The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-11-04.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether organisations considered in-scope under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 have submitted Certificates of Performance to the Crown Commercial Service for each in-scope stand-alone public contract as required under those Regulations.
Matthew Hancock
The Public Contracts Regulations 2015 do not require the submission of Certificates of Performance.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-11-03.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Shares for Rights scheme.
Damian Hinds
No assessment has been made of the effectiveness of employers offering employee shareholder shares to their employees.
Employee shareholder status has been carefully designed as light touch and accessible, and to conduct an assessment of the policy effectiveness would require detailed information gathering from businesses and employees. There is no requirement on any company wishing to offer an employee shareholder contract to contact or notify any Government department or agency in advance or ‘apply’ to Government if they intend to use this measure.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-11-16.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much his Department spent in legal costs on the Information Rights Tribunal case on the Reducing Regulation Sub-Committee Freedom of Information request.
Mr Oliver Letwin
Litigation and Counsel’scostswill be accounted for at the end of the process.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-11-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate he has made of the cost of using external agencies for recruitment to Senior Civil Service posts in his Department in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
Mr Edward Vaizey
As part of its long-term economic plan, this Government has reduced the size of the Civil Service by 22%, adjusting for Machinery of Government changes that moved staff into and out of the Civil Service since the 2010 General Election, representing a significant increase in efficiency and productivity that helped save taxpayers £2.8 billion last year alone.
In the past five years, Department costs for using external agencies in the recruitment of two Senior Civil Service posts are recorded as below:
|
Financial Year |
Recruitment Costs (£) |
|
2011/2012 |
|
|
2012/2013 |
|
|
2013/2014 |
|
|
2014/2015 |
£33,019.00 |
|
2015/2016 |
£26,300.00 |
Background Information
We hold no records for years 2011/2012, 2012/2013, 2013/2014.The Department has used external agencies to recruit for specialist SCS roles. Departments have a number of routes available to them to procure recruitment agency services. These include their own departmental procurement processes and the Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS), which has been in place since April 2014.
The roles recruited for were Chief Executive of BDUK and Deputy Director of Telecoms Business Intelligence Centre
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-11-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will take steps to ensure that all UK Pension schemes are aware of (a) the findings of the Law Commission’s report on Fiduciary Duties of Investment Intermediaries, published in June 2014, HC 368, and (b) related guidance to be issued by the Pensions Regulator.
Justin Tomlinson
The Pensions Regulator has already taken steps to ensure that occupational pension schemes are aware of the findings of the Law Commission’s report on fiduciary duties.
In October 2014 The Pensions Regulator emailed over 37,000 pension scheme trustees to make them aware of the Law Commission’s report, and the guidance produced by the Law Commission on pension trustees’ duties.
The Pensions Regulator has also updated its ‘trustee toolkit’ training materials to reflect the Law Commission’s findings, and is updating its investment guidance with new material with reflects the Law Commission’s conclusions. This includes the revised Code of Practice and guidance for running defined contribution schemes, which is currently published for consultation.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-12-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many civil servants in her Department are in the redeployment pool.
Karen Bradley
There are 104 staff in the redeployment pool. This data is from the Home Office redeployment database.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-12-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans the NHS has to make use of (a) information technology and (b) informatics to improve the delivery of healthcare.
George Freeman
The Government’s policy for using information technology to improve the delivery of healthcare and transform outcomes for patients and citizens was set out in the National Information Board Framework for Action: Personalised Heath and Care 2020, published in November 2014. The document is available from:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/personalised-health-and-care-2020
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-01-11.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 7 December 2015 to Question 17801, what the evidential basis is for his statement that civil service job satisfaction remains high and wellbeing has increased.
Matthew Hancock
The Civil Service People Survey provides annual data on staff engagement and wellbeing. The survey, which is undertaken each October, had 279,653 individuals in 96 organisations respond in 2015.
The latest results show that we continue to see high scores for questions on whether people are interested in their work (89%), have the skills they need to do their job (88%) and are trusted to do their job effectively (88%). We can also see that measures of life satisfaction, feeling worthwhile and happiness have increased since last year and are now all 3 percentage points above their initial 2012 position.
More information can be found athttps://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-people-survey-2015-results
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-01-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what progress he has made on the Pub Loan Fund; and when he expects that fund to be accessible to community groups.
Mr Marcus Jones
Good progress is being made on the development of the pubs loan fund. We hope to be in a position to make a more formal announcement shortly with communities being able to access the support later in the Spring.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-01-27.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the findings were of the Commercial Capability Review conducted by Bain & Company for the Efficiency and Reform Group.
Matthew Hancock
The Cabinet Office used 4 FTE over a nine month period in 2014 and 2015, to cover 10 Commercial Capability Reviews. Bain & Company supported the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury with providing assurance that departments were on track with clear plans to ensure they have the right commercial capability, both in the short-term and for their future functions.
The findings of the review, along with updates on progress since the Reviews were conducted, can be found within the Cabinet Office’s December 2015 submission to the Public Accounts Committee: http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/public-accounts-committee/followup-on-transforming-contract-management/written/27765.pdf
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