:00:09. > :00:16.evening. First, we have questions Order! Questions to the Minister
:00:16. > :00:21.for the Cabinet Office. Question number one. The moratorium
:00:21. > :00:28.on new leases and on passing over breaks in existing leases has
:00:28. > :00:31.helped us to save across central government the taxpayer some �270
:00:31. > :00:38.million from property in the first 10 months of the coalition
:00:38. > :00:41.Government's time in office. The Government has got out of over 900
:00:41. > :00:47.leases and released freeholds, and last year alone, the size of the
:00:47. > :00:51.estate fell by 6%. Will my right honourable friend reassure the
:00:51. > :00:55.House that the Government will get value for taxpayers' money by
:00:55. > :01:01.ensuring that the publicly owned freehold estate is used to avoid
:01:01. > :01:06.the need for expensive leases? Speaker, that is the approach. Far
:01:06. > :01:10.too much of the freehold estate is under occupied and far too many
:01:10. > :01:15.expensive leasehold properties are occupied in a very inefficient way.
:01:15. > :01:20.In Bristol, we discovered that the central they have -- central
:01:20. > :01:26.government occupied 115 individual addresses, very inefficient and not
:01:26. > :01:31.conducive to join their government. As you know, you should always
:01:31. > :01:36.watch what a minister does and not what he says. The problem with this
:01:36. > :01:45.Minister is he promised money to other departments while sneakily
:01:45. > :01:49.building up his own empire. In truth, his department's agencies
:01:49. > :01:58.had 23,000 square metres of office when he began, and it is now more
:01:58. > :02:04.than double, to a staggering 56,000 square metres. Squeezing others
:02:04. > :02:10.while expanding his department does not incentive by his people to
:02:10. > :02:15.reduce their estate. The honourable gentleman ought to look a little
:02:15. > :02:18.bit more carefully at the fact because what he is looking at is
:02:18. > :02:23.the fact that the National School of Government and the Central
:02:23. > :02:28.Office of Information were brought in house, whereas they were part of
:02:28. > :02:36.quango land under the last government, and they were both
:02:36. > :02:39.being closed down for. May I satisfy the opposition front bench
:02:39. > :02:45.spokesmen and make good news for the Secretary of State. Why not
:02:45. > :02:52.save any more money -- even more money by locating out of London and
:02:52. > :02:59.coming to Wellingborough? Under my honourable friend's guidance, it is
:02:59. > :03:05.an incredibly good place for people to work. But the size of the Civil
:03:05. > :03:09.Service is falling to its lowest level since the Second World War.
:03:09. > :03:13.We are reducing the number of people who need to be in central
:03:13. > :03:16.London at all, but if the opportunity arises to relocate
:03:16. > :03:22.people out of London, I am sure Wellingborough will have a good
:03:22. > :03:27.case to made. When it comes to making savings to the public purse,
:03:27. > :03:29.one constituent of mine has written to me. She works for the Civil
:03:29. > :03:34.Service and is travelling a few times a week from Nottinghamshire
:03:34. > :03:40.to London, for meetings which last one hour. Is that not a ridiculous
:03:40. > :03:43.way to run things? Indeed. I would recommend to the department which a
:03:43. > :03:51.constituent works for that they should investigate the use of the
:03:51. > :03:57.telephone, which has been out for quite some time. With your
:03:57. > :04:01.permission, I will answer questions two and nine together. Big Society
:04:01. > :04:07.Capital exists to make it easier for charities across the UK to
:04:07. > :04:11.access capital. It has two measures of success, growth and social
:04:11. > :04:15.investment and the impact of their investment, and they are required
:04:15. > :04:23.to report annually on the financial performance of their investment.
