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Written Question
Public Sector: Procurement
Tuesday 9th February 2021

Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology

The end of the Transition Period provides an historic opportunity to overhaul our outdated public procurement regime. Cabinet Office undertook an extensive programme of stakeholder engagement during 2019 to identify where improvements could be made and the recently published Green Paper Transforming Government Procurement shapes those findings into concrete proposals.

Speech in Commons Chamber - Wed 30 Dec 2020
European Union (Future Relationship) Bill

"I will vote for the Bill, as the choice is stark and clear. The important question is: what do we do after Friday? That is when the real work will begin. Gaps have already been identified, including the situation with services, especially legal and financial services; the travel position of …..."
Lord Spellar - View Speech

View all Lord Spellar (Lab - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: European Union (Future Relationship) Bill
Speech in Commons Chamber - Tue 01 Dec 2020
Public Health

"My hon. Friend the Member for Blackley and Broughton (Graham Stringer) queried whether Manchester had been discriminated against, because Ministers considered the threat of 500,000 job losses in London and put it in tier 2. He seemed to be suggesting that London should have been put in a higher tier. …..."
Lord Spellar - View Speech

View all Lord Spellar (Lab - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Public Health
Speech in Commons Chamber - Tue 01 Dec 2020
Public Health

"The Prime Minister talked about the virus being eradicated. Only one virus in history has been eradicated. Containment may well be the only option open to us...."
Lord Spellar - View Speech

View all Lord Spellar (Lab - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Public Health
Speech in Commons Chamber - Thu 19 Nov 2020
Integrated Review

"If this boost for defence spending is the first fruits of the departure of Dominic Cummings, it is most welcome, especially in ensuring that we can continue to work effectively alongside our long-term allies and partners including the United States—even more so with the welcome arrival of President Biden. Will …..."
Lord Spellar - View Speech

View all Lord Spellar (Lab - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Integrated Review
Written Question
Remembrance Day: Coronavirus
Thursday 22nd October 2020

Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, if his Department will urgently co-ordinate advice on the management of services and parades on Remembrance Sunday to assist local councils, the police, the Royal British Legion and other service and uniformed organisations in organising covid-safe events.

Answered by Penny Mordaunt

Published guidance for local authority preparations for Remembrance Sunday can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-authority-preparations-for-remembrance-sunday/local-authority-preparations-for-remembrance-sunday

Written Question
Census: Coronavirus
Tuesday 21st July 2020

Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on the organisation of the Census.

Answered by Chloe Smith

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have therefore asked the Authority to respond.

Please note that the UK Statistics Authority is responsible for delivering the Census in England and Wales. The National Records for Scotland and the Scottish Government are responsible for the Scottish Census, and NISRA cover the Census in Northern Ireland.

Speech in Commons Chamber - Tue 14 Jul 2020
Parliamentary Constituencies Bill

"My hon. Friend is getting to the nub of the issue. The reason why the Government failed to put the past two boundary commission reviews to the House of Commons was that their stubbornness in sticking to 600 seats meant that they would not be carried. The fault lay with …..."
Lord Spellar - View Speech

View all Lord Spellar (Lab - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Parliamentary Constituencies Bill
Speech in Commons Chamber - Tue 14 Jul 2020
Parliamentary Constituencies Bill

"I shall certainly try, Madam Deputy Speaker.

Can we be frank? Boundary changes are a real nuisance, but a necessary nuisance. We all accept that they have to happen, even though they are a problem for Members of Parliament, and indeed for political organisations and often for constituents. Everyone accepts …..."
Lord Spellar - View Speech

View all Lord Spellar (Lab - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Parliamentary Constituencies Bill
Speech in Commons Chamber - Tue 14 Jul 2020
Parliamentary Constituencies Bill

"Why did it come up with that in the first place when it was clearly such a dumb proposal? Parliament was the necessary corrective to this. It said: “This doesn’t work”, and by the way Conservative Members were still in a majority at the time. What’s even more extraordinary, in …..."
Lord Spellar - View Speech

View all Lord Spellar (Lab - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Parliamentary Constituencies Bill