Live Cabinet Office Questions House of Commons

houses of parliament at 11pm today. First it is questions to the Cabinet

minister officer Matthew Hancock. Questions to the Minister for the

Cabinet office. With your permission, I will take questions

one and two together. We want to ensure the civil service is fully

representative of the nation it serves and benefits from the widest

pool of talent in our communities and from every part of Britain. We

have made strides in increasing diversity, and we will shortly

publish our strategy for social mobility in which we will set out

how we will further increase social diversity in the civil service. As

my honourable friend knows, Plymouth is a low-wage, low skills Academy.

However, it is the home of the seventh largest university in the

UK. Can my honourable friend tell me what opportunities there are and the

civil service in Plymouth for those people who don't have university

degrees? My honourable friend reminds me there is big talent in

Plymouth and we want to make the most of it. Over the course of this

Parliament, we will invest in more than 30,000 new civil service

apprenticeships, part of the broader commitment of 200,000 apprentices

across the public sector, offering a range of opportunities, including

those in Cornwall and Devon. I'm delighted to say I have an

apprentice in my private offers, and I hope one of our apprentices will

be Cabinet Secretary, and if they are from Plymouth, all the better. I

thank the Minister that question. I welcome the news the government has

introduced recruitment across the civil service. What is a government

doing to prevent unconscious bias at major stages of the process? Name

blind recruitment has been implemented in 75% of the civil

service. We are working with other major workforces across the public

sector to further embed recruitment. In addition, all recruiters in the

civil service are required to undertake mandatory training to

avoid unconscious bias before any recruitment exercise, including

panel members but FastTrack apprenticeships. Would he agree it

is important to recruit so full servants who will be live long

servants for the state, and that their commitment is to public

service? Of course, and obviously we want to attract the best talent

possible into the civil service. That is why we commissioned the

Bridge group report, which found fast streaming is unrepresented, but

we are taking action to change that, including things like name blind

recruitment, polishing the pay ratio between the medium and highest paid

employees, and creating over 200,000 apprenticeship opportunities in the

public sector for young people. What efforts is a Cabinet Office making

to deal with the requirements of women who might not have two face

difficult, or have to face difficult opportunities, unlike their male

counterparts, because of the pressures of family life? Following

International women's day, I find her for her question. More than half

of civil servants are women, and more than top art now in positions

of leadership. This does compare favourably with other companies, for

example the FTSE 100. There is much more to do to increase female

representation in senior leadership roles, and we have introduced a

number of initiatives, for example to increase gender diversity, a

better system Intel to shared parental leave, -- entitled parental

leave. I am pleased he said there's no bias, except the social

background if you want to leave the EU. How can you square out with

neutrality? I think getting the EU into any question is ingenious on

this particular occasion. What I can say, everybody in the civil service

is going to get an equal opportunity to get on in life. One way of

helping people to progress in the civil service is to move many jobs

out of London into the regions, like the north-west. Especially senior

civil service jobs, because you always have to go to London to

progress. There has been a London buyers to some extent in the civil

service, so we are opening regional hubs. We will open one additional

assessment centre in the North this year, and with more sites to follow.

