Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the Answer of 17 March 2023 to Question 165420 on Broadband: Leicestershire, what recent progress her Department has made on delivering fast and reliable broadband in (a) Bosworth constituency and (b) Leicestershire.
Answered by John Whittingdale
We continue to make good progress in delivering fast, reliable broadband across the UK. Over 69% of premises in Bosworth can now access a gigabit-capable broadband connection. This is up from 67% in March 2023. Gigabit-capable coverage across Leicestershire has risen from 70% to over 72% in the same period.
On 23 March 2023 Building Digital UK (BDUK) launched a procurement, as part of Project Gigabit, inviting broadband suppliers to bid for a contract to bring gigabit-capable broadband to premises in Leicestershire, including in Bosworth, that are currently not in broadband suppliers' commercial plans.
Leicestershire County Council is also continuing to deliver a GigaHubs project, funded by BDUK, which is due to be completed in March 2024. This project includes the delivery of gigabit-capable broadband to 12 public sector sites in Bosworth that are not due to be covered commercially. To date, a connection has already been delivered to two of these sites; Barlestone CE Primary and Desford Library.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to (a) incentivise and (b) support domestic food production.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is backing British farmers with £2.4 billion of investment every year. In May 2023 the Prime Minister and the Defra Secretary of State met with representatives from across the whole UK supply chain, from farm to fork, for a Summit on how Government and industry can work together to support a thriving UK food industry. Support for farmers includes our Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes. These schemes will ensure our long-term food security by investing in the foundations of food production: healthy soil, water and biodiverse ecosystems. ELM schemes have been developed so that there is an offer for all farm types, including for tenant farmers.
ELM includes the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI). This pays farmers for actions that support food production and can help improve farm productivity and resilience, while protecting and improving the environment. It has been expanded and made more flexible in response to farmers’ feedback, with 23 actions on offer under the new and improved 2023 scheme, including on soil health, moorland, hedgerows, integrated pest management, farmland wildlife, buffer strips, and low input grassland. In recognition of the challenges faced with inflation and rising input costs, the Government has confirmed farmers will receive a payment in the first month of their Sustainable Farming Incentive 2023 (SFI) agreement to help with cashflow. The scheme will open for applications from 18 September. Before then farmers can contact the RPA to join the thousands of farm businesses that have already expressed their interest in applying.
ELM also includes Countryside Stewardship (CS) and Landscape Recovery (LR). CS will pay farmers and land managers to look after and improve the environment in specific habitats, features and local areas. LR is for landowners and managers who want to take a more large-scale, long-term approach to producing environmental and climate goods on their land. LR projects will demonstrate how food production and environmental delivery can go hand in hand.
The Government has also confirmed that farmers producing sustainable British food under ELM schemes will be able to use them to help meet public procurement standards, benefiting our British farmers and allowing the public sector to benefit from more excellent British food. We are providing tailored business advice to all farmers. We have cut red tape, brought in fair enforcement regimes, and helped the sector access the seasonal labour it needs. We are looking closely at the Shropshire review into labour shortages in the food chain that we commissioned to see how we can go further.
We are also reviewing supply chain fairness in the sector: the Government announced in July that it plans to introduce regulations this autumn to make sure supply contracts in the dairy sector are fair and transparent, meaning farmers can challenge prices or raise concerns with contracts more easily. This represents a key milestone in our commitment to promote fairness and transparency across food supply chains to support farmers and build a stronger future for the industry, and will be followed by reviews into the egg and horticulture sector supply chains this Autumn to ensure farmers are paid a fair price. We will also identify opportunities to remove unnecessary burdens for Small Abattoirs. We are also trying to unlock opportunities for genetic technologies.
Further information on how we are supporting farmers can be found on our webpage: Our record on farming: 30 actions we have taken to support our farmers and growers.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many individuals were (a) prosecuted and (b) convicted of offences relating to procurement fraud against (i) private sector companies and (ii) public sector organisations in each of the last four financial years.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice publishes information on the number of defendants prosecuted and convicted for various offences under the Fraud Act 2006 in the Outcomes by Offence data tool: December 2022.
However, whether the offences relate to procurement or payroll fraud specifically, and whether they were against private or public sector companies, is not held centrally in the Court Proceedings database. This information may be held on court records but to examine individual court records would be of disproportionate costs.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were (a) prosecuted and (b) convicted of offences relating to payroll fraud against (i) private sector companies and (ii) public sector organisations in each of the last four financial years.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice publishes information on the number of defendants prosecuted and convicted for various offences under the Fraud Act 2006 in the Outcomes by Offence data tool: December 2022.
However, whether the offences relate to procurement or payroll fraud specifically, and whether they were against private or public sector companies, is not held centrally in the Court Proceedings database. This information may be held on court records but to examine individual court records would be of disproportionate costs.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps their Department is taking to improve its digital services to provide better (a) accessibility and (b) user experience for the public.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office Digital, Data and Technology strategy refers to accessibility several times and we have published our Accessibility Standard and guidance.
