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Written Question
Construction: Suicide
Wednesday 6th March 2024

Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of how many construction workers killed themselves in each of the last three years for which data is available.

Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon Members Parliamentary Question of 27th February is attached.



Written Question
Police Service of Northern Ireland: Data Protection
Tuesday 6th February 2024

Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he has had discussions with the Police Service of Northern Ireland on lessons learned from data breaches.

Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) is devolved and has operational independence. It is for the Northern Ireland Policing Board (NIPB) to monitor and provide oversight of PSNI performance.

The PSNI and the NIPB commissioned an independent review into the data breach and a report was published on 11 December 2023.

The Government’s focus following the data breaches of August 2023 was on providing specialist support and expertise to the PSNI in its handling of this issue. Officials in the Cabinet Office chaired regular operational meetings - initially daily - bringing together the PSNI, Government Departments and the Security Services, to ensure that their collective skills, including cyber-expertise, were brought to bear in supporting the PSNI.

The Government published on 14 December 2023 technical guidance relating to the approach to be taken by FOI practitioners across central government when a requestor asks for disclosure in a spreadsheet format.


Written Question
Surveillance: China
Wednesday 24th January 2024

Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department is taking steps with Cabinet colleagues to (a) find and (b) remove Chinese surveillance technology from national security infrastructure.

Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The UK takes its national security extremely seriously and has taken robust action to secure and protect its national security infrastructure.

Following Royal Assent of the Procurement Act on 26 October 2023 the Government committed to publishing a timeline for the removal of surveillance equipment supplied by companies subject to the National Intelligence Law of China from sensitive sites within six months.

To meet this commitment, the Cabinet Office has been working with departments to identify any such equipment on their sensitive sites, and will publish a timeline for when the removal process will be complete, by 26 April 2024.


Written Question
Theft: Rural Areas
Wednesday 29th November 2023

Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what data his Department holds on trends in the level of theft in rural areas in the last five years.

Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 21 November is attached.


Written Question
Government Departments: Cost Effectiveness
Monday 23rd October 2023

Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has taken recent steps to (a) increase efficiency in Government Departments and (b) reduce the number of civil servants.

Answered by Jeremy Quin

The Government is committed to increasing efficiency in Departments. The Cabinet Office and HM Treasury continue to deliver the efficiencies identified through the Efficiency and Savings Review undertaken earlier this year, building on the 5% efficiency challenge set at Spending Review 2021.

This summer the Cabinet Office published £4.4bn of savings generated by the government functions in 2021/22 as part of an ongoing programme. The Government also published the Government Efficiency Framework to drive efficiencies through more accurate reporting and appropriate oversight to track delivery.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a cap to the Civil Service's expansion, putting in place a plan to reduce its numbers to pre-pandemic levels and to increase public sector productivity.


Written Question
Public Expenditure: Northern Ireland
Friday 20th October 2023

Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what discussions he has had with the Department of Finance in Northern Ireland on fraudulent or incorrect payments paid out by public bodies in Northern Ireland.

Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The UK Government does not hold this information and is a matter for the Northern Ireland Civil Service.

However, we are committed to combatting fraud through prevention, detection and taking action against those who commit it.

The Cabinet Office worked with HM Treasury to launch the Public Sector Fraud Authority (PSFA) in August 2022. The PSFA is the government’s centre of expertise and works with ministerial departments and public bodies to understand and reduce the impact of public sector fraud. The PSFA provides counter fraud data analytics capability through the National Fraud Initiative (NFI) to public bodies including those in Northern Ireland. Between 1 April 2020 and 31 March 2022, the NFI achieved £4.4 million of counter fraud savings through the prevention or recovery of fraud in Northern Ireland.

The Rt Hon. Jeremy Quin MP, Minister for the Cabinet Office and HM Paymaster General, has not had any meetings on the subject of fraudulent or incorrect payments paid out by public bodies with the Department of Finance in Northern Ireland.


Written Question
Northern Ireland Civil Service: Sick Leave
Friday 20th October 2023

Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if his Department holds data on the number of sick days taken by Northern Ireland civil service staff in 2022.

Answered by Jeremy Quin

The Cabinet Office does not hold this information and I refer the Hon Gentleman to the Northern Ireland Civil Service.


Written Question
Contracts for Services: Northern Ireland
Thursday 25th May 2023

Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department is taking to help support companies registered in Northern Ireland compete for UK-wide public contracts.

Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The Procurement Bill, currently being debated by Parliament, will create a simpler and more transparent public procurement regime that will make it easier for suppliers to bid for UK public contracts. Contracting authorities in Northern Ireland are included within the scope of the Bill, so companies registered in Northern Ireland will be able to compete for opportunities from those authorities as well as those on the UK mainland. Companies in Northern Ireland can already access UK public contracting opportunities worth over £12K on Contracts Finder.


Written Question
Civil Service: Political Impartiality
Wednesday 24th May 2023

Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to ensure that the impartiality rules operate in the same manner in each branch of the civil service across the UK.

Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of all civil servants to uphold the Civil Service’s core values, which are integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality. Impartiality, and in particular political impartiality, is one of the fundamental values of the Civil Service. Impartiality means all civil servants must serve the Government, whatever its political persuasion, to the best of their ability.

Civil servants working for the Scottish and Welsh Governments, and their agencies, have their own versions of the code. Similar codes apply to the Northern Ireland civil service and the Diplomatic Service.


Written Question
Disadvantaged
Tuesday 23rd May 2023

Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he is taking steps to develop a measure for social vulnerability as an indicator of (a) socio-economic resilience and (b) how risks impact across communities and vulnerable groups.

Answered by Jeremy Quin

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon Gentlemen’s Parliamentary Question of 15 May is attached.