The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Curran on 2014-04-07.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people aged under 25 years in each parliamentary constituency in Scotland have claimed jobseeker’s allowance for more than (a) one and (b) two years in each year since 2010.
Mr Nick Hurd
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2014-04-07.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what discussions he has had with the Department for Communities and Local Government on how building regulations can contribute to his Department’s Building Information Modelling Smart City project.
Mr Francis Maude
As was the case under previous administrations details of internal discussions are not normally disclosed.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Curran on 2014-04-07.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many and what proportion of people in England and Wales identified themselves as (a) British, (b) Scottish and (c) British and Scottish in the 2011 census.
Mr Nick Hurd
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Leslie on 2014-04-07.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, which five companies were used most often to provide temporary workers for his Department in the last financial year; and how much in agency fees was paid to each of them.
Mr Francis Maude
The Prime Minister’s Office is an integral part of the Cabinet Office.
Before the last General Election, including for the entire period while the Hon. Member was a minister in this very department, there were no effective cross-Governmental controls on consultancy spend. Nor were spending controls exercised on other areas such as procurement, advertising and marketing, and IT spend.
That’s all changed and ministers – supported by Cabinet Office officials – now closely scrutinise what we spend on consultants and temporary labour. Departments saved over £1billion in 2012-13 (the last year for which we have audited figures) compared to the spending levels in the final year of the last administration, 2009-10. This helped us save taxpayers £10 billion in 2012-13 against a 2009-10 baseline.
We will continue to spend money on consultants and temporary labour when there is an appropriate business need to do so. Indeed in some cases engaging temporary labour is more flexible and cheaper for the taxpayer than taking on new staff. But we are also ensuring that the Civil Service has the skills needed. Our Capabilities Plan is designed to address long-standing gaps in four particular areas: digital skills, project management skills, commercial skills, and the leadership and management of change.
We publish all spend data over £25,000 and contracts over £10,000 on Gov.uk and Contracts Finder.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Burns on 2014-04-07.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the proportion of young people in (a) Chelmsford constituency and (b) Essex who have been unemployed for more than 12 months.
Mr Nick Hurd
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Buck on 2014-04-07.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will rank each English local authority by the (a) percentage and (b) actual change in (i) total and (ii) per capita expenditure on all provisions for young people since 2010.
Mr Nick Hurd
The information requested is collected by Department for Education and published on gov.uk. I have asked that this information for each year since 2010 is placed in the Library of the House as soon as is practicable.
Figures for actual spend by local authority in 2013-14 will be available in December 2014.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Buck on 2014-04-07.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much each local authority in England reported as its (a) budgeted and (b) outturn expenditure on all youth work and provision of activities for young people in each year since 2010.
Mr Nick Hurd
The information requested is collected by Department for Education and published on gov.uk. I have asked that this information for each year since 2010 is placed in the Library of the House as soon as is practicable.
Figures for actual spend by local authority in 2013-14 will be available in December 2014.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Kirby on 2014-04-07.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what his policy is on ensuring that Government IT initiatives represent best value for money; and if he will make a statement.
Mr Nick Hurd
After the 2010 General Election, this Government formed the Efficiency and Reform Group to help and support departments in maximising value for money. Although responsibility for projects remains the responsibility of individual departments, we introduced strict controls to provide further scrutiny of spend including on IT projects.
These controls can and have been used by the Cabinet Office to block inappropriate spending. In 2012-13 alone these controls helped us save taxpayers over £500 million from IT, contributing to overall efficiency savings of £10billion in 2012-13 (the last year for which we have audited figures).
We have clarified our ‘red lines’ for IT procurement – these are designed to encourage competition in the sector, free the government from longstanding inflexible contracts with IT providers and ensure maximum taxpayer value. These rules include:
· we will no longer let ICT contracts over £100 million in value – unless there is an exceptional reason to do so. Contracts should be smaller to ensure the widest possible range of suppliers can compete for them.
· we will not give a contract for service provision to a company providing the system integration function in the same part of government. It’s an important way of ensuring we are an intelligent customer.
· we won’t extend existing contracts unless there is a compelling case – it’s rare to find any good reason to extend the pricing and technology of the past.
· we do not expect to let hosting contracts for more than 2 years. The cost of hosting seems to halve every 18 months. Businesses wouldn’t sign up for years upon end – and neither should government.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Kirby on 2014-04-07.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether it is his policy to encourage civil servants to use video conferencing in order to reduce costs; and if he will make a statement.
Mr Francis Maude
Yes. Video conferencing can be used to reduce costs but specialist equipment can be required. Officials and ministers also make use of telephone conferencing.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Stevenson on 2014-04-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much compensation was paid by the Land Registry following fraudulent registrations in each year since 2005.
Michael Fallon
Indemnity figures are published in Land Registry’s annual report and accounts and the information for the years requested is collated below:
|
Financial Year |
Indemnity paid due to fraud and forgery (£)* |
|
2005/06 |
9,834,617.73 |
|
2006/07 |
2,123,496.34 |
|
2007/08 |
3,953,378.02 |
|
2008/09 |
5,074,113.43 |
|
2009/10 |
4,947,650.06 |
|
2010/11 |
7,367,416.18 |
|
2011/12 |
7,190,094.82 |
|
2012/13 |
5,101,916.00 |
|
2013/14 |
7,209,713.53 |
*Substantive loss plus costs