Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what guidance his Department has given to other government departments on answering Written Parliamentary Questions using a reference to the gov.uk website without referring hon. Members to a specific page where the information sought can be found.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
Ministers are responsible for the answers they give to Parliamentary questions. As explained within the Guidance on Drafting Answers to Parliamentary Questions, it is the Minister’s right and responsibility to decide on how to fulfil their obligations as set out within the Ministerial Code. Each Department is responsible for issuing their own guidance to employees on the Departmental requirements for answers to Parliamentary Questions.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the effect of individual electoral registration on jury selection and composition.
Answered by John Penrose
The rules governing jury selection and composition are unaffected by the introduction of Individual Electoral Registration (IER). Potential jurors’ names are still selected at random from the electoral register.
IER means that we can prove electors are genuine for the first time and is crucial in ensuring the registers used for jury selection are as accurate as possible.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what plans his Department has to respond to the Electoral Commission's report, Electoral Fraud in the UK, published in January 2014.
Answered by John Penrose
The Government is currently conducting its own review of electoral fraud, led by Sir Eric Pickles MP, which is considering arguments for and against different measures to improve electoral integrity, including those suggested by the Electoral Commission. Recommendations emerging from the review will be put to the Prime Minister in due course.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether it is the Government's policy to increase the membership of the House of Lords by over 100 members during the course of this Parliament.
Answered by John Penrose
The Government does not have a policy of the kind described in this question. Our policy on the House of Lords is described in the Conservative Party election manifesto 2015.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Written Statement of 16 July 2015 by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Cabinet Office, HCWS 127, on individual electoral registration, how much of the funding referred to in that statement has been allocated to each electoral registration office in England.
Answered by John Penrose
In total 103 Local Authorities in England are receiving additional funding to help target their remaining carry forward entries. Almost £570,000 of funding was allocated directly to 53 English authorities where carry forward entries accounted for over 5%, as a proportion of their registers, in May 2015. 59 Local Authorities in England, including 9 which had already received a direct allocation, successfully submitted bids for additional funding, sharing just over £450,000.
The attached table sets out all 103 English authoritieswhich are receiving additional funding directly and those whhich submitted successful bids along with the total amount they are receiving.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much (a) fair price milk and (b) non-fair price milk was purchased for use in 10 Downing Street in August 2015; and what plans he has to ensure that only fair price milk is used at 10 Downing Street in future.
Answered by Matt Hancock
The Prime Minister’s Office is an integral part of the Cabinet Office.
The Cabinet Office adheres to the Government Buying Standards for Food and Catering Services which are mandatory for central Government and its executive agencies, ALBs, NDPBs etc. This is supported in the DEFRA Business Plan to drive sustainable food procurement by the Government and the public sector.
The Government Buying Standards on Food and Catering can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/418072/gbs-food-catering-march2015.pdf
Milk provided for official purposes in the Cabinet Office is supplied by the department’s facilities management provider. Expenditure on milk specifically is not identified separately on the department’s financial systems and, as a result, information on such expenditure is not held centrally.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when the transparency data for Ministerial expenses for his Department will be updated on the gov.uk website to show Ministerial expenses after 30 September 2013.
Answered by Matt Hancock
Ministerial transparency information is available on gov.uk up to June 2014, which can be accessed at the below link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ministers-transparency-publications
Further data will be published in due course.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, which periodicals and newspapers his Department subscribes to; what quantity of each such periodical is so obtained; and what the cost of such subscriptions was in 2014.
Answered by Matt Hancock
The information could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many incidents of shoplifting and theft from shops were reported to police in (a) Preston constituency, (b) Lancashire and (c) the North West in (i) 2010, (ii) 2011, (iii) 2012, (iv) 2013 and (v) 2014.
Answered by Rob Wilson
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people died from smoking-related diseases in each local authority area in Lancashire in 2014.
Answered by Rob Wilson
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.