Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many civil servants are engaged in negotiations with the EU on a post-transition period trade deal.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
Negotiations with the EU are led by Task Force Europe. This is a small central unit within the Prime Minister’s Office led by the Chief Negotiator David Frost and currently has 42 staff. These negotiations are a cross-departmental effort and accordingly involve a larger number of staff overall. For example, more than a hundred UK staff have been involved in recent negotiating rounds, supported by FCO officials and others.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many civil servants have been re-deployed to support the Government's response to the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The Government's number one priority is the response to the covid-19 outbreak. As such many civil servants within departments are working on different aspects of the overall response to the pandemic, and have been redeployed to do so. Comprehensive details of these internal redeloyments are not held centrally. The Government Resourcing Hub is also moving civil servants to COVID-19 roles across different departments.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether EU nationals will be eligible to stand as candidates in the county council elections scheduled for May 2021.
Answered by Chloe Smith
Further to the response given to PQ 1802 on 29 January 2020, there has been no change to the rights of EU citizens resident in the UK to stand and vote in local elections. The Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly are responsible for their own franchises.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, who enforces the Ministerial Code against the Prime Minister; and what the process is of that enforcement.
Answered by Chloe Smith
Paragraph 1.6 of the Ministerial Code sets out that Ministers are personally responsible for deciding how to act and conduct themselves in the light of the Code and for justifying their actions and conduct to Parliament and the public.
The Ministerial Code should be read against the background of the overarching duty on Ministers to comply with the law and to protect the integrity of public life.