Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the average length of time was for Ministers of his Department to respond to correspondence from hon. Members in each month in the last two years.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The Cabinet Office has a target of responding within 20 working days where a response is required.
As you will understand, the Cabinet Office is currently dealing with unprecedented volumes of correspondence due to COVID-19. Officials are ensuring that urgent cases raised by hon. Members are prioritised, and are taking steps to provide substantive responses in as short a time as possible.
All correspondence received from hon. Members is being reviewed and will be responded to as soon as possible.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people registered to vote each day between 27 August 2019 to 4 September 2019 in (a) the Motherwell and Wishaw constituency, (b) North Lanarkshire and (c) Scotland.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Cabinet Office does not hold data on the number of citizens on the register, as local authorities manage their registers.
Whilst we cannot provide data for individual constituencies, we are able to provide the number of applications that were submitted through the Individual Electoral Registration Digital Service (IER DS) for North Lanarkshire and Scotland, each day between 27 August
2019 to 4 September 2019, as shown below.
These figures are for the total number of applications that have been made to the IER DS. Not all individuals who submit an application to register to vote are necessarily added to the electoral register. Eligibility to be added to a register is determined by Electoral Registration Officers for their local areas.
Date | North Lanarkshire | Scotland |
27/08/2019 | 168 | 2160 |
28/08/2019 | 108 | 2544 |
29/08/2019 | 106 | 2514 |
30/08/2019 | 76 | 1706 |
31/08/2019 | 35 | 1379 |
01/09/2019 | 47 | 991 |
02/09/2019 | 89 | 4055 |
03/09/2019 | 161 | 4564 |
04/09/2019 | 164 | 4494 |
Total | 790 | 19913 |
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if his Department will extend the DVLA core counter service framework with Post Office Ltd to November 2022.
Answered by Oliver Dowden - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The DVLA contract was novated to the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) in December 2018 and the current contract expires in March 2020. CCS is currently engaging with stakeholders to ascertain whether the uptake of the extension option is the best commercial decision for Government. The final decision will be taken later this year.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what contracts Departments have had with the Post Office Ltd that (a) expired permanently and (b) expired and were awarded to a different bidder in each of the last three years.
Answered by Oliver Dowden - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
This information is not centrally held as each department is responsible for its own procurement.
Records of Government contracts above £10,000 in central government and £25,000 in the wider public sector are published on Contracts Finder: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Search
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what contracts to provide services Government departments have with Post Office Ltd; and when each of those contracts expires; and what plans the Government has to (a) renew and (b) extend those contracts.
Answered by Oliver Dowden - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
This information is not centrally held as each department is responsible for its own procurement.
Records of Government contracts above £10,000 in central government and £25,000 in the wider public sector are published on Contracts Finder: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Search
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 31 January 2019 to Question 213413 on Government Departments: Billing, what proportion of undisputed invoices from SMEs were paid within five days by each Government Department in 2018.
Answered by Oliver Dowden - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The information is not held centrally. Departments are required to publish this information quarterly on Gov.UK.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 31 January 2019 to Question 213413 on Government Departments: Billing, how much money (a) was and (b) was not paid to SMEs within five days by each Government Department in 2018.
Answered by Oliver Dowden - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The information is not held centrally. Departments are required to publish this information quarterly on Gov.UK.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 31 January 2019 to Question 213413 on Government Departments: Billing, how many undisputed invoices from SMEs were paid within five days for each government department in 2018.
Answered by Oliver Dowden - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The information is not held centrally. Departments are required to publish this information quarterly on Gov.UK.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will take steps to change the premium deduction in the (a) widows, (b) widowers and (c) civil partners pension provisions of the 1972 Section of the Civil Service pension arrangement so that when a member remains (i) unmarried or (ii) not in a civil partnership their surviving children receive the premium deduction refund.
Answered by Oliver Dowden - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The premium deduction is there to protect the Civil Service Pension Scheme against the specific risk of a member marrying or entering a civil partnership after retiring and then pre-deceasing their spouse/civil partner. The amount of the premium is set at a level that takes account of the likelihood of this happening.
If the premium were to be repaid to the member’s estate should they subsequently die without marrying or entering a civil partnership, the amount of the premium would need to be significantly higher as it would only be retained by the scheme in circumstances where a spouse/civil partner’s pension was payable.
The Government does not consider that a change to the current arrangements is justified.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the target time is for the Government to make payments to small and medium-sized enterprises; and (a) how many and (b) what percentage of payments by the Government met that target in 2018.
Answered by Oliver Dowden - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
Government policy is to pay 80% of undisputed supplier invoices within a 5 day target, with the remaining to be paid within 30 days, as required by the Public Contracts Regulations
In October 2018, the government announced the ambition that all departments commit to paying 90% of undisputed invoices from SMEs within 5 days. Officials are working with departments to explore how finance systems are able to accomplish this
Departments are required to publish their prompt payment performance on a quarterly basis on GOV.UK.