We will ensure it is as attractive to all people in all regions as it

is in London. In 2014, 718 people from working-class backgrounds

applied for the civil service fast stream. Eight succeeded. Is the

Minister outraged by this, or is he wondering, how on earth did eight

working class kids sneaking? If she is saying we have more work to do, I

agree. Almost one in three people in Britain are in working class

occupations, compared to 4% who received offers to fast stream,

making it significantly less diverse socially economically than the

University of Oxford. We know there is more to do, but we are taking

action. Good morning. Our plan is to make people's lives easier by

reforming digital technology across government, and republished 24,000

open datasets and transform and more and more public services. Effective

and secure data sharing is critical, and charities and research bodies

have struggled to access and a moderate data effectively, which has

slowed down leading research. Does the Minister agreed that the

consultation and better use of data in government can lead to long-term

complications around information in government? I do, the better use of

data consultation is about maximising opportunities for

proportionate, secure and well governed data sharing, including

allowing world leading research and statistics greater access to

datasets, as part of a wider programme to modernise and signify

the UK's data. Whilst our population is rising, photo richest ratio is

going down. As part of the digital government programme, what databases

were the Minister used to boost photo Richard strange and? -- photo

registration. We make sure we actively work through digital and

other means to make sure anybody who has the right to vote gets the

opportunity to. Whether it is patient data or voter registration,

it is important the government has a coherent digital strategy

overarching all that. Can the Minister provide us with an update

on whether digital strategy is currently at? My honourable friend

has experience in this area, and I look forward to publishing the

update of the digital strategy soon, but in the meantime, we are getting

on with implementing it. Under the requirements of .gov, the language

choice on the government page has to appear at the bottom right in small

letters. That means many Welsh speakers don't realise language

choices open to them as it is in so many documents. Can the Minister

look at moving that language button above, making it more prominent? I

am an enormous supporter of the Welsh language and we are making

sure that all documents translated into Welsh. I will look at the

location of the button, but we do a lot of research, and user research,

to make sure where these buttons ought be.

Our assessment is that since employment in industrial Nations are

reserved matters, and not in Wales, the laws which govern them decided

here collectively for the whole of the UK. Meaning they apply to all

employers, including the devolved administrations. Restricting

facility time is likely to limit the Scottish Government's ability to

work effectively with the trade unions on a range of issues, as they

will not have the capacity to engage. The Scottish Government has

a voice concerned about this bill. Will the Minister listen and

restrict its applicable at he so it does not apply to public sector

employees in Scotland? The trading Bill includes an approach to make

the facility time settlement transparent. It aims to publish data

on what facility time it costs. In order to allow both politicians and

also voters to stand what cost are and to see if they being spent

efficiently. That is something which should be applied and welcomed in

the UK. Since the SNP government came to power in 2007, industrial

disputes have fallen by 84%. I note this on a day when junior doctors

are yet again on strike and on the street in England, and I think the

public will draw the own conclusions about who best can manage

international relations. Given the Minister's last reply, what

sanctions does he intend to take in order to compel the governments to

implement the Draconian measures of the trade Union Bill? I hope that he

didn't mean that the lawmakers are in different devolved Administration

's. We are, all of us here, involved in creating laws for the UK as a

whole, and it is a danger settlement is set, for us to say we would

disregard those who displease us. Can I thank the honourable lady for

her question. Departments to determine their workforce needs, the

civil service has significant UK wide present. We are considering new

government hubs and locations outside of London, how to further

consolidate our states. I know that Public Health England, part on

moving to the north-east England from London.

Speaker, the Mr Government has decided to close the office in

Sheffield, to move it to London, and now we learn that the majority of

civil service jobs will also be in London. We have suffered in Newport

and given the Government's recent woeful track record, will the

Minister make clear today that these jobs are valued where they are in

Newport? I thank the honourable lady for her question and the Northern

powerhouse is about evolution, not about jobs in London, but I say to

her that the Government has a passion for Newport and for Wales.

Not only did the Nato summit encourage investment, as she knows,

regeneration project 's mean more jobs in finance. My honourable

friend visited the OMS that she refers to recently and I be this

week there has been 30 graduate posts announced. She knows this will

be developed so that it becomes a centre of expertise and she should

be celebrating that in her constituency. Mr Speaker, the number

of buildings owned by the Government in 2010 with 110 buildings. It is

now a less than that. How much further will they go because that is

an indication of giving jobs out to the regions? My honourable friend

makes a valid point. It should be about 120 by the end of the decade.

