Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the objective of the Government Consulting Hub to grow the Civil Service’s internal capability, how many officials have participated in civil service learning programmes for the purposes of equipping them with the skills to deliver work commonly undertaken by consultants.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The Government Consultancy Hub (GCH) ran from May 2021 to 31 January 2023. One of the unit’s goals was to grow the Civil Service’s internal capability and confidence to frame and/or address its strategic questions, to be a strong customer of consultancy, and to redeploy knowledge and experience.
Since May 2021 until September there have been a total of:
- 36 cohorts, with 576 places, of the GCH sponsored Core Consulting Skills programme
- 3 cohorts, with 48 places, of the contextualised IPA Core Consulting Skills programme.
- 15 people completed a Senior Leaders Consulting Skills programme.
In addition, 18 people in DWP completed Leadership Capability team development – core capability developments on how to consult and identify needs.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how often action has been taken against third parties under the National Security and Investment Act 2021 in the last two years.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
The Government has powers under the National Security and Investment Act 2021 (NSIA) to scrutinise and, where necessary, intervene in acquisitions of control over entities and assets in or linked to the UK that may pose national security risks. We will not hesitate to use our powers to protect national security where we identify concerns.
The National Security and Investment Act Annual Report 2022-23 shows that in the period April 2022- March 2023, 65 cases were called in for scrutiny and 15 final orders were made. 2 final orders have been made since March 2023.
The 2022 Annual Report, covering January 2022 to March 2022, shows that over that time period 17 acquisitions were called in for scrutiny and no final orders were made.
In both reporting periods, no penalties were issued, and no criminal penalties were sought.
Figures for the financial year 2023-24 will be published in the next Annual Report.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when his Department last updated guidelines on the use of social media by civil servants.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
At the end of August 2023, GCS published a new guide for communicators working in the digital discipline, which includes specific references to appropriate and ethical use of social media channels: https://gcs.civilservice.gov.uk/guidance/digital-communication/#propriety.
All of this guidance complements the Civil Service code, which lays out the behaviours expected of civil servants, available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-code/the-civil-service-code.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the £20 million for veterans’ housing announced in the Spring Budget 2023, what funding has been allocated for veterans' housing in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Johnny Mercer
The £20 million Veteran Housing Capital Grant Programme is designed to contribute to the Government's commitment of ending veteran homelessness across the UK, by ensuring veterans have access to good quality, affordable accommodation that meets their needs.
Applications for funding will be open to housing organisations supporting veterans from across the four nations, including Northern Ireland, and we expect the initial £2 million grant to be open for applications later this year.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, on how many occasions his Department has exercised powers under the Enterprise Act 2002 to intervene in transactions which raised national security concerns in each of the last three years.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
Between July 2020 and January 2022, the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has issued Public Interest Intervention Notices under the Enterprise Act 2002, on national security grounds, in relation to the following acquisitions:
the proposed acquisition of Ultra Electronics Holdings plc by Cobham Ultra Acquisitions Limited;
the proposed acquisition of The Perpetuus Group by Taurus International Ltd and others; and
the proposed acquisition of Meggitt plc by Parker-Hannifin corporation
In addition, the then Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport used the same powers in relation to the proposed acquisition of Arm by NVIDIA in April 2021.
Since 4 January 2022, the Government has had powers under the National Security and Investment (NSI) Act 2021 to scrutinise and, where necessary, intervene in acquisitions which may raise national security concerns. These powers replaced the national security limb of public interest intervention powers under the Enterprise Act 2002. In February 2023, responsibility for NSI moved from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to the Cabinet Office, under the Deputy Prime Minister.
The Government promised to deliver a regime that is as business-friendly as possible while protecting our national security. The National Security & Investment Act Annual Report demonstrates that we are succeeding in that mission.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when the most recent meeting of the Border and Protocol Delivery Group took place; and where that meeting took place.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The Borders Group, formerly known as the Border and Protocol Delivery Group, is a group of teams within the Cabinet Office, rather than a standing body. It is responsible for coordinating the Government's approach to the border, both in relation to our leaving the EU and in developing our longer term strategy for the most effective border in the world. As a result these teams work together on an ongoing basis.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many calls were made to the COVID Fraud Hotline 0800 587 5030 since October 2020; how many cases were forwarded for consideration for prosecutions; and how many convictions were obtained.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
4772 calls were made to the COVID Fraud Hotline between its launch in October 2020 and its closure on 30 September 2022. Of these, 4300 were disseminated to the relevant department or organisation for investigation. The remainder are being processed and will be disseminated before March 2023.
Investigations take time to get to the stage where the Crown Prosecution Service can consider prosecution, and further time to go through the court system to secure convictions. Our Hotline intelligence is forwarded to the relevant department/agency for consideration for investigation, with the decision to investigate sitting with the relevant department/agency. The department/agency then submits cases for consideration for prosecution, with the decision being taken by the CPS in most cases.
The value of intelligence is not only for progressing prosecutions - the sharing of intelligence with the BBL accredited lenders has led to interventions and recoveries by the lenders. In addition, the Hotline intelligence has helped government to better understand the threat across Government and significantly contributed to media campaigns by providing guidance to the general public.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Prime Minister, with reference to his oral Answer to the Question from the hon. Member for Foyle, at Prime Minister's Questions on 30 November 2022, Official Report, on BBC Radio Foyle, when he plans to meet the BBC.
Answered by Rishi Sunak
I met the Director–General of the BBC, on 1 December 2022. I raised the proposed changes to Radio Foyle.
While the BBC is editorially and operationally independent and it is for it to decide how to deliver its services and meet the BBC’s Charter responsibilities, we expect the BBC to consider the views of stakeholders when it makes the decision over whether to proceed with these plans.