Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of trends in the number of requests to receive an official portrait of His Majesty The King by public authorities in (a) Scotland, (b) England, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
As is usual practice following accession, an Official Portrait has been taken of His Majesty The King to mark the start of the new Reign, for use in public buildings and for other official purposes. His Majesty’s Government will use this portrait for the Official Portrait Scheme, announced by the Deputy Prime Minister in April last year.
The scheme opened in November 2023 to enable certain Public Authorities across the UK to apply for a free, framed official portrait of His Majesty The King for display in their buildings.
The scheme is ongoing and is due for completion by mid year 2024. While the scheme is ongoing, we will not be releasing figures on total uptake but requests have been made by Public Authorities across all four nations of the United Kingdom.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what proportion of civil servants on temporary contracts in the Cabinet Office are women.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
This data is available in the Public sector employment Dataset published quarterly by the Office for National Statistics. For the most recent data, June 2023, the details requested are found in Table 8.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what proportion of civil servants on full-time equivalent contracts at senior civil servant pay band two (SCS2) are women.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
As at April 2023 the percentage of Senior Civil Servants (SCS) at Director level (Payband 2) working full-time who are women is 41.0%.
The answer has been calculated by dividing the number of women at Payband 2 in the Senior Civil Service by the total number of staff in the Senior Civil Service at Payband 2 where sex is known. All Civil Service organisations have been included in the calculation.
On Civil Service recruitment more broadly, in 2022/23 more than half of new entrants to the Civil Service were women (54.1%) up from 51.6% in 2021/22. 53.9% of promotions to the Senior Civil Service were women.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of how much the Government will spend on the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee in the (a) 2023-24, (b) 2024-25 and (c) 2025-26 financial year.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
A detailed assessment of the resourcing requirements, and estimated spend associated with the operation of the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee will be made once it is fully established.
Following the appointment of the Chair, Lord Janvrin, the Committee's Secretariat is being delivered by existing civil servants as part of their wider duties. Any increase in dedicated resources to support the work of the Committee will be considered in due course.
It is right that as a country we honour Her Late Majesty’s legacy. For more than 70 years, she was our greatest public servant, an anchor of stability in an ever-changing and often uncertain world.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the projected number of full-time equivalent civil servants is that will surpport the work of the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
A detailed assessment of the resourcing requirements, and estimated spend associated with the operation of the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee will be made once it is fully established.
Following the appointment of the Chair, Lord Janvrin, the Committee's Secretariat is being delivered by existing civil servants as part of their wider duties. Any increase in dedicated resources to support the work of the Committee will be considered in due course.
It is right that as a country we honour Her Late Majesty’s legacy. For more than 70 years, she was our greatest public servant, an anchor of stability in an ever-changing and often uncertain world.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps the Government is taking on protection of the neuro rights of citizens.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The Government welcomes the recent reports from the Regulatory Horizons Council and the Information Commissioner's Office, and agrees on the importance of appropriately protecting neurodata. The UK’s data regime already provides enhanced protection for personal neuro-data when it takes the form of biometric, genetic, or health data. The Government is keeping protections under review and will not hesitate to take action in future as needed.
The Government is also actively monitoring threats to UK data, including neuro-data, and will not hesitate to take further action if necessary to protect our national security.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps the Government is taking to help ensure that (a) foreign states and (b) bad actors cannot access people's neuro-data.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The Government welcomes the recent reports from the Regulatory Horizons Council and the Information Commissioner's Office, and agrees on the importance of appropriately protecting neurodata. The UK’s data regime already provides enhanced protection for personal neuro-data when it takes the form of biometric, genetic, or health data. The Government is keeping protections under review and will not hesitate to take action in future as needed.
The Government is also actively monitoring threats to UK data, including neuro-data, and will not hesitate to take further action if necessary to protect our national security.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether he plans to update employment legislation to protect workers from unauthorised access to their neuro-data.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The Government welcomes the recent reports from the Regulatory Horizons Council and the Information Commissioner's Office, and agrees on the importance of appropriately protecting neurodata. The UK’s data regime already provides enhanced protection for personal neuro-data when it takes the form of biometric, genetic, or health data. The Government is keeping protections under review and will not hesitate to take action in future as needed.
The Government is also actively monitoring threats to UK data, including neuro-data, and will not hesitate to take further action if necessary to protect our national security.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether she plans to update consumer legislation to protect people from unauthorised access to their neuro-data.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The Government welcomes the recent reports from the Regulatory Horizons Council and the Information Commissioner's Office, and agrees on the importance of appropriately protecting neurodata. The UK’s data regime already provides enhanced protection for personal neuro-data when it takes the form of biometric, genetic, or health data. The Government is keeping protections under review and will not hesitate to take action in future as needed.
The Government is also actively monitoring threats to UK data, including neuro-data, and will not hesitate to take further action if necessary to protect our national security.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities during the Urgent Question on 27 April 2023 on Voter ID, in response to the question from the hon. Member for Aberdeen North, if he will provide details of the research demonstrating that 99% of people from black and ethnic minority communities already have an acceptable form of voter ID.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 180947 on 20 April 2023.
Regarding the review of the introduction of voter identification, I refer to the answer I gave to Question UIN 162192 on 14 March 2023.
It is for Returning Officers and Presiding Officers to ensure that suitable arrangements are in place for checking the identity of disabled and immunocompromised people who are vulnerable to COVID-19. This may include checking identification outside the polling place where appropriate.