Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent steps his Department has taken to prepare for the possibility of holding elections to the European Parliament in May 2019.
Answered by Chloe Smith
It remains the priority of the Government to leave the European Union with a deal.
Government is not contingency planning to hold European Parliamentary Elections.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department is taking to reduce levels of stress in the civil service.
Answered by Oliver Dowden
We are committed to the health and wellbeing of all our staff, including helping them to manage stress in the workplace.
We have committed to delivering the Thriving at Work standards to refine our approach to mental health support in the workplace. The Civil Service health and wellbeing strategy features specific actions including:
Building a network of an estimated 4000 Mental Health First Aiders (MHFA’s) or equivalent who are equipped with the knowledge to recognise early symptoms and provide initial help to colleagues experiencing mental health concerns.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate his Department has made of the cost to the public purse of efforts to secure UK elections from outside interference in each year since 2010.
Answered by Chloe Smith
Whilst we have no seen evidence of successful interference, we are not complacent: this Government takes the security and integrity of our electoral processes extremely seriously. The Government is committed to working together with a full range of partners: academia, businesses, charities, regulators and civil society to respect, protect, and promote our democracy.
Protecting the UK’s electoral mechanics from foreign cyber interference is one of the National Cyber Security Centre’s key priorities. The NCSC offers political parties access to the best cyber security guidance and support, and will provide cyber security guidance to the range of bodies – notably local authorities – involved in an election.
It is also the responsibility of organisations and individuals to do what they can to reduce the vulnerability of data, which is the most effective method to deny states and others the opportunity to do harm or interfere. This is why we have spent £1.9 billion on cyber security, including establishing the NCSC since 2016.
There is also ongoing work with local authorities and electoral administrators to ensure our elections remain secure. Within these broad programmes of work to secure our democratic processes, costs specifically to secure elections from outside interference are not recorded separately.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate his Department has made of the potential cost to the public purse of holding a second referendum on the UK's membership of the EU.
Answered by David Lidington
No such estimate has been made. The Government has no plans to hold another referendum on EU membership. The Government remains committed to delivering on the result of the 2016 EU referendum by leaving the EU.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate his Department has made of the number of job vacancies in the intelligence services that have remained unfilled for over three months in each year since 2010.
Answered by David Lidington
As has been the policy of successive governments, the government does not comment on matters relating to the intelligence agencies. The Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament scrutinises the policies, expenditure, administration and operations of the intelligence agencies on behalf of Parliament.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate his Department has made of the number of (a) males and (b) females working for GCHQ in each year since 2010.
Answered by David Lidington
As at 31 March 2018, the GCHQ headcount is made up of 35% Women and 65% Men. These figures have remained constant since 2010. Further detail can be found in the recently published document “GCHQ Gender Pay Gap Report 2018”.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the number of civil service staff that have been paid an annual salary of (a) less than and (b) more than £30,000 in each year since 2010.
Answered by David Lidington
The numbers of Civil Servants for each year from 2010-2018 earning below £30,000; and above £30,000 are:
Year Below 30K Above 30K
2010 403,700 117,850
2011 367,620 125,250
2012 339,370 118,090
2013 322,560 120,810
2014 304,280 129,210
2015 297,600 135,400
2016 277,710 139,910
2017 276,300 142,570
2018 273,380 154,890
Data on salary is missing for a small number of Civil Servants, who are not counted in these figures.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
What steps the Government is taking to protect the UK electoral system from overseas interference.
Answered by Chloe Smith
We have not seen evidence of successful interference in UK democratic processes. However, we are not complacent, as the Prime Minister said: we will do what is necessary to protect ourselves, and work with our allies to do likewise. Cabinet Office coordinates cross-Government work to protect our democracy.