:04:23. > :04:25.Thank you. In the centre for charitable giving and philanthropy,
:04:25. > :04:29.a representative said the Big Society Capital is likely to be
:04:29. > :04:38.biased in favour of safe lending. How will the Minister ensure that
:04:38. > :04:41.smaller projects will have access to Big Society Capital? It is an
:04:41. > :04:45.organisation with a social mission that exists to correct a market
:04:45. > :04:53.failure. It is going to exist to support innovation, to grow this
:04:53. > :04:55.new market, and it will invest across a range of products. Money
:04:55. > :05:02.to make sure it secures a sufficient return to cover its
:05:02. > :05:09.costs. The minister in his written answer to me on June 11th, stated
:05:09. > :05:12.the investment and contact the front applies to England only.
:05:12. > :05:18.Given that the Big Society Capital as for the whole of Britain, how
:05:18. > :05:23.come other parts of the United Kingdom have the same assistance? -
:05:23. > :05:27.- How can other parts? The Big Society Capital has been set up to
:05:27. > :05:31.be available to charities and social enterprises across the UK.
:05:31. > :05:36.The investment and readiness fund unavailable for charities and
:05:36. > :05:44.social enterprises in England who want to make themselves more
:05:44. > :05:49.investment ready. It is a matter for the devolved ministry. Smaller
:05:49. > :05:54.charities say they have a harder time getting access to capital than
:05:54. > :06:03.the big Tesco charities. How can we ensure that the Big Society
:06:03. > :06:07.benefits little societies? He makes a good point, particularly relevant
:06:07. > :06:11.this week. Access to capital affect smaller charities more than it does
:06:11. > :06:21.larger ones, which is one of the reasons why, within two years, we
:06:21. > :06:25.have developed the first social investments into tuition -- social
:06:25. > :06:30.investment institution. Will the Minister provide
:06:30. > :06:34.assurances to the house that this resource will tackle deprivation in
:06:34. > :06:38.hard to reach communities, particularly in Northern Ireland
:06:38. > :06:42.where there are isolated communities and where there are 35
:06:42. > :06:46.areas of disadvantage which are measured scientifically? I have
:06:46. > :06:51.been to Northern Ireland myself to make the point that the Big Society
:06:51. > :06:54.Capital is available to charities and social enterprises there. It
:06:54. > :06:57.depends on the quality of the investment propositions that are
:06:57. > :07:03.brought forward and taken to the Big Society Capital by
:07:03. > :07:06.intermediaries, but we are keen to engage with charities and social
:07:06. > :07:13.enterprises in Northern Ireland to make sure it is as accessible as we
:07:13. > :07:16.wanted to be. -- want it to the. All government departments are
:07:16. > :07:22.required to maximise opportunities for redeployment within government
:07:22. > :07:25.to take all reasonable efforts to avoid compulsory redundancies. The
:07:25. > :07:32.barman's also have appropriate support for employees affected,
:07:32. > :07:36.including retraining, coaching, career advice. Since the coalition
:07:36. > :07:44.government was formed, 1,000 civil servants have left. How many more
:07:44. > :07:48.civil servants do you anticipate leaving? As I said earlier, the
:07:48. > :07:54.size of the Civil Service is reducing to its smallest size since
:07:54. > :07:58.the Second World War, and it is clear that there will be further
:07:58. > :08:06.downsizing. The resignation rate of senior civil servants is stable,
:08:06. > :08:08.there is no higher turnover than there has been before. Can my right
:08:08. > :08:12.honourable friend confirm that next week the Government will be
:08:12. > :08:16.publishing its civil service reform plan, and that this may be one of
:08:16. > :08:21.the issues which it addresses as the government tries to set out a
:08:21. > :08:28.clear change programme for the wall of government? -- the whole of
:08:28. > :08:31.government. We'll be trying to introduce civil reform, the pattern
:08:31. > :08:36.will be about incremental reform, of which is capable of being
:08:36. > :08:46.implemented. This should not be another civil service reform plan
:08:46. > :08:47.
:08:47. > :08:52.that lies gathering dust on the Mr Speaker, it is her name and
:08:52. > :08:58.aspiration and by the end of this Parliament, 25% of central
:08:58. > :09:01.Government's spend with outside provider should be with small and
:09:01. > :09:05.medium-sized enterprises. Procurement process will be
:09:05. > :09:10.simplified to make it easier and cheaper for companies to see the
:09:10. > :09:16.available business with government and to compete effectively. Since
:09:16. > :09:21.the party opposite left office, our Direct spend is on track to double
:09:21. > :09:30.already. How can small and medium enterprises find out more about how
:09:30. > :09:38.to do more business with the Government? Through looking at the
:09:38. > :09:48.contract finder website. That is where they should be looking.
