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  • Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will publish his Department’s consultation response on the proposal for a combined headquarters and policy centre in London.

    Joseph Johnson

    The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) recognises the interest in its decision to establish a combined headquarters and policy centre in London, which is why a summary of the decision and its rationale was issued on BIS’ website, and why a Written Ministerial Statement was laid informing all MPs on the day of the decision.

    The document was written specifically with staff in mind as a piece of internal communications and as a response to the staff consultation BIS conducted. The Department’s top priority is ensuring staff have the most up to date and accurate information about the support available to them. We have no plans to publish the document because it contains information on issues which are the subject of on-going internal discussions with staff.

  • Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-06-07.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will estimate the amount of funding that will be made available to each part of the UK for science, education and research purposes through EU schemes in the post-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework.

    Mr David Gauke

    EU science, education and research schemes are awarded on the basis of excellence and are not pre-allocated. As a world leader in these sectors, the UK has a strong track record at securing these funds – in recent years around 15% of such receipts from Horizon 2020, the EU’s main research programme, have gone to the UK. The deal secured by the Government on the 2014-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) resulted in an increase of over one third in the proportion of the EU budget spent on competitiveness, research, innovation and university funding. In addition, Horizon 2020’s budget was almost 30% higher in real terms than its predecessor programme. The post-2020 MFF has not been proposed.

  • Stephen Kinnock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Stephen Kinnock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Kinnock on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether account is being taken in the proposed sale of the Land Registry of whether interested bidders are based in tax havens; what assessment his Department made in the awarding of such contracts of the competitive advantage given to companies based in tax havens; and what recent discussions he has had with his Ministerial colleagues on banning companies based in tax havens from purchasing assets sold during privatisations.

    Anna Soubry

    No decision on the future of Land Registry has been taken and as such, no bids have been received. The consultation on moving operations of Land Registry to the private sector closed on 26 May and Government are currently reviewing the responses. Until this is completed, no decision will be made.

  • Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many Freedom of Information requests have been refused by his Department in the last 12 months.

    Matthew Hancock

    Statistics in relation to Freedom of information requests are publically available on gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics

  • Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many officials of his Department have specific policy responsibility for deregulation.

    Matthew Hancock

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to him on 11 March 2016 to UIN: 29744.

  • Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to promote a whistleblowing culture in his Department.

    Matthew Hancock

    This Government has taken a number of steps to ensure effective whistleblowing practices are in place across Departments and to raise the profile and awareness of whilstleblowing. Updated and refreshed model whistleblowing policies are in place across all departments, providing information on sources of support available to whistleblowers, including access to employee assistance programmes, and advice on accessing legal support. In addition, we have improved support for Nominated Offices, and Departments have introduced dedicated whistleblowing hotlines and are publishing case studies on departmental intranet sites to build confidence that cases will be heard fairly and appropriately.

    The Cabinet Office has developed a new data collection tool to enable HR Directors to collect information on whistleblowing cases including how cases have been resolved, identification of systemic issues, and lessons learned. Departments are using this tool to report to their Departmental Boards, and to the Cabinet Office, on a 6 monthly basis.

    More details on action taken by specific Departments, including the first set of data collated by Departments, can be found in the Cabinet Office’s recent report to the Public Accounts Committee: http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/public-accounts-committee/whistleblowing-recall/written/31692.html

    “

  • Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what progress he has made on bringing forward proposals for a modern public services ombudsman in the last three months.

    John Penrose

    The Government is making good progress and will publish draft legislation in due course.

  • Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what proportion of people appointed to public bodies are women.

    Matthew Hancock

    The Government is committed to increasing the diversity of public appointments and​ has an​ aspiration that 50% of new public appointees should be women. We are making ​good ​progress, with 44% of new appointments made to women in 2014-2015, up from 39% the previous year. For many years, the figure on appointments was between 32-36%, 44% is the highest figure since records began.

  • Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to promote a whistleblowing culture across the civil service.

    Matthew Hancock

    This Government has taken a number of steps to ensure effective whistleblowing practices are in place across Departments and to raise the profile and awareness of whilstleblowing. Updated and refreshed model whistleblowing policies are in place across all departments, providing information on sources of support available to whistleblowers, including access to employee assistance programmes, and advice on accessing legal support. In addition, we have improved support for Nominated Offices, and Departments have introduced dedicated whistleblowing hotlines and are publishing case studies on departmental intranet sites to build confidence that cases will be heard fairly and appropriately.

    The Cabinet Office has developed a new data collection tool to enable HR Directors to collect information on whistleblowing cases including how cases have been resolved, identification of systemic issues, and lessons learned. Departments are using this tool to report to their Departmental Boards, and to the Cabinet Office, on a 6 monthly basis.

    More details on action taken by specific Departments, including the first set of data collated by Departments, can be found in the Cabinet Office’s recent report to the Public Accounts Committee: http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/public-accounts-committee/whistleblowing-recall/written/31692.html

    “

  • Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the terms of reference are for the new Anti-corruption Innovation Hub.

    Matthew Hancock

    The Anti-Corruption Innovation Hub is a virtual network which brings together government, civil society, law enforcement, technologists and the private sector to share cross-sector expertise and new ideas on how to tackle corruption.