It is also worth noting that the number of civil servants based in

London has reduced by thousands and the number of buildings has gone

down to 54 from 181. That means savings of over ?1.4 billion for the

taxpayer. The minister indicated that it is Government policy to try

to ensure that will service opportunities are spread across the

United Kingdom. Does he agree with me that it is a good idea, on a

value for money basis and other basis as well, that everybody gets

out of the Westminster and London bubble on a more regular basis, out

into the real world? I couldn't have put it better myself. It is

absolutely right. There are 800 civil service buildings outside

London. We have important targets of developing the civil service around

the country, at strategic hubs, and the more people out of the

Westminster bubble, the better. We know the Minister's friend the

Paymaster General if close to the Chancellor and therefore like stupid

northern powerhouse into every speech he makes but most of the jobs

are now based in London and with no sense of irony, Sheffield jobs have

been moved to London. The test to the minister when he gets the

promotion he has been looking for and so richly deserves will be

whether or not he has more senior policymakers in London or less. Does

he have the ability to live up to our expectations? I genuinely cannot

understand the premise of the Lady's question. She should be proud of the

fact we are double being jobs right across the regions and we are one of

the most radical governments in terms of devolution. I am sad that

she does not support this. As the infrastructure and projects

authority has only been in place for the last two months, it is early to

give it -- to give a proper assessment to the House, but I am

confident that we will be able to monitor better the projects that the

Government is engaged in from beginning to end. Following the

success of infrastructure UK with Crossrail, does my right honourable

friend think that the pooling of expertise in the newly merged body

bodes well for Crossrail two, which has such a positive impact for

people in Hertfordshire? Broadly, yes. Of course, the final decision

on Crossrail to well only be made after the investigation from Lord

Adonis. I am confident that if we get there, we will improve its

prospects of running to schedule and on budget. We announced our response

to the independent commission on the Freedom of information last week and

while the commission did not make a formal recommendation about

extending the coverage of the act, we will take action to extend pay

transparency across the public sector. I am pleased to know that

the Government appeared to have retreated on their intent to

introduce fees on freedom of information request is. Does the

Minister agree with me that it is in the public interest that the Freedom

of a night be extended to public and private companies? As I have said

before, I am a strong supporter of freedom of information and I would

like to record at this moment my thanks to the commission who did

hard work and made sensible suggestions for improvements. The

issue she suggests is a complex one. We do not want to make small

companies reject making information available to Government so we will

look into this further. Will my right honourable friend join me in

welcoming the conclusion that it would not be welcome to introduce

further companies to the act and will he join me and saying he would

not want to do that? As I said last week, we will not introduce fees and

it is important that anyone can use freedom of information to find that

what is going on inside public bodies to make sure that taxpayers

money is spent better because the people spending it are held to

account. The Minister has just mentioned about extending the act to

cover private providers doing public service contract. We have talked

about small businesses. Clear springs, who run a Home Office

contract in my constituency for asylum seeker accommodation, are

failing the taxpayer and the asylum seekers living in that accommodation

safe under the protection of that act. Will he assure me that this.? I

cannot give him -- her that assurance, not least because a

former recommendation was not made on this. What I can tell her is that

F O I can be made to scrutinise those who set the contract up, that

business is large or small then supply to. Could the Minister...

Sorry, number one. Thank you, Mr Speaker. The responsibilities of the

Cabinet Office remain much as they were last month. We continue to

ensure that the Government fully and effectively continues with its

programme across areas. Could the Minister update the House on

progress made to ensure that every serving member of our Armed Forces,

where ever they are in the world, will be able to vote in the upcoming

EU referendum and will he guarantee that they will receive their ballots

in good time and that their vote is counted? My honourable friend has

been tireless in her attempts to make sure that Armed Forces

personnel get a vote in the referendum and I can confirm to have

the pie Minister's commitment given last week that we will make sure all

the Armed Forces can vote. I am happy to tell her that the chief

counting officer for the referendum has now directed that the postal

ballots will be sent between the 23rd and 27th of May to ensure there

is plenty of time for their votes to be counted. Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Will the Government -- when the Government introduced new gagging

