Topical Questions

Cabinet Office – in the House of Commons at on 24 October 2024.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Sonia Kumar Sonia Kumar Labour, Dudley

If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

Photo of Pat McFadden Pat McFadden Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

As we have heard, last week we had the Second Reading of the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill to modernise the Lords. We have also delivered on our manifesto commitment to hold the first Council of the Nations and Regions. We are working hard to deliver justice for the victims of the infected blood scandal. We have published a written statement today on the implementation of the UK biological security strategy. Finally, we have set out the position on the right balance of flexible working and time in the office for civil servants.

Photo of Sonia Kumar Sonia Kumar Labour, Dudley

What plans does the Cabinet Office have to support small and medium-sized enterprises in building resilience to future economic shocks and crises, to ensure that they can continue to operate under difficult conditions?

Photo of Pat McFadden Pat McFadden Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

Small businesses are the lifeblood of our economy. Our agenda for growth will help small businesses. We are determined to support them. I assure my hon. Friend that they are an important part of our resilience strategy and our resilience review. Earlier this week, the Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office, my hon. Friend Ms Oppong-Asare met a range of businesses to discuss shared goals in respect of resilience and to ensure that they can have input into the strategy we are preparing.

Photo of Oliver Dowden Oliver Dowden Shadow Deputy Prime Minister, Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

Can the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster provide an update on the current situation for British nationals in Lebanon, including the measures being taken to ensure their safety? Are there any plans for further evacuations, given the ongoing instability in that region?

Photo of Pat McFadden Pat McFadden Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

The situation in Lebanon is serious, and there are several thousand UK nationals in Lebanon. The Foreign Office advice for some time has been simple: leave now. The Government have chartered several flights to help UK nationals to leave. We are also running a “register your presence” site, to ensure we can track anyone who is in country and have the best possible communications with them. We have made preparations for other evacuation measures, should they be necessary for the protection of our citizens in Lebanon.

Photo of Oliver Dowden Oliver Dowden Shadow Deputy Prime Minister, Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

I thank the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster for that answer. May I echo from the Opposition Benches that the correct approach for British nationals is to leave now, rather than to rely on the Government to take further steps for them? However, in the event that the situation deteriorates further, what contingency plans do the Government have in place to ensure the swift and safe evacuation of British nationals, particularly in high-risk areas?

Photo of Pat McFadden Pat McFadden Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

We have been monitoring the situation closely for some months. I assure the right hon. Gentleman and the whole House that the Foreign Office, the Ministry of Defence and all parts of Government are putting in place the necessary measures, should the situation on the ground change to a point where we judge that more needs to be done to get people out of the country.

Photo of Ian Lavery Ian Lavery Labour, Blyth and Ashington

The Minister will be well aware that thousands of low-paid workers are being exploited on outsourced contracts in Government buildings, including cleaners, security guards and people in catering. Will he update the House on what progress is being made to in-source these jobs? After all, they are critical to the efficient operation of Parliament.

Photo of Pat McFadden Pat McFadden Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

Whether workers are working in-sourced or outsourced, we always want them to have a good deal and a fair deal at work. That is why the Government brought forward this week a powerful Bill to improve employment rights for people right across the board. We believe that when people go to work they deserve fair pay and decent conditions.

Photo of Luke Taylor Luke Taylor Liberal Democrat Spokesperson (London)

Figures from London councils show that three in 10 Londoners who were turned away from polling stations due to a lack of appropriate voter ID did not return to vote. What assessment has been made of the impact on overall turnout of the voter ID laws implemented by the last Government, particularly when it is understood that those measures disproportionately affect already disenfranchised communities, such as those renting from a social landlord, the unemployed, lower social grades, disabled people and young people?

Photo of Pat McFadden Pat McFadden Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

It is very important that the voter ID system does not prevent people who have a legitimate right to vote from exercising their democratic right, so we are keeping it under review, and we are already making a change to make it easier for veterans to get the ID necessary to vote.

Photo of Emma Lewell-Buck Emma Lewell-Buck Labour, South Shields

Will the duty of candour in the Hillsborough law apply to the 70-year-long nuclear test veterans scandal?

Photo of Nick Thomas-Symonds Nick Thomas-Symonds The Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

I thank my hon. Friend for that question; she is a long-standing champion for justice for victims of the infected blood scandal and, indeed, the nuclear test veterans that she mentioned. We are looking to introduce a broad duty of candour—a general duty of candour. I should also point out that criminal sanctions will be really important to punish the most egregious breaches, and I am pleased to confirm today, as the Prime Minister announced in September, that the Bill we will bring forward will include criminal sanctions.

Photo of Gareth Snell Gareth Snell Labour/Co-operative, Stoke-on-Trent Central

The Minister will be aware that the dire financial inheritance bequeathed by the last Government means that there is rightly a renewed focus on how we spend public money. Will she tell the House what work she is doing across Government to ensure better use of public money, drive down waste and improve efficiency, in particular with regard to consultants?