Our Accessibility Assurance team has 4 consultants. They drive greater accessibility of the products developed/procured/used by Home Office, to reduce the risks that disabled people cannot use our services. They improve the capability, confidence and culture of teams to meet our Accessibility Standard and legal requirements. Together we develop and embed the standard into processes and professions, then assess the efficacy of controls to meet it.
For example our intranet team recently influenced Microsoft to fix a number of accessibility issues in SharePoint which will benefit our own users and others around the world.
We provide a monthly Introduction to Accessibility course that is open to all staff and mandatory for those working in user centred design. After a year of training our Quality Assurance and Test colleagues, embedded in delivery teams, have taken on primary responsibility for testing against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
We are organisational members of the International Association for Accessibility Professionals and the Business Disablity Forum as well as managing the cross-government accessibility community. We use these to stay abreast of the latest thinking and good practices.We are also working strategically across government on procurement policy, to get the commercial sector to supply accessible products for staff and public users.
User-centred design (UCD) and accessibility are integral to our approach to improve usability of the Home Office's digital services. We are committed to making our services and products more usable in our Home Office Digital, Data and Technology strategy and departmental outcome delivery plan.
The Home Office has a thriving community of over 300 practitioners in UCD, which comprises User Research, Interaction Design, Service Design and Content Design roles. Our UCD practitioners are deployed across projects in migration and borders, public protection and internal services. There is a professional support and management structure in place to oversee and develop our practice and provide assurance, tools and training to ensure our work is of high quality.
Our community of practitioners follow the best practice from the Government Service Standard, which places the emphasis on understanding user's needs. We also have a usability testing facility in Croydon and we are a Market Research Society Company Partner.
Our current focus in UCD is growing our community through permanent recruitment and our digital development programme.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to (a) reform public procurement supply chains and (b) introduce dynamic procurement systems.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We consulted last summer on options to update our public sector food procurement standards. This included seeking views on ensuring that a diverse range of suppliers, including small and medium enterprises (SMEs), are better able to access the public sector. The Government response is due later this year. Meanwhile, we continue to work with the Crown Commercial Service, who are developing a new commercial agreement which will enable public sector buyers to access SME food suppliers through an easy-to-use online portal. More broadly, Defra is working closely with the Cabinet Office to prepare for implementation of the wider procurement reform measures in the Procurement Bill currently being debated in Parliament.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of increasing the proportion of British food in public procurement contracts on (a) society, (b) the economy and (c) the environment.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK produces world leading quality food and drink, demonstrating excellence in animal welfare and sustainable production standards. Defra’s consultation on food and catering policy sought views on a number of proposals to update the Government Buying Standards for Food and Catering Services. This included ways of meeting the Government’s manifesto commitment encouraging the public sector to procure British food to support the environment, animal welfare and our farmers. In updating the standards, we must ensure we meet our domestic and international legal obligations, in particular under the WTO Government Procurement Agreement. We will publish the consultation findings, alongside updated standards and guidance later this year.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to ensure more home-grown sustainable food is (a) bought, (b) made and (c) sold through public procurement contracts.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK produces world leading quality food and drink, demonstrating excellence in animal welfare and sustainable production standards. Defra’s consultation on food and catering policy sought views on a number of proposals to update the Government Buying Standards for Food and Catering Services. This included ways of gaining greater clarity on how widely sustainable UK-grown food and ingredients are used in public sector canteens and kitchens. Changes to the standards must be proportionate and strike a balance between providing information on the impact of government policy and managing burdens on business. We will publish the consultation findings, alongside updated standards and guidance later this year.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether their Department has purchased products manufactured by (a) Hikvision and (b) Dahua in the last three years.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We can confirm that the DWP has not contracted directly with either of the named suppliers during the period in question. As has been the case under successive administrations, it is not government policy to comment on the government’s security arrangements. This includes any specific details regarding the make and model of security systems, which are withheld on national security grounds. Each Department is responsible for their own procurement decisions. Details of Government contracts above £10,000, and £25,000 in the wider public sector, are published on Contracts Finder here.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department is taking steps to prevent public contracts being awarded to companies that blacklist workers.rs.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Employment Relations Act 1999 (Blacklists) Regulations 2010 prohibit the compilation, usage, sale or supply of blacklists. The Public Contracts Regulations 2015 contain exclusion grounds which allow contracting authorities to exclude suppliers from procurements where their tender does not comply with labour law or where the supplier is guilty of grave professional misconduct. A breach of the Blacklists Regulations on a particular tender would render the supplier liable to exclusion and a breach more widely may amount to grave professional misconduct.
In all cases, individual departments and other public sector bodies are responsible for their own decisions on these matters
The Procurement Bill introduced by the Government, currently in the final stages of debate in Parliament, builds on and clarifies the exclusions measures in the existing regime. This includes specific measures enabling the exclusion of suppliers for labour market misconduct and professional misconduct.