clauses on charities receiving monies last month, they credited

this as a key recommendation. Months previously, a member of the Cabinet

Office received a ?4000 donation. Surely this is just a myth

understanding, so if that is the case, will he make oral information

on this available -- will he make all information available on this as

he is keen on Freedom of information? This is about making

sure that taxpayers money is spent on the things it was intended for,

not on making sure that lobbyists can take people and politicians out

for lunch. Does my right honourable friend agree that recording laws on

Val is a millennium long tradition and an important part of our

tradition? And we should maintain this. I certainly do and I would say

we should maintain our debate on this. In 1000 years, I want people

to be able to look at the laws that we pass on this House and I hope to

see a strong turnout in support. The Government is finally reviewing at

's contracts after a number of National Audit Office and select

committee reports going back for years which showed what poor for

formance they are and a lack of value money -- value for money they

are. In addition to this, they had a devastating impact on disabled

people. Why has the Government taken so long to do this and will the

Minister confirm that the savings anticipated have not been made? The

honourable lady ignores the fact that the Government has taken the

action which should have been taken long ago to deal with contractors

who were not up to scratch which the previous Labour Government failed to

take. We are dealing with contracts which need to be improved so that

people get the service they deserve and that is why or -- all our

programmes are back on track. Far too much noise in the chamber. A

constituent of mine who works for HMRC in Shipley has contacted me

after being told by his managers that he is unable to help the

campaign to leave the use in the forthcoming referendum, even

delivering leaflets in his own time. Given that comment ministers can

campaign in a personal capacity, why is the same not allowed for civil

servants? My honourable friend's constituency -- constituents should

follow the rules outlined in his contract but I would say this, that

we want to stay in a reformed European Union and I am sure my

honourable friend for Shipley would be the first to say that it is only

because of the munificence, the tolerance and the generosity of

spirit of our Prime Minister that ministers are allowed to disagree in

public with the Government position at all. Mr Speaker, the

anti-advocacy clause has been widely condemned. Can the Minister explain

why this was brought in with no scrutiny in this House? The

honourable gentleman failed to recognise that taxpayers money

should not be used to lobby Government. Those who argue against

this clause are arguing against hard working people, to say they should

pay their taxes to be spent on lobbyists. This clause has been in

operation for over a year in one area where it was found to be

working well and that is why we expanded it across comment. Given

that there is now a presumption of building first on brown field sites,

will be ministers work with local authorities in Norfolk to help

identify further sites. Yes, we will indeed and we are also taking steps

to release the greatest possible amount of public sector land on

Brownfield sites so that in places like his own constituency and mind,

we can see building in places people will welcome it to provide homes to

the benefit of the taxpayer. Mr Speaker, in the last Parliament,

clear policy targets were set and the date they needed to -- be

achieved by. This time, there are no targets set. The Government

deliberately preventing the Government from holding them to

account would they genuinely not know what are doing? I am sorry the

honourable lady obviously hasn't read the items on the website. There

is a multiple selection of dates and it will be updated as we go through

the parliament. We are one of the most transparent Government in the

world and I would have expected her to encourage that.

Will the Minister commit to assessing the impact that the

anti-advocacy clause will have on Scottish charities? Once again we

have a request from the SNP for hard-working payers -- hard-working

taxpayers to pay their taxes for them to be used to lobby the very

Government which is giving out the grants. I think that is wrong in

principle. We have been using this in practice for over a year and that

is why we have extended it across the Government.

The Prime Minister. Thank you Mr Speaker. This morning I had meetings

with my colleagues and I shall have further such meetings today. People

in Bristol South look forward to the promised Chef apprenticeships yet

question how this will happen on the eve of National Apprenticeship Week,

does the Prime Minister have a delivery plan or is he making it up

as he goes along? We achieved 2 million in the last Parliament, we

are confident of achieving 3 million in this Parliament. We have a

delivery plan, based on large companies continuing with their

plans for apprenticeships. We want small companies to do more and the

public sector