Photo of Georgia Gould Georgia Gould The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office

As the Minister responsible for public service reform, I am clear that every single pound saved on unnecessary consultancy spend is a pound invested in the renewal of our public services and delivering our ambitious missions to change the country. We are taking tough action to cut down on wasteful consultancy spend. We are acting to stop all non-essential Government consultancy spending this year and to halve Government spending on consultancy in future years, with a target saving of £550 million in 2024-25 and £680 million in 2025-26.

Photo of Brendan O'Hara Brendan O'Hara Scottish National Party, Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber

As you can imagine, Mr Speaker, the people of Scotland are beside themselves with excitement—I would go so far as to say we are fair giddy—at the prospect of receiving a visit from the Prime Minister’s special envoy. As we prepare the red carpet and the massed pipe bands to welcome her, may I ask exactly what was the Cabinet Office’s role in the creation of the post, when we will see a job description published, and when the special envoy will finally take up the post officially?

Photo of Pat McFadden Pat McFadden Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

I thought the hon. Member would be joining me in satisfaction at a nil-nil draw away from home last night. As for the personnel matter that he raised, all I will say is that I am enormously grateful to the Prime Minister’s former chief of staff for her efforts as chief of staff. I do believe that we want good, normal working relationships with the Scottish Government, and anything to do with the post will be announced in due course.

Photo of Adam Jogee Adam Jogee Labour, Newcastle-under-Lyme

Despite representations from me and several members of Madeley parish council requesting action to tackle repeated flood incidents at Bar Hill and particularly Mallard Close, families and businesses in Newcastle-under-Lyme are still being let down by Conservative-run Staffordshire county council. Will the Minister meet me to discuss the resilience review so that we can deliver where others have failed?

Photo of Abena Oppong-Asare Abena Oppong-Asare The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office

As I mentioned earlier, the resilience review will strengthen our approach to resilience across a range of risks we face, including flooding. We have already taken important measures through the creation of the dedicated floods resilience taskforce, the first meeting of which I attended last month.

Photo of Bob Blackman Bob Blackman Chair, Backbench Business Committee, Chair, Backbench Business Committee

The provision of blue-light escorts is clearly a matter of operational policing, but last week my colleagues on the London Assembly wrote to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster asking for an inquiry into the provision of tickets to politicians, including the Labour Mayor of London, and the pressure that was then applied to the Metropolitan police to provide an escort to Taylor Swift. Will the right hon. Gentleman conduct a review so that we can see what happened and ensure that, if mistakes were made, they are rectified and this does not happen again?

Photo of Pat McFadden Pat McFadden Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

These are operational decisions for the police, but I am glad that the person who is currently the biggest pop star in the world was able to play in London, particularly following the threat of a terrorist attack at her previous concerts in Austria. I am glad that the show went on.

Photo of Adam Thompson Adam Thompson Labour, Erewash

It was fantastic to see senior officials from the UK’s closest allies in intelligence meet recently to co-ordinate the fight against fraud, which affects the most vulnerable members of my community in Erewash. What steps have the Government taken to support the Public Sector Fraud Authority to prevent, detect and recover fraud and error?

Photo of Georgia Gould Georgia Gould The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office

At the Five Eyes summit last month, I reiterated this Government’s firm commitment to tackling fraud and learning from our closest intelligence allies. Fraud does not respect international boundaries. This is a top priority for this Government, and we are taking action to build a wide anti-fraud coalition on advanced artificial intelligence and analytics, and to take further action on enforcement.

Photo of Tessa Munt Tessa Munt Liberal Democrat, Wells and Mendip Hills

You will be aware, Mr Speaker, that we are coming to the end of Whistleblowing Awareness Week. Civil servants and others are Ministers’ best friends. They are the people who can indicate where to find evidence of fraud, corruption and other criminal activity. May I press Ministers to create the office of the whistleblower, to give new legal protection, to normalise speaking out and to promote greater public awareness of whistleblowing rights, demonstrating the importance of whistleblowers in a fair, open and transparent society?

Photo of Pat McFadden Pat McFadden Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

The hon. Lady is absolutely right to draw attention to two things: the good work that civil servants do and the valuable role that whistleblowers play. That is why the last time we were in government, we legislated for legal protection for whistleblowers. It is important that people can come forward without fear of what they have to reveal.

Photo of Beccy Cooper Beccy Cooper Labour, Worthing West

The United Nations calculates the human development index, which ranks countries based on GDP per capita, but also includes health and education measures such as life expectancy and school enrolment. As an integral part of our mission-led Government, will the Minister please outline the steps they are taking across Departments to ensure health indicators can be considered alongside economic indicators, as a measure of sustainable growth for our country?

Photo of Ellie Reeves Ellie Reeves Minister without Portfolio , Party Chair, Labour Party

We have seen record numbers of our fellow citizens—2.8 million—excluded from the workforce because of long-term sickness. This Government recognise that taking action to improve health outcomes and address economic inactivity is vital for achieving sustainable economic growth. We will produce a White Paper to get Britain working. That will support other steps that we are taking across Government, creating more good jobs in clean energy through our modern industrial strategy, making work pay and improving the quality of work through our new deal for working people. We are also committed to cutting NHS waiting times, improving mental health support so that we can tackle the root causes of inactivity and fix the foundations.

