The below Parliamentary question was asked by Deidre Brock on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, which treaties the UK is a signatory to as a member of the EU which will require renegotiation as a result of the UK leaving the EU.
Mr Robin Walker
We are examining all treaties which relate to our membership of the EU with a view to delivering the best outcomes for the UK.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Deidre Brock on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, whether he plans to seek to maintain freedom of movement throughout the EEA for UK citizens during the negotiations on the UK’s exit from the EU.
Mr David Jones
The Prime Minister has been clear that free movement cannot continue as it has in the past. The precise way in which the government will control the movement of EU nationals to Britain after Brexit is yet to be determined.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Deidre Brock on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, whether he plans to offer freedom of movement for EEA citizens into the UK during the negotiations on the UK’s exit from the EU.
Mr David Jones
The Prime Minister has been clear that free movement cannot continue as it has in the past. The precise way in which the government will control the movement of EU nationals to Britain after Brexit is yet to be determined.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Attorney General, what steps the Law Officers’ Departments have taken to prepare for the UK to leave the EU since 23 June 2016; and what further such steps the Law Officers’ Departments plan to take in the remainder of 2016.
Jeremy Wright
The Department for Exiting the European Union has responsibility for overseeing preparations for the withdrawal of the UK from the EU and conducting these withdrawal negotiations in support of the Prime Minister. In doing this it is working very closely with other government departments, including the Attorney General’s Office, and a wide range of other interested parties.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Hodge on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Attorney General, if he will publish a list of all secondees to the Law Officers’ Departments from (a) PwC, (b) Deloitte, (c) Ernst and Young, (d) KPMG and (e) other consulting firms in the last three financial years; and what the role was of each of those secondees.
Robert Buckland
There have been no secondees from any consulting firm to the Attorney General’s Office, Government Legal Department, Crown Prosecution Service or Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate in the last three financial years.
The Serious Fraud Office had one KPMG employee with them on secondment in 2015-16 covering a Principal Investigator role as an accountant on an operational case team.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Hodge on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Attorney General, how many times the Law Officers’ Departments have used the services of (a) PwC, (b) Deloitte, (c) Ernst and Young, (d) KPMG and (e) other consulting firms in the last three financial years; and what (i) work was undertaken and (ii) the cost to the public purse was on each such occasion.
Jeremy Wright
The Government Legal Department (GLD) and the Attorney General’s Office have not procured any consultancy advice or support in the last three years.
GLD has used two of the firms specified to provide support to litigation cases involving the Ministry of Defence and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The table below shows the amount spent with PwC and KPMG.
|
Supplier |
2013/14 Total Value (Net) |
2014/15 Total Value (Net) |
2015/16 Total Value (Net) |
|
PwC |
£1,187,975 |
£1,221,674 |
£603,938 |
|
KPMG |
£241,920 |
£308,576 |
£208,364 |
Over the past three financial years Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service (HCMPSI) has spent £47,440 on consultancy services to provide general advice and support to the Chief Inspector and £6,662 to assist with a review of the shape and size of HMCPSI.
The table below sets out payments made for the past three financial years by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to the above firms and the reason for payment. None of these payments were for consultancy services. The SFO have engaged some other firms who provide consultancy services but in all cases this was for forensic accounting or expert witness services in support of our investigations rather than consultancy.
|
Supplier |
2013/14 Total Value (Net) |
2014/15 Total Value (Net) |
2015/16 Total Value (Net) |
|
Deloitte |
– |
£8,732 |
– |
|
PwC |
£12,500 |
£1,259 |
£8,262 |
|
KPMG |
– |
£4,800 |
– |
The Deloitte spending related to data recovery. PwC and Ernst & Young expenditure related to payment to an expert witness for an SFO case.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has not incurred any expenditure with PwC, Ernst and Young or KPMG in the last three financial years.
he CPS has incurred expenditure with Deloitte. However, records of each separate engagement are not maintained and the department is therefore unable to confirm the number of times Deloitte’s have been engaged.
Central records of total CPS expenditure are maintained and expenditure with Deloitte’s for each of last financial years is shown in the table below.
Deloitte LLP Milton Keynes
|
Year |
£’s |
|
2013/14 |
9,661 |
|
2014/15 |
20,952 |
|
2015/16 |
26,347 |
|
Total |
56,960 |
The payments relate to building works and associated services in respect of three offices the CPS has lease agreements on and where Deloitte’s act on behalf of the properties landlords.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department has taken to prepare for the UK to leave the EU since 23 June 2016; and what further such steps his Department plans to take in the remainder of 2016.
Chris Skidmore
The Department for Exiting the European Union has responsibility for overseeing preparations for the withdrawal of the UK from the EU and conducting these withdrawal negotiations in support of the Prime Minister. In doing this it is working very closely with other government departments, including a wide range of other interested parties.
I also refer my Hon. Friend to my answers of 7 September 2016, Official Report, Cols. 317-318, on cross-government departmental resourcing.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Elliott on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 10 June 2016 to Question 39163, when the Government expects to publish its analysis of responses to the consultation on the Civil Service Compensation Scheme.
Ben Gummer
The Government has given careful consideration of the responses to the consultation and has sought to continue to engage with trade unions with the aim of reaching agreement on a set of reforms.
We expect to publish the response to the consultation shortly.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, for what reasons the proposals in Early Day Motion 278, on Office of Electoral Integrity, are not incorporated into the roles and responsibilities of the Electoral Commission; and if he will take steps to incorporate such proposals in the Electoral Commission’s remit.
Chris Skidmore
The accuracy of arguments advanced in the course of referendum and election campaigns is not subject to regulation.
The Government will consider this and other issues relating to the regulation of political campaigning, following the publication of the Electoral Commission’s report on the administration of the referendum on the United Kingdom’s membership of the European Union which is expected shortly.
Creating a new body to regulate what candidates and political campaigners could say would have an effect on freedom of speech within the law. Moreover, the proposed regime would be likely to fuel malicious and partisan complaints (and counter-complaints), which would undermine, rather than strengthen, confidence in the democratic process.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what total reduction in government spending has been attributed to policies drawn up by the Behavioural Insights Team since 2010.
Ben Gummer
The Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) does not track the cumulative impact of all its work over time, only some of which focus on reducing spending or increasing revenue collection.
However, BIT has now run some 350 trials, each of which shows the impact of different policy interventions in different contexts. These show that the team has helped to save or bring forward hundreds of millions of pounds of revenue and has made efficiency improvements in many different areas of UK Government policy.
This includes:
-changing the messages in letters from HMRC to late tax payers was part of a group of trials that helped bring forward more than £200m of late tax debts;
-changing the messages in letters sent by Local Authorities to late payers of Council Tax is estimated to bring forward an extra £3m in one local authority alone;
-changing the way that Jobcentres support people back to work has been rolled out to some 25,000 Job Advisors and is expected to help hundreds of thousands of people back to work faster.
-informing GPs who overprescribe antibiotics that most practices prescribe fewer antibiotics than theirs reduces the number of unnecessary prescriptions by around 150,000 per year; and
-working with HMCTS to send personalised text messages to people who were delinquent in their court fines. This intervention, which significantly increased payment rates prior to a bailiff intervention, could raise £860,000 per week if rolled out nationally and prevent up to 150,000 bailiff interventions per year.
BIT also works with governments around the world and is seeing similar effects in its work in Australia, Singapore and with cities across the USA.
These findings, and many others, are published once a year in BIT’s Update Report. The next edition of this is due later this month [September 2016].