Oliver Letwin: The vulnerability of communications, including those used by emergency services, to flooding is part of the National Flood Resilience Review, alongside the vulnerability of other utilities and public services. This review, led by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, is wide ranging, involving conversations with multiple government departments, including the Home Office and Department of...
Oliver Letwin: The National Flood Resilience Review Group meets regularly to review progress of the review. We do not comment on specific date, nor do we publish agendas or minutes The National Floods Resilience Review Group is chaired by Oliver Letwin and consists of Ministers and senior officials from relevant departments, including Defra, DECC, DfT, DCLG, HMT, DCMS, the Environment Agency and the Met Office.
Oliver Letwin: None.
Oliver Letwin: The UK Government hosted the most recent British-Irish Council (BIC) Summit, in London, on 27 November 2015. At the Summit, the Council agreed a set of principles to make sure the BIC work sectors continue to deliver value for all Member Administrations. The UK Government is working with the other BIC Member Administrations to implement this work and will report back at future Summits....
Oliver Letwin: We live in an unpredictable world and if a threat to the UK were to arise from a nuclear-armed adversary, we would seek to ensure that they were deterred from using nuclear weapons by convincing them that the costs to them of doing so greatly outweighed any gains they could hope to make. Other chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats are considered as part of the National...
Oliver Letwin: Family Test guidance was published online in October 2014, and is available to all officials. The guidance can be found online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachm ent_data/file/368894/family-test-guidance.pdf
Oliver Letwin: Guidance to UK civil servants on conducting consultations during the period prior to elections for devolved national assemblies will be issued in due course as part of broader guidance issued on conduct during this time.
Oliver Letwin: I recently published the Government’s Consultation Principles and have encouraged all ministers and departments to observe the guidance when considering consultation. The principles are publicly available on gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachm ent_data/file/492132/20160111_Consultation_principles_final. pdf
Oliver Letwin: Cabinet Office publishes Consultation Principles, which it expects all government departments to follow. They were most recently updated on 14 January in response to feedback from the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee. Principle G includes the line: ‘When the consultation spans all or part of a holiday period, consider how this may affect consultation and take appropriate mitigating...
Oliver Letwin: Senior members of the National Security Council meet frequently to discuss matters of national security but we do not disclose information about the detail of these internal proceedings and discussions.
Oliver Letwin: The National Risk Register of Civil Emergencies (NRR) is the public-facing version of the National Risk Assessment (NRA), a classified assessment of the civil emergency risks facing the UK over the next five years. The NRR is published by the Civil Contingencies Secretariat, Cabinet Office. Due to sensitivities, beyond the detail contained within the NRR (particularly Chapter 3 of the 2015...
Oliver Letwin: The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster chairs an inter-ministerial group on Clean Growth, to consider issues relating to air quality and de-carbonisation where these have a cross-departmental aspect. The group meets as and when required, and members include ministers and officials from the relevant departments, including Defra, DECC, DfT and BIS. To protect the integrity of the policy...
Oliver Letwin: The Cabinet Office Civil Contingencies Secretariat routinely works with the devolved administrations, including in the sharing of best practice. They are represented on official-level governance boards that cover all the key areas of resilience, including risk assessment, protection of critical national infrastructure, and capability planning. There are also established arrangements in place...
Oliver Letwin: In line with previous answers on this topic, information relating to the proceedings of Cabinet Committees, including when and how often they meet, and which Ministers have attended, is generally not disclosed as to do so could harm the frankness and candour of internal discussion.
Oliver Letwin: Details of all Summits and Ministerial Meetings of the British-Irish Council since 2010 can be found at: http://www.britishirishcouncil.org/
Oliver Letwin: Each time the Government proposes a new delegated power in a Bill, it submits a memorandum to the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee setting out the case for the power. These memoranda are published on Parliament's website.
Oliver Letwin: The Government’s Horizon Scanning Programme examines emerging trends and developments, such as those related to resource insecurity, that have the potential to lead to risks and opportunities for the UK. As part of this programme, Defra led a piece of work to assess risks to theUK economy from countries or companies restricting the supply of key resources. A summary of this work was...
Oliver Letwin: My officials and I worked closely with departments and the Treasury in preparing for the spending review to ensure that crucial civil contingencies capabilities were maintained. The settlement outlined in the Autumn Statement strikes the right balance between protecting the public and communities and reducing the budget deficit.
Oliver Letwin: Single Departmental Plans will constitute a single, clear roadmap for departments, bringing together plans for implementing strategic, operational, corporate and efficiency objectives. A public version of the Single Departmental Plans will be published on gov.uk in January 2016Single Departmental Plans will constitute a single, clear roadmap for departments, bringing together plans for...
Oliver Letwin: The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is responsible to the Sovereign for the administration of the estates of the Duchy of Lancaster, in which he is assisted by the Duchy Council. The Chancellor also appoints various Duchy representatives on university councils, school governing bodies and charities in the County Palatine.