:00:00. > :00:00.houses of parliament at 11pm today. First it is questions to the Cabinet
:00:07. > :00:16.minister officer Matthew Hancock. Questions to the Minister for the
:00:17. > :00:20.Cabinet office. With your permission, I will take questions
:00:21. > :00:24.one and two together. We want to ensure the civil service is fully
:00:25. > :00:28.representative of the nation it serves and benefits from the widest
:00:29. > :00:33.pool of talent in our communities and from every part of Britain. We
:00:34. > :00:36.have made strides in increasing diversity, and we will shortly
:00:37. > :00:41.publish our strategy for social mobility in which we will set out
:00:42. > :00:47.how we will further increase social diversity in the civil service. As
:00:48. > :00:51.my honourable friend knows, Plymouth is a low-wage, low skills Academy.
:00:52. > :00:56.However, it is the home of the seventh largest university in the
:00:57. > :01:00.UK. Can my honourable friend tell me what opportunities there are and the
:01:01. > :01:07.civil service in Plymouth for those people who don't have university
:01:08. > :01:10.degrees? My honourable friend reminds me there is big talent in
:01:11. > :01:15.Plymouth and we want to make the most of it. Over the course of this
:01:16. > :01:18.Parliament, we will invest in more than 30,000 new civil service
:01:19. > :01:26.apprenticeships, part of the broader commitment of 200,000 apprentices
:01:27. > :01:32.across the public sector, offering a range of opportunities, including
:01:33. > :01:35.those in Cornwall and Devon. I'm delighted to say I have an
:01:36. > :01:43.apprentice in my private offers, and I hope one of our apprentices will
:01:44. > :01:48.be Cabinet Secretary, and if they are from Plymouth, all the better. I
:01:49. > :01:53.thank the Minister that question. I welcome the news the government has
:01:54. > :01:58.introduced recruitment across the civil service. What is a government
:01:59. > :02:07.doing to prevent unconscious bias at major stages of the process? Name
:02:08. > :02:11.blind recruitment has been implemented in 75% of the civil
:02:12. > :02:16.service. We are working with other major workforces across the public
:02:17. > :02:21.sector to further embed recruitment. In addition, all recruiters in the
:02:22. > :02:25.civil service are required to undertake mandatory training to
:02:26. > :02:31.avoid unconscious bias before any recruitment exercise, including
:02:32. > :02:39.panel members but FastTrack apprenticeships. Would he agree it
:02:40. > :02:43.is important to recruit so full servants who will be live long
:02:44. > :02:51.servants for the state, and that their commitment is to public
:02:52. > :02:55.service? Of course, and obviously we want to attract the best talent
:02:56. > :02:59.possible into the civil service. That is why we commissioned the
:03:00. > :03:07.Bridge group report, which found fast streaming is unrepresented, but
:03:08. > :03:11.we are taking action to change that, including things like name blind
:03:12. > :03:18.recruitment, polishing the pay ratio between the medium and highest paid
:03:19. > :03:22.employees, and creating over 200,000 apprenticeship opportunities in the
:03:23. > :03:27.public sector for young people. What efforts is a Cabinet Office making
:03:28. > :03:34.to deal with the requirements of women who might not have two face
:03:35. > :03:38.difficult, or have to face difficult opportunities, unlike their male
:03:39. > :03:43.counterparts, because of the pressures of family life? Following
:03:44. > :03:47.International women's day, I find her for her question. More than half
:03:48. > :03:52.of civil servants are women, and more than top art now in positions
:03:53. > :04:00.of leadership. This does compare favourably with other companies, for
:04:01. > :04:04.example the FTSE 100. There is much more to do to increase female
:04:05. > :04:09.representation in senior leadership roles, and we have introduced a
:04:10. > :04:13.number of initiatives, for example to increase gender diversity, a
:04:14. > :04:27.better system Intel to shared parental leave, -- entitled parental
:04:28. > :04:30.leave. I am pleased he said there's no bias, except the social
:04:31. > :04:40.background if you want to leave the EU. How can you square out with
:04:41. > :04:45.neutrality? I think getting the EU into any question is ingenious on
:04:46. > :04:50.this particular occasion. What I can say, everybody in the civil service
:04:51. > :04:59.is going to get an equal opportunity to get on in life. One way of
:05:00. > :05:04.helping people to progress in the civil service is to move many jobs
:05:05. > :05:07.out of London into the regions, like the north-west. Especially senior
:05:08. > :05:13.civil service jobs, because you always have to go to London to
:05:14. > :05:18.progress. There has been a London buyers to some extent in the civil
:05:19. > :05:23.service, so we are opening regional hubs. We will open one additional
:05:24. > :05:29.assessment centre in the North this year, and with more sites to follow.
