Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much and what proportion of the Government's £290 billion annual public sector procurement expenditure has been spent in each region of the UK in each of the last five financial years.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
This information is not held centrally.
The UK spends some £290 billion on public procurement every year. This huge amount of government spending must be leveraged to play its part in the UK’s economic recovery, opening up public contracts to more small businesses and social enterprises to innovate in public service delivery, and meeting our net-zero carbon target by 2050. The Government has already reviewed the Green Book to ensure it supports “levelling up” and is taking other steps for example through the National Infrastructure Strategy to ensure vibrant and resilient supply chains. Our ambitious plans for reform, set out in our recently published Green Paper on transforming procurement, aim to create a simpler regime that reduces costs for business and the public sector alike whilst complying with our international obligations.
The Government is committed to working to improve action to tackle modern slavery in supply chains, and has published commercial policy and guidance which advocates a systematic approach to identifying and tackling modern slavery and labour abuses in government supply chains, focussing on areas of the highest risk. We are keeping this matter under close review.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much and what proportion of the Government's £290 billion annual public sector procurement expenditure has been spent with or on (a) the private sector, (b) the voluntary sector, (c) SMEs, (d) public sector bodies, (e) goods and (f) services in each of the last five financial years.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
This information is not held centrally.
The UK spends some £290 billion on public procurement every year. This huge amount of government spending must be leveraged to play its part in the UK’s economic recovery, opening up public contracts to more small businesses and social enterprises to innovate in public service delivery, and meeting our net-zero carbon target by 2050. The Government has already reviewed the Green Book to ensure it supports “levelling up” and is taking other steps for example through the National Infrastructure Strategy to ensure vibrant and resilient supply chains. Our ambitious plans for reform, set out in our recently published Green Paper on transforming procurement, aim to create a simpler regime that reduces costs for business and the public sector alike whilst complying with our international obligations.
The Government is committed to working to improve action to tackle modern slavery in supply chains, and has published commercial policy and guidance which advocates a systematic approach to identifying and tackling modern slavery and labour abuses in government supply chains, focussing on areas of the highest risk. We are keeping this matter under close review.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 18 March 2021 to Question, what the specific boundaries are of central London where 22,000 civil servants will be relocated from; and which specific regions those civil servants will be relocated to.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government is committed to relocating 22,000 civil service roles from central London to the regions and nations of the UK by the end of the decade. A number of announcements have been made on Places for Growth locations. This includes the Cabinet Office establishing a second headquarters in Glasgow, a joint headquarters for FCDO in East Kilbride, DfT building on its presence in Leeds and Birmingham, and a new economic campus in Darlington. Further announcements for other departments will be made in due course.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much David Cameron has received from the public purse since he resigned as Prime Minister and hon. Member in 2016; and what the purpose was of such payments.
Answered by Chloe Smith
Former Prime Ministers are entitled to claim the Public Duty Cost Allowance, which is the reimbursement of incurred expenses for necessary office and secretarial costs arising from the fulfilment of public duties. Amounts claimed each year are set out in the Cabinet Office Annual Report and Accounts.
Ministers of the Crown are eligible to receive a severance payment of three months of their Ministerial salary, as outlined in the Ministerial and other Pensions and Salaries Act 1991 (as amended).
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the total cost to the public purse of (a) refurbishments and (b) renovations to No.10 Downing Street since July 2019 has been notified to the Cabinet Secretary.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The Downing Street complex is a working building, as well as containing two Ministerial residences. As has been the case under successive administrations, refurbishments and maintenance are made periodically.
Works to the Downing Street estate are overseen by the Cabinet Office. It is not the practice of successive administrations to comment on which officials have been consulted or advised on matters.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much the Government has spent on settling legal disputes, including legal costs, with former employees and civil servants since 2019.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
This information is not held centrally.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many of the specialised committees and sub-committees established under the UK–EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement have (a) held meetings and (b) organised meetings for 2021.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
The dates of the first meetings of the committees established under the UK - EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement have not yet been agreed with the EU. We are carefully considering the establishment of these committees, including the UK chairs and delegations, so that they can begin their formal business after ratification has been completed.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much has been spent engaging with UK businesses on how they adapt to the new UK-EU trading relationship since the end of the transition period.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
Ministers across government have been speaking directly to hundreds of businesses across the country, including through the Business Brexit Task Force, to develop a shared vision and plan for the future. Such engagement has been integral to support businesses in adapting to our new trading relationship with the EU and to continue to successfully compete on the global stage.
The Cabinet Office is consistently tracking and reviewing spend on the UK Transition campaign to ensure our communications to businesses and citizens are efficient. The Cabinet Office is committed to scrutiny and transparency. Details of spend of over £500, including on public information campaigns, are published on a rolling basis on gov.uk - https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/cabinet-office-spend-data.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much has been spent on adverts on news websites promoting the success of UK businesses in adapting to the new trading arrangements with the EU.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to PQ 33512.
The cross-government Transition communication campaign is guiding and supporting businesses and citizens to adapt to new arrangements since the end of the Transition Period. The campaign has used national advertising including TV, SMS, Radio, Press, Print, Digital and outdoor advertising across owned, earned and paid for channels.
The Cabinet Office is consistently tracking and reviewing spend on the Transition campaign to ensure our communications are efficient. Campaign spend is proportionate to ensure UK businesses and consumers know what they need to do to make sure they adapt and thrive under the new rules.
Details of spend over £500, including on public information campaigns, is published on a monthly basis on gov.uk - https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/cabinet-office-spend-data.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what voucher schemes the currently advertised £3.3 billion contract relates to.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government has a longstanding commitment to the principle of transparency in procurement.
We have recently launched our Green Paper on transforming the UK’s public procurement regulations. The proposals outline specific measures to strengthen transparency throughout the commercial lifecycle and make sure we can have a choice of direct award and more competitive tendering during crises.
The Crown Commercial Service aims to create a framework which will provide an efficient and compliant route to market for public sector bodies for a broad range of voucher schemes. A Prior Information Notice was issued to the market on 29th January 2021 and stakeholder engagement is ongoing, prior to the issuance of a formal contract notice. The maximum potential value of call offs by the public sector is anticipated to be £3.3bn over the lifecycle of this framework agreement.
The framework agreement will not deliver voucher based reward and recognition schemes to employees but will cover a wide range of voucher types, such as to reward and incentivise the general public (i.e. in response to completing surveys) and to provide support to those in times of need or distress.