Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of including data for a Latin American ethnic group in national statistics.
Answered by Josh Simons - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 8th of December is attached.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what plans he has to ensure (a) Rt hon. and hon. Members and (b) other elected representatives are held to account for (i) misleading the public and (ii) repeating inaccurate information.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Honesty is one of the Seven Principles of Public Life, which form the ethical basis of officeholders' standards in public life. All officeholders, including MPs and other elected representatives, have a responsibility to provide accurate information to the public.
For MPs, the Seven Principles are enshrined in the Commons Code of Conduct. The House has mechanisms available to ensure MPs uphold these standards, and individual MPs are directly accountable to their constituents.
Regarding locally elected representatives, the Government launched a consultation seeking views on proposed measures to strengthen the standards framework for local authorities in England in December 2024. The Government's response will be issued in due course.
In addition, the Public Office (Accountability) Bill, introduced on 16th September, contains an offence of misleading the public. This applies where a public authority or public official acts with the intention of misleading the public (or is reckless as to that possibility) and they know, or ought to know, that their act is seriously improper. The definition of ‘public official’ for this purpose includes ministers.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will create an offence of (a) lying in office and (b) using (i) media and (ii) social media to mislead (A) followers and (B) the public.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare
The Cabinet Office has no plans to create such an offence. All public office-holders are expected to adhere to the Seven Principles of Public Life which includes the principle of honesty.
In addition, ministers are expected to uphold the high standards of conduct set out in the Ministerial Code. MPs and members of the House of Lords must adhere to the relevant parliamentary code of conduct and in the course of their parliamentary duties have a responsibility to provide accurate information to the public and to Parliament, correcting any errors at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Ethics and Integrity Commission will examine donations to MPs from any individual or company that is sanctioned either by the UK or by any other state.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
I refer the honourable member to the answer given to PQ 1251 on 31 July 2024.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what opportunities from the UK's withdrawal from the EU the Minister for Brexit Opportunities has identified to date.
Answered by Jacob Rees-Mogg
This Government is driving forward an ambitious programme to seize the opportunities of leaving the EU, and deliver growth and innovation across the whole of the UK economy. On the 31st January, the Government published a policy document entitled ‘The Benefits of Brexit: how the UK is taking advantage of leaving the EU’, which set out in detail how the Government is seizing the opportunities of leaving the EU, and how the Government will transform the UK into the best regulated in the world. From artificial intelligence and gene-editing, to autonomous vehicles and data, our reforms will give businesses the confidence to innovate, invest and create jobs. We have set a target to cut £1 billion of red tape to help businesses innovate and grow and have set out plans to bring forward the Brexit Freedoms Bill which will end the special status of EU law and ensure it can be more easily amended or removed.
Furthermore, we now have an opportunity to develop and implement a new procurement regime which will enable us to create a simpler and significantly more transparent system that reduces costs for business and the public sector alike as well as supporting the levelling up agenda.