider public sector, are published on Contracts Finder: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Search
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 8 December 2022 to Question 902659 on Prison officers: retirement, for what reasons this question was transferred from the Cabinet Office to the Ministry of Justice.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The Terms and Conditions of Prison Officers, including any proposals to change their retirement provisions, are matters on which the Ministry of Justice lead.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he is taking steps to require Government departments to (a) undertake equality impact assessments in relation to proposals to reduce staff and possibly services as part of the plan to reduce the Civil Service by 91,000 posts and (b) consult unions as part the process of drafting those assessments.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
Departments have been asked to consider the key equalities impacts when setting out their initial scenario plans for workforce reductions, which will include departments completing equality impact assessments, should proposals be agreed following a robust assessment. Civil Service bodies in developing their plans were also reminded that early and continuing trade union engagement should be taking place. Alongside that, Civil Service HR will continue to update unions at the national level.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will take steps to ensure that the private security firm, Definitive PSA, contracted by P&O Ferries to remove UK seafarers from ferries docked in the UK on 17 March 2022 does not benefit from publicly funded contracts.
Answered by Jacob Rees-Mogg
The grounds for exclusion of bidders from public procurement procedures are set out in the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, and allows for the exclusion of suppliers from bidding for procurements where they have been convicted of, or there is evidence of, bribery, fraud, money laundering and tax evasion.
Procurement Policy Note 04/21 provided supplementary guidance in relation to applying exclusions and managing conflicts of interest. It is for individual contracting authorities to consider whether suppliers must or may be excluded from each procurement.
The Procurement Bill, introduced to Parliament on 11 May, broadens and strengthens the exclusion grounds. We are increasing the time period within which misconduct can lead to exclusion from 3 years to 5; bringing subsidiary companies into scope of exclusion; and making the rules clearer so that contracting authorities can undertake exclusions with more confidence.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister of the Cabinet Office, how many energy rebate applications a local authority is able to submit to the Government's verification tool each day.
Answered by Jacob Rees-Mogg
The Government has not placed any restrictions or limits to the number of energy rebate applications that may be submitted for bank verification.
The Government’s due diligence risking tool has no limit to the number of applications councils are able to check per day.