:09:48. > :10:01.
:10:01. > :10:04.Around one-third since 20th And many small businesses in my
:10:04. > :10:09.constituency are finding it challenging to go online. I will
:10:09. > :10:13.have come to that. With the honourable gentleman would like to
:10:13. > :10:17.bring some of this applies to me to talk through what the difficulties
:10:17. > :10:23.are, we want to make this as easy as possible. Suppliers told me that
:10:23. > :10:26.it takes them typically four times as much to compete for public
:10:26. > :10:32.sector contracts than private sector, and the changes we make
:10:32. > :10:36.will radically reduce this, but we want to make sure this works.
:10:36. > :10:42.of businesses, according to the FSB, still say the tendering process is
:10:42. > :10:47.too complex. There are good messages in the procurement pledge
:10:47. > :10:52.on the website the minister mentioned. How can he encourage
:10:52. > :10:59.people to adopt the principles of this pledge? Within central
:10:59. > :11:03.government, that his policy and it should happen. I am not claiming it
:11:03. > :11:09.is universal yet, but we want to hear procurement that are not been
:11:09. > :11:13.done in the right way. In the wider sector, we can do no more than
:11:13. > :11:17.exhort and encourage. It remains the case that if we are alerted to
:11:17. > :11:27.procurement been done in the old fashioned way that is very
:11:27. > :11:29.
:11:29. > :11:33.antagonistic to small businesses, Mr Speaker, the latest official
:11:34. > :11:41.figures continue to show that the proportion of procurement spends
:11:41. > :11:46.going to SMEs is decreasing. The Federation of Small Businesses
:11:46. > :11:49.found 40% believe the tendering process is too complicated. 37%
:11:49. > :11:53.believe they are being side-lined by the Government. Does the
:11:53. > :11:56.minister agree with Mark Thompson, an adviser to his own department,
:11:56. > :12:01.who said the reality is the Government has very little idea of
:12:01. > :12:05.how to deal with SMEs and has very little in the way of concrete plans
:12:05. > :12:09.here? Well, Mr Speaker, for the first
:12:09. > :12:15.time there are official figures. Untheer the last Government they
:12:15. > :12:19.didn't even bother to count it. The numbers are going up. As -- across
:12:19. > :12:22.Government - obviously within each department, there's not necessarily
:12:23. > :12:25.going to be an even progress all the time. I would have thought he
:12:25. > :12:31.would be able to understand that. Across the whole of Government,
:12:31. > :12:36.spend with SMEs has doubled. I would hope that he would
:12:36. > :12:40.enthusiasticly welcome that. Number five, Mr Speaker. Mr Speaker, we do
:12:40. > :12:46.want to make it much easier to volunteer. We are implementing most
:12:46. > :12:50.of the recommendations made in the good neighbour's report and
:12:50. > :12:55.identify any remaining burdens we have the red tape challenge and
:12:55. > :13:01.urge the sector and the challenge to contribute by visiting the
:13:01. > :13:06.website. In Sherwood many people are put off by unnecessary CRB
:13:06. > :13:14.checks. It's a frustration felt in many
:13:14. > :13:18.constituencies. He'll be aware that changes are under way. Many fewer
:13:18. > :13:24.people will require checks. Those that do will find it much easier to
:13:24. > :13:31.carry the checks around the system. The port biblt people have asked
:13:31. > :13:35.for. Those changes will be in place next spring.
