Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has discussions with relevant stakeholders on the extension of the NHS contract with Palantir in 2021.
Answered by Will Quince
All NHS England contracts follow standard processes for assurance and approval. The Department undertook the appropriate role as part of these standard approval processes that were in place at the time. There were no specific, planned discussions about the extension of the contract by NHS England in 2021.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment has been made of the performance of Palantir in fulfilling its contract.
Answered by Will Quince
NHS England can confirm that throughout its delivery, Palantir has met its obligations as set out within the terms of its contracts.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many contracts and for what services his Department has with Palantir.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department does not have any current contract with Palantir.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many officials have responsibility for monitoring the value for money of his Department's contract with Palantir.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department does not have any contract with Palantir to monitor. NHS England has responsibility for monitoring its contracts with Palantir.
NHS England manages the Palantir contract in line with the contract management framework to ensure value for money. NHS England has identified a Senior Responsible Officer, Contract Manager, Project Owner, Senior Supplier Relationship Manager, Benefits Manager, Exit Manager and Commercial Manager to the contract. A programme delivery team is also in place with benefits management and value for money processes and governance embedded into the working practices of the team.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to (a) extend and (b) undertake a consultation on the potential extension of its contract with Palantir.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department does not have any contract with Palantir. NHS England has a current contract in place with Palantir, to provide Data Platform Services in support of COVID-19 recovery, which is published on Contracts Finder. NHS England has always used compliant contracting mechanisms when contracting Palantir and does not have a requirement to consult other than following the standard processes for assurance and approval. The Department will perform the appropriate role as part of these standard approval processes.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much from the public purse his Office has spent on hospitality since 25 October 2022.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
I refer the hon. Member to the answer of 24 November 2022, Official Report, PQ 95960.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill on wages in each of the next five years.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill Impact Assessment and subsequent consultation-stage Impact Assessments for services in rail, fire and rescue, and ambulances were published and all provide an assessment of the potential impact on wages.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many email enquiries from hon. Members are awaiting a response from the Passport Office as of 6 January 2023.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office does not have the information requested.
Data about intake and performance in answering Hon. Members correspondence are published quarterly with the latest quarter available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/customer-service-operations-data-q3-2022.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department's planned increase to state pension will affect means-tested benefits, including housing benefit.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government is committed to ensuring that older people are able to live with the dignity and respect they deserve. The State Pension is the foundation of support for older people. Subject to Parliamentary approval, State Pensions will increase by 10.1% from April 2023 in line with the Consumer Prices Index increase for the year to September 2022.
Housing Benefit is an income-related benefit which is intended to assist people who need help to pay their rent. Pension Credit is the other main income-related benefit received by pensioners. It is intended to help poorer pensioners with their day to day living costs. This year we are taking action to increase Pension Credit rates by 10.1%, in line with CPI, from April 2023. The personal allowances in Housing Benefit will also be increased by 10.1% from April.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how much his Department spent on first class train travel for (a) ministers and (b) civil servants in (i) 2020, (i) 2021 and (iii) 2022.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
There are important official reasons for ministers and civil servants to travel across the country. Reflecting this department’s responsibilities for local government, housing, planning, and communities across England, and our wider responsibilities across the whole of the United Kingdom, our work inevitably involves staff travelling to different parts of the country.
Further to a written answer given by this department in 2015, in 2009-10 this department spent over £216,000 on first class rail travel.
A yearly breakdown of first class train travel spend is below. There will be business cases for such travel, including on occasion security, but we have significantly reduced costs compared to the last Labour Government. For example the 2022 level was well below 10% of the 2009-10 level in cash terms.
2020 - Civil Servants £9,735
2020 - Ministers £1,135
2021 - Civil Servants £4,731
2021 - Ministers £1,132
2022 - Civil Servants £12,135
2022 - Ministers £3,119
Figures are likely reduced in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Since 2010, the Department has taken on responsibility for residual functions of the Government Offices for the Regions, and other agencies. As these business functions relate to work in areas outside London, this may have increased the business need for travel. Overall, we have still managed to reduce travel costs through better procurement and tighter management controls on costs, and reduced overall costs through closing unnecessary public bodies.