Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what steps they are taking to reduce backlogs of Member correspondence in their office.
Answered by Steve Baker
The Government attaches great importance to the effective and timely handling of correspondence, particularly from Parliamentarians. As per the Cabinet Office’s Guide to Handling Correspondence on gov.uk, departments and agencies should aim to respond to correspondence within a 20-working day target deadline.
With regards to timeliness of responses to enquiries received by members, the Cabinet Office published data on this for 2022 for all government departments on GOV.UK in March 2023, and will be publishing data for Q1 and Q2 2023 shortly. The 2022 data can be found here:
The Northern Ireland Office make every effort to reply to correspondence promptly and within the original deadline. However, if the matters raised in the correspondence require substantial investigation, it might not be possible to provide a substantive reply to a case within the departmental deadline.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what the average response time to subject access requests was by their Department in the latest period for which data is available; and if they will make an assessment of the adequacy of that response time.
Answered by Steve Baker
Within the 2022-23 financial year the percentage of subject access requests answered within statutory deadlines did not fall below 100%, which we would assess as satisfactory.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what steps his Department is taking to (a) enhance cybersecurity and (b) protect personal data.
Answered by Steve Baker
Being cyber secure and protecting personal data underpins everything we do in the Northern Ireland Office. In accordance with the Government Cyber Security Strategy we are working to ensure that our critical functions will be significantly hardened to cyber-attack by 2025, with all government organisations across the whole public sector being resilient to known vulnerabilities and attack methods no later than 2030.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what steps their Department is taking to improve the response time to FOI requests.
Answered by Steve Baker
The Northern Ireland Office utilises a case tracking system to monitor the timeliness of FOI requests, tracking internal and external deadlines and issuing reminders on late cases where necessary. Furthermore, the department also offers training sessions to staff on the appropriate handling of information requests which emphasises the importance of responding within the time limits set by the FOI Act.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what steps their Department is taking to improve its digital services to provide better (a) accessibility and (b) user experience for the public.
Answered by Steve Baker
My Department has made a number of provisions for individual staff to improve accessibility based on workplace passports. We also ensure our websites meet the latest guidelines for accessibility, however, it should be noted that my department is not a public-facing department that gathers large amounts of personal data from the general public.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the average time taken by his Department to respond to freedom of information requests in the 2022-23 financial year.
Answered by Steve Baker
FOI response times are monitored centrally by the Cabinet Office and published quarterly on the Gov.uk website.
Within the 2022-23 financial year, the percentage of requests answered within statutory deadlines did not fall below 85%, which we would assess as adequate.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what their Departments policy is on Civil Servants in their Department working from home and receiving the London Weighting Allowance.
Answered by Steve Baker
Departments set their own London pay arrangements, which vary under delegated authority. Flexible working is also a fundamental element of the Civil Service employment offer which is consistent with other sectors. This flexibility includes hybrid working with attendance in the office for part of the week and part at home, which leaves the contract and London pay arrangements unchanged.
The Northern Ireland Office has agreed hybrid working arrangements which typically require staff to spend two to three days in the office each week, and the option of two to three days working from home. The majority of Northern Ireland Office will be working on a hybrid basis, or be entirely based in the workplace.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, whether he is taking steps to ensure that staff in his Department who are under investigation for alleged misconduct are not named before those allegations are proven.
Answered by Steve Baker
The Northern Ireland Office follows the MoJ policies which adhere to the Civil Service HR's wider model discipline policy.
The policy and guidance makes it clear that investigations into alleged misconduct are strictly confidential.
This sits alongside a separate Northern Ireland Office Whistleblowing / Raising a Concern Policy in line with the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, with reference to the Civil Service headquarters occupancy data, updated on 1 June 2022, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of occupancy rates on his Department's performance during May 2023.
Answered by Steve Baker
The Northern Ireland Office for some time has offered hybrid working arrangements where possible with a required office attendance of two to three days per week. The published occupancy data is for Departmental HQ buildings only and no inferences about the performance of the wider workforce should be made. The data does not capture employees working in other locations such as other government buildings, other workplaces or working from home.
The Northern Ireland Office is keeping its ways of working under review, taking into account a variety of factors including current performance. Hybrid working arrangements are not new and for some time, most departments have worked on a basis of a ratio of desks to staff. No office will operate at 100% occupancy given there will always be a number of reasons why staff may be out of the office, for example, people being on annual leave, attending meetings off-site or external visits.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what steps he is taking to increase tourism between Northern Ireland and the West Midlands.
Answered by Steve Baker
Tourism is a transferred matter for the Northern Ireland Executive, with the Department for the Economy and Tourism NI leading on supporting tourism in Northern Ireland. However, the UK Government recognises the importance of supporting this vital industry for the Northern Ireland economy and of increasing tourism between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom, including the West Midlands.
Through the Union Connectivity Review, the UK Government is looking at how to further support transport links in Northern Ireland and between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Strong transport connections are important for our economic growth, and the Government is committed to further connecting our towns, cities and communities across the UK, which will boost tourism.
The Government has already taken action to support air connectivity across the UK and following its commitment to review Air Passenger Duty (APD) in January 2020, and as announced at the Budget on 27 October 2021, the Government introduced a 50% cut in domestic APD in April 2023 to bolster air connectivity within the UK and make flying from the West Midlands and elsewhere to Northern Ireland even cheaper.