:05:30. > :05:38.We will ensure it is as attractive to all people in all regions as it
:05:39. > :05:41.is in London. In 2014, 718 people from working-class backgrounds
:05:42. > :05:48.applied for the civil service fast stream. Eight succeeded. Is the
:05:49. > :05:57.Minister outraged by this, or is he wondering, how on earth did eight
:05:58. > :06:03.working class kids sneaking? If she is saying we have more work to do, I
:06:04. > :06:09.agree. Almost one in three people in Britain are in working class
:06:10. > :06:16.occupations, compared to 4% who received offers to fast stream,
:06:17. > :06:18.making it significantly less diverse socially economically than the
:06:19. > :06:31.University of Oxford. We know there is more to do, but we are taking
:06:32. > :06:36.action. Good morning. Our plan is to make people's lives easier by
:06:37. > :06:40.reforming digital technology across government, and republished 24,000
:06:41. > :06:48.open datasets and transform and more and more public services. Effective
:06:49. > :06:52.and secure data sharing is critical, and charities and research bodies
:06:53. > :06:56.have struggled to access and a moderate data effectively, which has
:06:57. > :06:59.slowed down leading research. Does the Minister agreed that the
:07:00. > :07:05.consultation and better use of data in government can lead to long-term
:07:06. > :07:09.complications around information in government? I do, the better use of
:07:10. > :07:15.data consultation is about maximising opportunities for
:07:16. > :07:20.proportionate, secure and well governed data sharing, including
:07:21. > :07:23.allowing world leading research and statistics greater access to
:07:24. > :07:32.datasets, as part of a wider programme to modernise and signify
:07:33. > :07:36.the UK's data. Whilst our population is rising, photo richest ratio is
:07:37. > :07:42.going down. As part of the digital government programme, what databases
:07:43. > :07:54.were the Minister used to boost photo Richard strange and? -- photo
:07:55. > :07:58.registration. We make sure we actively work through digital and
:07:59. > :08:03.other means to make sure anybody who has the right to vote gets the
:08:04. > :08:09.opportunity to. Whether it is patient data or voter registration,
:08:10. > :08:11.it is important the government has a coherent digital strategy
:08:12. > :08:16.overarching all that. Can the Minister provide us with an update
:08:17. > :08:20.on whether digital strategy is currently at? My honourable friend
:08:21. > :08:24.has experience in this area, and I look forward to publishing the
:08:25. > :08:30.update of the digital strategy soon, but in the meantime, we are getting
:08:31. > :08:35.on with implementing it. Under the requirements of .gov, the language
:08:36. > :08:40.choice on the government page has to appear at the bottom right in small
:08:41. > :08:44.letters. That means many Welsh speakers don't realise language
:08:45. > :08:48.choices open to them as it is in so many documents. Can the Minister
:08:49. > :08:58.look at moving that language button above, making it more prominent? I
:08:59. > :09:02.am an enormous supporter of the Welsh language and we are making
:09:03. > :09:07.sure that all documents translated into Welsh. I will look at the
:09:08. > :09:10.location of the button, but we do a lot of research, and user research,
:09:11. > :09:17.to make sure where these buttons ought be.
