Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how much his Department has spent on consultancy fees in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022; and what the name is of each consultancy contracted.
Answered by Conor Burns
The Northern Ireland Office spent the following on consultancy fees:
(a) 2020: £745,278
(b) 2021: £787,452
(c) January-May 2022: £794,190
In relation to naming consultancies, in accordance with this Government’s transparency requirements, I have listed only those suppliers with payments of £25,000 or above, as to name others could potentially breach their data protection rights or have an adverse effect on their commercial activity:
Active Communities Network LTD
AV Browne Advertising LTD
Cabinet Office
Cinemagic LTD
Co-Operation Ireland
Department of Finance
Education Authority
Epam Systems LTD
Government Estates Management
Groundwork Northern Ireland
Holywell Trust
Ipsos Mori
Ministry of Defence
Ministry of Justice
North West Cultural Partnership
Passionist Peace & Reconciliation Office
Playhouse the NW Play Resource Centre
Youth Action NI
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how much their Department has spent on advertising in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022.
Answered by Conor Burns
The Northern Ireland Office spent the following on advertising:
(a) 2020 - £72,110
(b) 2021 - £26,353
(c) January-May 2022 - £19,572
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how much their Department and its associated agencies spent on legal disputes in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022.
Answered by Conor Burns
The Department does not hold the information in a form that can readily be interrogated to provide a response. The accompanying physical invoice for each recorded financial transaction related to legal expenditure would have to be examined to determine the nature of the expense and whether it relates to legal disputes.
Therefore, the information requested could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many contracts that are worth (a) between £1 million and £3 million and (b) over £3 million their (i) Department and (ii) Department’s agencies and non-departmental public bodies (A) have agreed since 2010 and (B) are due to agree within the next 12 months; how much their Department has spent on monitoring each contract in each year since 2010; and how many officials have been working on that monitoring in each year since 2010.
Answered by Conor Burns
Details of Government contracts from 2016 above £10,000, and £25,000 in the wider public sector, are published on Contracts Finder. As Contracts Finder was implemented in 2016, not all records before this time are held centrally.
With regards to contracts due to be agreed within the next 12 months, the information requested is not held centrally for the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) and could only be provided at disproportionate cost. Of the NIO’s agencies and non-departmental public bodies, the Crown Solicitor’s Office is due to agree two contracts with a value of between £1 million and £3 million in the next 12 months.
The NIO does not hold records on expenditure on monitoring each contract in each year since 2010, or on how many officials have been working on monitoring contracts in each year since 2010.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what the total value has been of contracts held by their Department with (a) G4S, (b) Serco and (c) Capita in each year since 2020.
Answered by Conor Burns
The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) makes use of collaborative contract frameworks where possible for its procurements. These contracts are held collaboratively with the Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS), with the NIO one of several parties.
The NIO was part of a NICS collaborative contract with G4S for security services until March 2022. The value held by the NIO was £317,619 in 2020, £284,047 in 2021, and £71,012 in 2022.
The NIO has not held contracts with Serco or Capita for this period.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what the wage ratio was between the highest paid member of staff in his Department and the lowest in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022.
Answered by Conor Burns
The wage ratio between the highest paid member of staff and the lowest in the Northern Ireland Office was:
(a) 9.8:1 in 2020
(b) 8.0:1 in 2021; and
(c) 7.6:1 in 2022.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how much his Department spent on hospitality in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022.
Answered by Conor Burns
The amount spent on hospitality by the Northern Ireland Office is as follows:
2019-20 - £258,327
2020-21 - £33,458
2021-22 - £62,872
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, which public appointments his Department is responsible for.
Answered by Julian Smith
As set out in the Public Appointments Order in Council 2019, Northern Ireland Office ministers are responsible for the following appointments:
Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland
Chief Electoral Officer for Northern Ireland
Equality Commission for Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission
Parades Commission for Northern Ireland
In addition, under the terms of the Executive Formation and Exercise of Functions Act 2018, and in the absence of Northern Ireland Ministers, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland is temporarily responsible for approving a number of critical Northern Ireland appointments as and when they arise.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how much time off in lieu has been taken by staff in her Department in each of the last five years.
Answered by John Penrose
The information requested is not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
The Northern Ireland Office is committed to ensuring the wellbeing of their staff in support of a healthy work/life balance. The Department has an active Wellbeing Network and line managers are aware of their responsibilities for ensuring that their team members do not work excessive hours.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what estimate she has made of the total amount of unpaid overtime worked by staff in her Department in the last 24 months.
Answered by John Penrose
The Northern Ireland Office offers a flexible working scheme to all staff, including time off in lieu and paid overtime is available if operationally required. No estimate of the total amount of unpaid overtime worked by staff in the last 24 months has been made.