Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will take steps to ensure that companies involved in major (a) governance and (b) accountability failures are subject to enhanced scrutiny before providing critical public services.
Answered by Chris Ward - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Government efficiency, transparency and accountability are key pillars of the Procurement Act 2023 which came into force this year. The Act establishes a new exclusions framework that makes it easier to exclude suppliers who have underperformed in the delivery of other public contracts or acted improperly in procurement. The Act has also created a debarment list which will publicly list suppliers who must or may be excluded from contracts.
The new Central Digital Platform is also improving accessibility to procurement data, ensuring accountability and enabling the public and stakeholders to scrutinise spending decisions and track procurement outcomes.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many jobs have been lost due to high street shop closures in the last 12 months for which data is available.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 14th July is attached.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, ow many cars have been reported as stolen in the last 12 months for which data is available.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 14th July is attached.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of job applications to the civil service in the last 12 months.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The number of vacancies advertised via the Civil Service (CS) Jobs website has decreased over the past full financial year and applications received via CS Jobs have increased.
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 reduce the (a) number and (b) cost of arms length bodies; and what discussions he has had with his counterparts in (a) Northern Ireland, (b) Wales and (c) Scotland on this issue.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The government is conducting a full line-by-line Spending Review which will cover the costs of proposed and existing ALBs to ensure value for money is being delivered for the taxpayer.
On 6 April, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster announced a full review of all UK government arm’s length bodies to drive efficiency and reduce bureaucracy and duplication as part of Prime Minister’s Plan for Change.The review is ongoing. I have not held any ministerial discussions with my devolved counterparts about this review.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will estimate the number of high street job vacancies filled over the last 12 months.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 13th May is attached.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether she plans to implement a youth mobility scheme deal with the EU.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
I am not going to give a running commentary on our talks with the EU. This Government is taking action to reduce net migration, but supports the 13 existent controlled schemes which create opportunities for young people to experience different cultures, travel, and work.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what information his Department holds on the number of sexual assaults that occur in the workplace.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 29th April is attached.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when he expects the permanent Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman to be appointed.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The House of Commons leads on the recruitment of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, which is ongoing. We expect that further information will be made available shortly.
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 the number of drug deaths in the last 12 months.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 17th March is attached.