:13:35. > :13:38.Mr Speaker, this issue has come up repeatedly. Will the minister
:13:38. > :13:41.accept the red tape challenge will be judged in the coming years by
:13:41. > :13:45.the numbers of people who are involved in volunteering and those
:13:45. > :13:49.who want to volunteer as to their verdict and their judgment on the
:13:49. > :13:54.red tape challenge? All I know is I think it is incumbent on Government
:13:54. > :13:59.to get out of the way as much as it can. There are, we think, many
:13:59. > :14:05.areas of regulation. There are -- they are too intrusive, take up too
:14:05. > :14:10.much time and money. There is cross-party support for encouraging
:14:10. > :14:15.more people to get involved. Number six, Mr Speaker. Mr Speaker, we are
:14:15. > :14:19.committed to ensuring that the reform of public sector pensions
:14:19. > :14:23.means public servants will continue to receive pensions among the best
:14:23. > :14:27.available. These provide a fair deal for public service workers,
:14:27. > :14:30.while being affordable for the taxpayer and sustainable in the
:14:30. > :14:35.long-term. We spent months negotiating a new scheme, which was
:14:35. > :14:41.put some months ago to the unions in the Civil Service. Four unions
:14:41. > :14:44.have now accepted the proposals. am sure the 85% of the workforce in
:14:44. > :14:47.my constituency of Northwest Leicestershire, who work in the
:14:47. > :14:50.private sector, will welcome that response, given their pensions are
:14:50. > :14:55.on average far less generous than those available to the public
:14:55. > :14:59.sector, which they are expected to fund. Can my honourable friend give
:14:59. > :15:03.an estimate of the sum the taxpayer would be expected to pay for public
:15:03. > :15:08.sector pensions over the next 25 years if these reforms did not take
:15:08. > :15:12.place. Well, Mr Speaker, it is perfectly clear the reforms in
:15:12. > :15:18.place across the public sector will save the taxpayer tens of billions
:15:18. > :15:24.of pounds over coming decades. The Office for Budget Responsibility
:15:24. > :15:30.and in its next long-term outlook will make an Estaiation. Number
:15:31. > :15:36.seven, Mr Speaker. We liaise with other departments to encourage more
:15:36. > :15:44.giving of both time and money. I thank the minister for his answer.
:15:44. > :15:50.Research from New Fill lan introduce pi Capital has re vealed
:15:50. > :15:56.many charities have cut front-line services. In addition, in the way
:15:56. > :15:59.the relief proposal was handled - it remains to be seen whether
:15:59. > :16:04.donors and charities trust this Government. Can the minister update
:16:04. > :16:12.the House on how the Government will repair relationships with
:16:12. > :16:17.charities? I think she'll find most people in the sector recognise and
:16:17. > :16:21.welcome the Chancellor's change of mind on that issue. I think they
:16:21. > :16:25.also recognise this is a Government committed to creating the
:16:25. > :16:30.conditions for charities and social enterprise to do more. That
:16:30. > :16:35.includes supporting more giving of time and money through the social
:16:36. > :16:39.action fund and through some generous tax incentives.... Mr
:16:39. > :16:42.Fuller. May I commend the Government on actions following the
:16:42. > :16:46.consultation on taxation and chartibility donations. Can I urge
:16:46. > :16:52.the minister to look at the gift aid structure and perhaps to
:16:52. > :16:59.consider a transfer to a situation where individuals can deduct
:16:59. > :17:04.charitable donations from their tax directly? Gift aid and all matters
:17:04. > :17:10.relating to tax are a Treasury matter. He will be aware that gift
:17:10. > :17:15.aid is under constant review. In the Budget some welcome initiatives
:17:15. > :17:25.were brought in to make it easier for small charities to claim.
:17:25. > :17:32.
:17:32. > :17:36.Number eight, Mr Speaker. In September, 2011 the team
:17:36. > :17:41.published an annual update of their first year and a two-year sunset
:17:41. > :17:46.review will be conducted by the board in summer 2012.
