Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether a health and safety committee will be formed for any building shared by two or more Departments, where a request has been made under Regulation 9 of the Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations 1977 by two safety representatives.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Government Departments are committed to meeting their obligations under legislation, and work together to put appropriate arrangements in place where buildings are shared.
Where multiple departments occupy a building, arrangements can be managed at the appropriate Building Committee or User Group, which can include attendance of Trade Unions. Issues identified in these fora are then escalated as appropriate to each department’s own Health & Safety Committee.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what systems are in place to monitor and record veteran suicide rates.
Answered by Johnny Mercer - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Minister for Veterans' Affairs)
Data about suicide rates amongst the general polulation across England and Wales are reported by the Office for National Statistics using information provided to registrars by coroners in their records of inquest. Historically, governments have relied on specific studies relating to the cause of death, including suicide, amongst veterans’ cohorts from specific campaigns, for example the Falklands campaign and the 1990/91 Gulf conflict.
In order to ensure that the Government has the most up-to-date understanding of the prevalence of suicide in the Armed Forces community, two further studies are being conducted. The first is documenting all causes of death, including suicide, amongst those who have served in the Armed Forces since 2001. This study will continue on an ongoing basis to provide real-time data about causes of death, including suicide, in the Armed Forces community. A second study is looking at the factors in the year leading up to any confirmed suicide in the Armed Forces community in the last five years.
Whilst these studies will provide updated and improved data about the prevalence of suicide in the veteran community, the importance of this issue means that the Government is committed to exploring other routes, including a potential role for coroners, by which suicide amongst the veteran community could be recorded accurately and consistently so as to help inform improved support and interventions aimed at preventing suicide.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many workers employed on outsourced Government contracts as facilities management staff have died due to suspected covid-19 by (a) ethnicity, (b) job role and (c) employer.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The Cabinet Office does not hold this information.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the increase in the National Living Wage announced by the Government on 31 December 2019, what discussions he is having with private sector companies undertaking facility management work for his Department to ensure that the cost of wage increases for their employees are not passed on to his Department.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The Government Property Agency holds contracts on behalf of the Cabinet Office. They continue to have regular discussions with facility management contractors.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has adequate funds to pay the increase in the National Living Wage announced by the Government on 31 December 2019.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
Cabinet Office does have adequate funds to pay the increase in the National Living Wage, announced by the Government on 31 December 2019.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many and what proportion of staff in his Department would receive an increase in their salary in the event that their hourly pay rate was (a) £8.72 (b) £9.30 (c) £10.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The National Living Wage is currently £8.21 per hour, set with effect from 1 April 2019.
Cabinet Office is compliant with this rate.
The Government announced on 31 December 2019 that the new National Living Wage, effective from 6 April, will be £8.72 per hour.
The table below sets out the number and proportion of staff in my Department, at 31 December 2019, who would receive an increase in their Annual Salary if their hourly pay rate was increased to the rates shown:
Proposed Pay Rate | £8.72 | £9.30 | £10.00 |
No of Staff pay Increases | 86 | 162 | 189 |
% of Workforce | 1.2% | 2.2% | 2.5% |
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, on what dates the online register to vote service has been offline as a result of scheduled maintenance; and for how many hours it was offline on each of those days in October 2019.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The Register to Vote website has undertaken two essential maintenance windows so far in October 2019. The service was offline from 8:30am to 10:30am on Friday 4th October and Friday 25th October. This maintenance is essential to ensure the service remains secure and fit for purpose.
We are always looking for improvements to the service including reducing the downtime required for maintenance work.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, on what dates the online register to vote service has been offline as a result of (a) non-scheduled maintenance and (b) non-maintenance issues; and for how many hours it was offline on each of those days in October 2019.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The Register to Vote website has had no downtime so far in October 2019 as a result of non-scheduled maintenance or non-maintenance issues.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will extend the Freedom of Information Act to include (a) tenants management organisations and (b) housing associations.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Government agrees that landlords, including housing associations, should be accountable and transparent in their dealings with tenants and be responsive to their needs. The extension of the FOI to housing associations is, however, not considered the best means of achieving that.
Housing Associations are already required to make a significant amount of information public. They are required to publish their accounts annually, including a strategic report covering issues such as the remunerations of key personnel.
The Regulator of Social Housing, which regulates the sector, also publishes information supplied by Housing Association at individual provider level, including details of their stock holdings, rent levels and evictions.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the healthy life expectancy is for people living in (a) Easington constituency, (b) County Durham and (c) England.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.