Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps the Government has taken to ensure the protection of citizens’ data and privacy under the Government’s contract with Faculty.
Answered by Chloe Smith
Details of Government contracts above £10,000, including the value of those contracts, are published on Contracts Finder: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Search
All Government contracts which involve the processing of personal data, must adhere to the requirements of Procurement Policy Note – Changes to Data Protection Legislation & General Data Protection Regulation Action Note PPN 02/18.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his 12 May 2020 announcement of four new Cabinet Office non-executive board members, how many candidates (a) applied and (b) were invited to interview with Ministers; and what the criteria were for (i) the appointment of those candidates and (ii) membership of the appointment board.
Answered by Chloe Smith
Non-executive board members are appointed by the minister in charge of the relevant department, in this case the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
163 candidates applied for the role, of which eight were interviewed and four were appointed. Details of the roles, including a job description, were published on the HM Government Public Appointments and on GOV.UK.
Due diligence, including potential conflicts of interest, was carried out on each appointee. The register of interests for the new Board Members will be published shortly.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to his 12 May 2020 announcement of four new Cabinet Office non-executive board members, what assessment he made in that appointment process of candidates' potential conflicts of interest; and if he will publish the declarations of interest of those board members.
Answered by Chloe Smith
Non-executive board members are appointed by the minister in charge of the relevant department, in this case the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
163 candidates applied for the role, of which eight were interviewed and four were appointed. Details of the roles, including a job description, were published on the HM Government Public Appointments and on GOV.UK.
Due diligence, including potential conflicts of interest, was carried out on each appointee. The register of interests for the new Board Members will be published shortly.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to ensure that civil servants who are unable to work remotely during the covid-19 outbreak have (a) access to personal protective equipment where needed and (b) social distancing measures in place.
Answered by Chloe Smith
Cabinet Office is following the government and Public Health England advice on supplying PPE and social distancing - to stay alert, stay safe and save lives. The Cabinet Office is currently working with the Government Property Agency and delivery partners to plan for the gradual reoccupation of our buildings and will continue to follow the advice from PHE as it develops.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to ensure that annual pay increases for civil servants are not delayed as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Chloe Smith
Pay for civil servants below the Senior Civil Service is delegated to individual departments. The Civil Service Pay Remit Guidance sets the framework for departments to set pay. The guidance will be published soon to ensure that departments are able to make pay awards to staff following negotiations with trade unions.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate his Department has made of the amount spent from the public purse on the (a) Get Ready for Brexit campaign and (b) preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a deal since 19 October 2019.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The cost of the public information campaign will be published monthly on a rolling basis, as part of routine government transparency arrangements.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the cost to the public purse is of the get ready for Brexit advertising campaign to date.
Answered by Kevin Foster
In law the UK is set to leave the EU on 31 October 2019. “Get Ready for Brexit” is a public information campaign providing the facts citizens and businesses need to know about the preparations they need to take to be ready for when the UK leaves the EU.
The campaign is a cross-government campaign using national advertising including TV, radio, press, digital and outdoor advertising. It also includes direct engagement and local elements including business preparedness events, ministerial visits and local authority activity.
The cost of the public information campaign will be published monthly on a rolling basis, as part of routine government transparency arrangements.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate his Department has made of the proportion of EU citizens living in the UK who are not registered to vote in the upcoming European Parliament elections.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Cabinet Office does not hold information on the numbers of eligible electors nor
information on the number of European nationals resident in the UK who do or do not
register to vote in European Parliamentary elections
Estimates of the number of eligible people on the registers for electoral events are
published by the Electoral Commission following each poll, but do not include a breakdown
of the numbers of EU citizens eligible to vote. These reports are available online at:
www.electoralcommission.org.uk.
Each Electoral Registration Officer maintains a register for their own local area. Some
headline registration statistics by area are collated and published annually by the Office for
National Statistics, however, this does not include a breakdown of the numbers of EU
citizens registered to vote
The latest bulletin is available at:
www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/elections/electoralregistration.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate his Department has made of the (a) number of voters and (b) proportion of the electorate that were turned away in areas taking part in voter ID trials during the local elections.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Voter ID is part of a body of work this Government is delivering to strengthen the integrity
of our electoral system and give the public confidence our elections are secure and fit
for the 21st century.
In line with the 2018 pilot evaluation, fully validated figures will be published as part of both
the Cabinet Office and the independent Electoral Commission's full evaluations of the
2019 voter ID pilots in the summer. We will be looking carefully at the evaluations to help
inform our next steps and shape how the final policy will look when it is introduced.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish the social media policy for HM Government accounts.
Answered by Chloe Smith
HM Government social media accounts are managed by civil servants, who adhere to the principles of the Civil Service Code and Social Media Guidance for Civil Servants. Individual departments are responsible for administering their own social media policies.