Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how many times the Law Officers' Departments Senior Information Risk Officer roles has been vacant for a week or longer since 2012.
Answered by Jeremy Wright
In the event of any Senior Information Risk Officer (SIRO) vacancy, a deputy SIRO or appropriate senior individual is appointed to temporarily cover the role.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, with reference to the oral contribution of the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union to the House of Lords European Union Committee on 31 October, how many civil servants his Department (a) has recruited and (b) expects to recruit to work on leaving the EU.
Answered by Jeremy Wright
Exit is an all-of-government operation. The Department for Exiting the European Union is doing detailed work with departments to prepare for the upcoming negotiations by understanding the risks and opportunities of leaving the EU and coordinating planning.
Members of staff across the Law Officers’ Departments provide advice and analysis on EU Exit issues as required. Given the interactions between EU exit work and the Departments’ other priorities, it would not be possible to give an accurate figure.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, which public telephone lines for the Law Officers Departments' services are charged at higher rates; and how much was taken by each such telephone line in the last 12 months.
Answered by Robert Buckland
The Law Officers’ Departments have no public telephone lines charged at higher rates.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, whether the Law Officers' Departments hold a central list of the IT and digital assets of arm's-length bodies.
Answered by Robert Buckland
The Law Officers’ Departments do not hold a central list of IT and digital assets of arm’s-length bodies.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how many civil servants in the Law Officers' Departments are part of the Government Commercial Function; and how many of those civil servants have been seconded (a) outside Government and (b) in from outside the government in each year since 2012.
Answered by Jeremy Wright
Since 2012 there have been no civil servants in the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) who are employed by the Government Commercial Function.
The Attorney General’s Office (AGO), the Government Legal Department (GLD), Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI) and the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) do not have any staff who are part of the Government Commercial Function.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how many (a) men and (b) women have left the Law Officers' Departments under exit schemes since 31 March 2016.
Answered by Jeremy Wright
The information requested is containing in the following tables, broken down into the different Law Officers' Departments.
SFO
Individuals leaving the SFO under exit schemes since 31 March 2016 | ||
Gender | Number | Total payment |
Women | 6 | £281k |
Men | 10 | £324k |
Attorney General’s Office (AGO), the Government Legal Department (GLD) and Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI)
Individuals leaving the AGO, GLD and HMCPSI under exit schemes since 31 March 2016 | ||
Gender | Number | Total payment |
Women | Fewer than 5 | £172,148 |
Men | Fewer than 5 | £317,933 |
Since 31 March 2016, there have been 5 or fewer men and 5 or fewer women who have left the Attorney General’s Office (AGO), the Government Legal Department (GLD) and Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI) under an early exit scheme.
CPS
Individuals leaving the CPS under exit schemes since 31 March 2016 | ||
Gender | Number | Total payment |
Women | 18 | £1,024,651 |
Men | 6 | £500,040 |
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how much has been paid to (a) men and (b) women who left the Law Officers' Departments under exit schemes since 31 March 2016.
Answered by Jeremy Wright
The information requested is containing in the following tables, broken down into the different Law Officers' Departments.
SFO
Individuals leaving the SFO under exit schemes since 31 March 2016 | ||
Gender | Number | Total payment |
Women | 6 | £281k |
Men | 10 | £324k |
Attorney General’s Office (AGO), the Government Legal Department (GLD) and Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI)
Individuals leaving the AGO, GLD and HMCPSI under exit schemes since 31 March 2016 | ||
Gender | Number | Total payment |
Women | Fewer than 5 | £172,148 |
Men | Fewer than 5 | £317,933 |
Since 31 March 2016, there have been 5 or fewer men and 5 or fewer women who have left the Attorney General’s Office (AGO), the Government Legal Department (GLD) and Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI) under an early exit scheme.
CPS
Individuals leaving the CPS under exit schemes since 31 March 2016 | ||
Gender | Number | Total payment |
Women | 18 | £1,024,651 |
Men | 6 | £500,040 |
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how much the Law Officers' Departments paid to the Behavioural Insights Team in each year since 2014.
Answered by Robert Buckland
The CPS has met the Behavioural Insights Team as part of a project to encourage higher rates of defendant engagement with the CJS but have made no payment to the team.
Otherwise, the Law Officers’ Departments have not received services from the Behavioural Insights Team.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what services the Law Officers' Departments has received from the Behavioural Insights Team since 2014.
Answered by Robert Buckland
The CPS has met the Behavioural Insights Team as part of a project to encourage higher rates of defendant engagement with the CJS but have made no payment to the team.
Otherwise, the Law Officers’ Departments have not received services from the Behavioural Insights Team.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, whether requests for consultancy and temporary staff for the Law Officers' Departments must be accompanied by a formal business case.
Answered by Jeremy Wright
Requests for temporary staff to be appointed within agreed budgetary provision in the CPS are not required to be accompanied by a formal business case within the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). Requests for consultancy staff do require a formal business case within the CPS.
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has not employed any consultants within the past financial year or during the current year. Spend on consultants would require a business case setting out the need for such expenditure to the SFO Finance and HR teams. Requests for temporary staff are agreed when the SFO budget is set at the beginning of the financial year. Any additional temporary recruitment during the year is dependent on discussions with the SFO Finance team and Human Resource team, and on occasion the Chief Operating Officer and would require a business case.
At GLD, HMCPSI and the AGO, agency workers are engaged through Civil Service contractual arrangements to cover short term vacancies and to secure specific specialist legal and support skills that are not available in-house. For that reason, a formal business case is not normally required, unless it is for new posts where agreement is required to increase the headcount in that business area to support a project to improve the department. The approval mechanism for consultancy spend is not via a resources board although a request for consultancy would need to be accompanied by a business justification.