:17:46. > :17:50.Thank you, Mr Speaker. What financial saving does the minister
:17:50. > :17:55.estimate has been made by this initiative so far? This team does
:17:55. > :18:01.interesting work, in terms of encouraging behaviour of change in
:18:01. > :18:08.cost-effective ways F she looks at the annual report she'll see good
:18:08. > :18:14.examples. By changing the wording in letters sent out by HMRC the
:18:14. > :18:18.team increased payment rates from 68%-83%. Ety mated to make serving
:18:18. > :18:24.of �30 million a year, in administrative and call costs, if
:18:24. > :18:29.rolled out across the country. Number Ten, Mr Speaker. Mr Speaker
:18:29. > :18:32.on 31st May, we published business plans for 17 Government departments
:18:32. > :18:37.which clearly set out the actions that Parliament will take to
:18:37. > :18:40.implement the Government's reform priorities and by when. The Number
:18:40. > :18:43.Ten website publishes monthly updates on which actions have been
:18:43. > :18:48.completed and those which are overdue.
:18:48. > :18:52.Thank you, Mr Speaker. Could the minister explain how one Government
:18:52. > :18:56.policy operating in direct conflict with another, for example the
:18:56. > :19:04.withdrawing right to flexible working conflicting with support
:19:04. > :19:07.for carers amounts to efficiency? Well, the particular issues are
:19:07. > :19:17.well outside my particular responsibilities. I will cheerly
:19:17. > :19:18.
:19:18. > :19:22.look at the question she raises. Number four, please, Mr Speaker.
:19:22. > :19:27.THE SPEAKER: The honourable gentleman should not worry about it.
:19:27. > :19:32.Number 11. I hope this is the right answer, any way. We are committed
:19:32. > :19:36.to tackling fraud in all areas including public procurement. We
:19:36. > :19:40.believe we can save the taxpayer billions a year in doing this
:19:40. > :19:45.across Government. Every central Government body will carry out a
:19:45. > :19:51.spend-recovery auddit by the end of next year which will generate
:19:51. > :19:57.savings of �50 million-�100 million. The office for transport has saved
:19:57. > :20:02.amounts by doing this. Welcoming the greater efficiencies and
:20:02. > :20:08.economies of scale, but my honourable friend recognise the
:20:08. > :20:13.danger that procurement can throe up barriers, might this explain why
:20:13. > :20:16.SMEs are not always getting their fair share? Mr Speaker, SMEs are
:20:16. > :20:21.increasing their share of Government business. It's doubled
:20:21. > :20:26.since the election. It's set to continue further. But there's
:20:26. > :20:29.actually, I point to my honourable friend, to what happened with the
:20:29. > :20:32.Government's aggregated travel contract, where we brought it
:20:32. > :20:36.together and one of the two contracts for travel across
:20:36. > :20:42.Government was won by a small business which is rapidly becoming
:20:42. > :20:46.a bigger one. THE SPEAKER: Topical questions. Number one, Mr Speaker.
:20:46. > :20:50.Mr Speaker, my responsibilities are for the public sector efficiency
:20:50. > :20:56.and reform group, Civil Service issues, industrial relations,
:20:56. > :21:02.strategy in the public sector, Government France parentsy, civil
:21:02. > :21:06.contingencies, civil society and cybersecurity. Here in March,
:21:06. > :21:09.ministers confirmed this department was conducting a review into the
:21:09. > :21:14.long-term funding challenges, as promised to me by the minister last
:21:14. > :21:22.October. Can he now tell the House and indeed the busy advisers, such
:21:22. > :21:26.as those at Wiltshire's Citizens Advice Bureau what conclusions he
:21:26. > :21:30.has reached? What has transpired so far is we know that advise
:21:30. > :21:33.providers, as well as other parts of the voluntary sector are facing
:21:33. > :21:38.a difficult situation N the Budget the Chancellor made �20 million
:21:38. > :21:43.available in each of the next two years to support the not for profit
:21:43. > :21:50.advise sector, as it adapts to changes. Our transition fund
:21:50. > :21:54.provides support to 45CABs. 17 law centres and it is why the MOJ is
:21:54. > :21:58.increasing funding for mediation services by �15 million to
:21:58. > :22:04.encourage greater use of mediation in disputes.