Photo of Jim Shannon Jim Shannon DUP, Strangford

The Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office, Nick Thomas-Symonds, gave a very helpful reply to a question on infected blood compensation. What discussions has he had with victims and families of the infected blood scandal in Northern Ireland since the final report was published in August this year?

Photo of Nick Thomas-Symonds Nick Thomas-Symonds The Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his interest in this matter and his words of support about the progress the Government have made. Sir Robert Francis conducted an extensive engagement exercise during the general election period, and the Government responded to that by adopting 69 of the 74 recommendations that were subsequently made. I met victims of the scandal in the days before I made the announcement back in August. I also work closely with the Health Ministers of the devolved Administrations, including Northern Ireland.

Photo of Jayne Kirkham Jayne Kirkham Labour/Co-operative, Truro and Falmouth

Can the Minister confirm that the procurement reforms will consider social value and local impact in contracts of Government and partners, such as the Crown Estate and Great British Energy, in important areas where there are World Trade Organisation non-competition exemptions, for example floating offshore wind contracts in the Celtic sea? They can provide a critical boost to the economies of places such as Cornwall.

Photo of Georgia Gould Georgia Gould The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office

I thank my hon. Friend for that question. I can absolutely confirm that we will do everything we can to ensure the new national policy procurement statement drives social value around communities in the UK, in line with our trade obligations.

Photo of Debbie Abrahams Debbie Abrahams Chair, Work and Pensions Committee, Chair, Work and Pensions Committee

I welcome yesterday’s publication of the child poverty taskforce framework. Is the Minister able to say more about the delivery of the strategy, other than that it will come out in spring?

Photo of Pat McFadden Pat McFadden Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

This shows the importance of the issue to the Government. The last time we were in office we reduced child poverty; it is an issue dear to our hearts. That is why the strategy is coming forward and why Ministers are working hard on it. We have been clear since we took office that while we want economic growth throughout the country, we also want the benefits to be felt by people in every part of the country and in every income group.

Photo of Amanda Martin Amanda Martin Labour, Portsmouth North

I am proud to be part of a mission-led Government, but mission-led government is not just about missions; it is about how the Government do that. Does the Minister agree that it should be data-driven?

Photo of Pat McFadden Pat McFadden Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Here, in the spirit of the exchanges this week, I want to pay tribute to something the previous Government did, which was to improve the data operation at the heart of government. That does help when the Government are forming policy. We want to build on that and use data. It is important that we modernise how government works. The accurate use of data can help us to make better policy and that is what we want to do.

Photo of Douglas McAllister Douglas McAllister Labour, West Dunbartonshire

Almost 29,000 families in Scotland benefited from maternity pay last year, worth over £200 million. Does the Minister share my concern about suggestions from a Conservative party leadership candidate that it should be reduced?

Photo of Pat McFadden Pat McFadden Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

I very much share my hon. Friend’s concern. In fact, the only economic policy we have had so far from the Conservative leadership contest has been the suggestion that we reduce maternity pay. That will do nothing for families, nothing for mothers and children, and nothing for the good operation of our economy. I hope they think twice about that suggestion.

Photo of Sarah Owen Sarah Owen Chair, Women and Equalities Committee, Chair, Women and Equalities Committee

Ahead of any Budget, there is always talk about tough decisions. Could the Minister remind us why we are in this difficult position in the first place, and will he please update us on progress on clawing back covid fraud, where we saw taxpayers’ money being handed over to former Ministers’ mates?

Photo of Pat McFadden Pat McFadden Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We knew we would inherit a difficult position, but it was much more difficult than we thought when we came into office. Anybody who objects to difficult decisions announced in the Budget next week should know where the responsibility for those lie: squarely on the shoulders of the Conservative party. It falls to us to clean up the mess we have inherited from the Conservatives. That you will hear more about when the Chancellor gets to her feet next week.

Photo of Graeme Downie Graeme Downie Labour, Dunfermline and Dollar

Over the last few years we have seen an increase in attacks by foreign Governments on UK cyber-security. Will the Minister please update us on what steps his Department is taking to ensure our public services across the UK are fully protected?

Photo of Pat McFadden Pat McFadden Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

This is vital work for the Government. We have a combination of legacy systems with vulnerabilities and, of course, constant investment in new systems to ensure our public services can work in the most modern way. It is really important that we guard against either foreign state interference or other malign actors who would try to disable institutions and disable public services through cyber-attacks. That is an important part of resilience and an important part of protecting services for the public good.

Photo of Alan Gemmell Alan Gemmell Labour, Central Ayrshire

Will my right hon. Friend tell me what steps he is taking to keep Scotland at the heart of the Union and keep Ayrshire’s economy growing?

Photo of Pat McFadden Pat McFadden Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

I believe that people in Scotland have tired of the politics of grievance and division. They expect Governments, whatever their political colour, to work together to promote economic growth, get inward investment in, get good jobs for people and have good public services. Would that not be a refreshing contrast to some of the division we have had in recent years?