Chloe Smith: The European Union (Withdrawal) Bill will convert European Union law into UK law as it applies in the UK at the moment of exit. This will ensure that, wherever possible, the same rules and laws will apply the day after exit as they did before. The Government is still making a detailed assessment of what corrections will be required to make that law function appropriately on exit day. The...
Chloe Smith: The Government has consistently made clear our objective of maintaining as seamless and frictionless border as possible so that everyday movements across the border can continue as they do now. This is a desire shared with the EU and with Ireland. As agreed in the September negotiating round, we are working with the Commission Task Force to do some detailed joint scoping of the issues...
Chloe Smith: Details of meetings conducted by the Secretary of State, the Ministerial team and the Permanent Secretary are published quarterly. The latest publication can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nio-ministerial-q uarterly-returns-january-march-2017. Other officials across the department, in carrying out their duties, also meet a wide range of non-governmental...
Chloe Smith: The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland meets with a wide range of government officials and external organisations in the course of his duties. He has not met with the Government Chief Scientific Adviser in the last three months.
Chloe Smith: EU Exit affects a number of work areas across the Department and will therefore encompass a proportion of workload for many staff, the amount of which will vary over time. The Department has recently restructured its approach to the way it handles EU Exit work, moving from a central EU Exit co-ordinating team of 7 to a position in which core EU Exit work is distributed more widely across the...
Chloe Smith: Ministers in the Northern Ireland Office have had no discussions with the Northern Ireland Assembly on guidance to improve the safety of painkillers as this is a devolved matter. We want to see a restored Executive to take forward policy decisions in devolved areas and to provide the political decision making that Northern Ireland needs.
Chloe Smith: The Northern Ireland Office does not carry out any function requiring the procurement of steel.
Chloe Smith: The Government is clear that the Belfast Agreement must be considered and safeguarded throughout the exit process, as a whole and in all its parts. We are, therefore, putting support for the Agreement at the heart of our approach. That is why we want to enshrine our support for the Agreement - and the citizenship rights it guarantees - in the UK’s withdrawal agreement.
Chloe Smith: Maintaining effective North-South cross-border co-operation remains a key objective for the UK Government, both now, and as the UK leaves the EU, in accordance with the democratically expressed wishes of the people. For this reason, the Government’s Northern Ireland and Ireland Position Paper has clearly set out the need to focus in the initial phases of the Ireland Northern Ireland...
Chloe Smith: Pursuant to the answer to question 8744, my Department has received sub-let income of £43,751 from the Civil Service Commissioners for Northern Ireland since 2013-14 and £20,000 from the Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland since 2016-17. Both of these organisations are still sub-letting accommodation from the Northern Ireland Office.
Chloe Smith: Pursuant to my previous answer to question 7938, I can confirm that the two daily rate contracts were awarded to Mercator IT Solutions for specialist independent services to assist in the introduction of a new IT platform, and the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) for specialist independent services to assist in improving financial management processes. The final...
Chloe Smith: The procurement that took more than one year to complete was to award a contract to carry out the installation and maintenance of security measures under the auspices of the Northern Ireland Office's Home Protection Scheme.
Chloe Smith: The number of staff in my Department who have received a pay increase above, at, or less than 1% in 2015-16 is shown in the table below. To collate a response for years 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 would exceed the cost limit. Increase in basic salary 2015-16 Headcount Less than 1% 0 1% increase 86 Greater than 1% 3 Total 89 This response covers only Home Civil Servants...
Chloe Smith: No Civil Servants in my Department are part of the Government Commercial Function.
Chloe Smith: From 1 April 2016, only one individual left under an exit scheme. Due to the risk of identification their gender cannot be disclosed.
Chloe Smith: Details of the number, type, compensation levels and cost of exits from Northern Ireland Office are routinely published in the Department’s Annual Report and Accounts.
Chloe Smith: Tourism is a devolved policy area, meaning that the Northern Ireland Executive has responsibility for the promotion and delivery of the tourism offer within Northern Ireland. Tourism Ireland is responsible for marketing the island of Ireland overseas. VisitBritain and Tourism Northern Ireland recently signed a partnership agreement where they will work together on specific projects to...
Chloe Smith: My Department has not received any services from the Behavioural Insights Team since 2014.
Chloe Smith: My Department has not paid letting fees for its estate in the period requested.
Chloe Smith: The Northern Ireland Office's whistleblowing policy is made available to all staff on the Department’s intranet and regularly promoted through blogs and annual awareness days; the next planned awareness day is 21 September 2017. In addition, the Department's Management Board is committed to the highest standards of openness, honesty and accountability and has designated the lead...