:22:04. > :22:08.THE SPEAKER: Mr Gareth Thomas. months ago the ministeror the
:22:08. > :22:13.office gave us a big society in action. A year on, the charities
:22:13. > :22:17.who originally signed up have gone bust. 100 have withdraw their
:22:17. > :22:23.welfare to expeer seize completely from the programme. Is this an
:22:23. > :22:27.example of the lack of leadership by ministers for charities across
:22:27. > :22:30.Whitehall? Can we expect action to finally sort this mess out? I don't
:22:30. > :22:35.know whether that means that the honourable gentleman does not
:22:35. > :22:41.believe it's right for social enterprises to play a major role in
:22:41. > :22:44.the provision of public services. We do. Over 400 social enterprises
:22:44. > :22:50.and voluntary organisations are involved in the supply chain. I
:22:50. > :22:56.would think he would welcome that. Nicola Blackwood. Far too many
:22:56. > :22:59.noisy conversations taking place in the chamber. Let's have order for
:22:59. > :23:05.Nicola Blackwood. Thank you, Mr Speaker. I am sure the minister
:23:05. > :23:10.will join me in supporting the work of the Arch Way Foundation which
:23:10. > :23:14.has been combating loneliness. They struggle with excessive regulation.
:23:14. > :23:18.Can the minister tell the House what steps he's taking to combat
:23:18. > :23:23.red tape and hem p those most in need in our communities. -- help
:23:23. > :23:31.those most in need in our communities. I am glad to
:23:31. > :23:34.congratulate the ArchWay for their work. We are undertaking the most
:23:34. > :23:38.comprehensive review of the legislation which affects the
:23:38. > :23:44.sector. Thank you, Mr Speaker. The Department for Work and Pensions
:23:44. > :23:47.has no right to data T work programme ministers, absurdly, have
:23:47. > :23:52.planned work-place providers from publishing any data at all about
:23:52. > :23:57.their performance. That is the opposite of his open-data policy.
:23:57. > :24:01.What he's doing about it? I'll tell the honourable gentleman what we're
:24:01. > :24:06.doing about it - we're following the processes set up by the last
:24:06. > :24:10.Government. Thank you, Mr Speaker. What
:24:10. > :24:15.assessment has the minister made of last year's national citizenship pi
:24:15. > :24:21.lot? It is an important report which
:24:21. > :24:26.shows 8,000 teenagers last year committed a quarter of a million
:24:26. > :24:32.hours. Satisfactions rate of 93% for teenagers and benefits to cost
:24:32. > :24:38.ratio of 2-1. I would encurb rage all colleagues of all parties to
:24:38. > :24:44.get involved in the summer. It is a fantastic thing for their young
:24:44. > :24:51.constituentants. This Government came to power proming a bonfire of
:24:51. > :24:55.the quangos. The health and social care act creates more quangos than
:24:55. > :25:01.the public bodies Act abolished. Sir.
:25:01. > :25:07.Thank you, Mr Speaker. The Cabinet Office minister must be praised for
:25:07. > :25:11.efforts in driving forward the open day da agenda, whereby data sets
:25:11. > :25:15.are beginning to provide growth the country needs. Can the minister
:25:15. > :25:20.tell the House what further measures he has in mind for opening
:25:20. > :25:24.up these dusty, public sector data sets? Well, Mr Speaker, my
:25:24. > :25:29.honourable friend has been a formidable and expert advocate,
:25:29. > :25:33.passionate advocate, for the open data agenda. It is the new raw
:25:33. > :25:36.material. There is a huge amount of business growth to be driven by it.
:25:36. > :25:40.We are a world leader, as a Government, in opening up data, but
:25:40. > :25:43.there is more to come. THE SPEAKER: It's very unfair to
:25:43. > :25:47.the minister that the minister is not being heard and the minister
:25:47. > :25:51.should be heard, as should all members.
:25:51. > :25:54.Valerie Vaz. The Government has sold off 250 freeholds of the
:25:54. > :26:00.nation's building and land. If the Government is going to continue to
:26:00. > :26:02.do that, could the minister ensure there is a kove ver napbt to ensure