:09:18. > :09:26.Our assessment is that since employment in industrial Nations are
:09:27. > :09:30.reserved matters, and not in Wales, the laws which govern them decided
:09:31. > :09:36.here collectively for the whole of the UK. Meaning they apply to all
:09:37. > :09:47.employers, including the devolved administrations. Restricting
:09:48. > :09:50.facility time is likely to limit the Scottish Government's ability to
:09:51. > :09:55.work effectively with the trade unions on a range of issues, as they
:09:56. > :09:58.will not have the capacity to engage. The Scottish Government has
:09:59. > :10:03.a voice concerned about this bill. Will the Minister listen and
:10:04. > :10:11.restrict its applicable at he so it does not apply to public sector
:10:12. > :10:15.employees in Scotland? The trading Bill includes an approach to make
:10:16. > :10:23.the facility time settlement transparent. It aims to publish data
:10:24. > :10:27.on what facility time it costs. In order to allow both politicians and
:10:28. > :10:31.also voters to stand what cost are and to see if they being spent
:10:32. > :10:37.efficiently. That is something which should be applied and welcomed in
:10:38. > :10:44.the UK. Since the SNP government came to power in 2007, industrial
:10:45. > :10:49.disputes have fallen by 84%. I note this on a day when junior doctors
:10:50. > :10:52.are yet again on strike and on the street in England, and I think the
:10:53. > :10:57.public will draw the own conclusions about who best can manage
:10:58. > :11:01.international relations. Given the Minister's last reply, what
:11:02. > :11:07.sanctions does he intend to take in order to compel the governments to
:11:08. > :11:15.implement the Draconian measures of the trade Union Bill? I hope that he
:11:16. > :11:23.didn't mean that the lawmakers are in different devolved Administration
:11:24. > :11:28.'s. We are, all of us here, involved in creating laws for the UK as a
:11:29. > :11:36.whole, and it is a danger settlement is set, for us to say we would
:11:37. > :11:40.disregard those who displease us. Can I thank the honourable lady for
:11:41. > :11:44.her question. Departments to determine their workforce needs, the
:11:45. > :11:49.civil service has significant UK wide present. We are considering new
:11:50. > :11:53.government hubs and locations outside of London, how to further
:11:54. > :11:58.consolidate our states. I know that Public Health England, part on
:11:59. > :12:05.moving to the north-east England from London.
:12:06. > :12:11.Speaker, the Mr Government has decided to close the office in
:12:12. > :12:21.Sheffield, to move it to London, and now we learn that the majority of
:12:22. > :12:26.civil service jobs will also be in London. We have suffered in Newport
:12:27. > :12:31.and given the Government's recent woeful track record, will the
:12:32. > :12:37.Minister make clear today that these jobs are valued where they are in
:12:38. > :12:41.Newport? I thank the honourable lady for her question and the Northern
:12:42. > :12:45.powerhouse is about evolution, not about jobs in London, but I say to
:12:46. > :12:50.her that the Government has a passion for Newport and for Wales.
:12:51. > :12:56.Not only did the Nato summit encourage investment, as she knows,
:12:57. > :13:02.regeneration project 's mean more jobs in finance. My honourable
:13:03. > :13:10.friend visited the OMS that she refers to recently and I be this
:13:11. > :13:14.week there has been 30 graduate posts announced. She knows this will
:13:15. > :13:17.be developed so that it becomes a centre of expertise and she should
:13:18. > :13:24.be celebrating that in her constituency. Mr Speaker, the number
:13:25. > :13:31.of buildings owned by the Government in 2010 with 110 buildings. It is
:13:32. > :13:38.now a less than that. How much further will they go because that is
:13:39. > :13:43.an indication of giving jobs out to the regions? My honourable friend
:13:44. > :13:47.makes a valid point. It should be about 120 by the end of the decade.
:13:48. > :13:52.It is also worth noting that the number of civil servants based in
:13:53. > :13:58.London has reduced by thousands and the number of buildings has gone
:13:59. > :14:04.down to 54 from 181. That means savings of over ?1.4 billion for the
:14:05. > :14:09.taxpayer. The minister indicated that it is Government policy to try
:14:10. > :14:12.to ensure that will service opportunities are spread across the
:14:13. > :14:16.United Kingdom. Does he agree with me that it is a good idea, on a
:14:17. > :14:20.value for money basis and other basis as well, that everybody gets
:14:21. > :14:26.out of the Westminster and London bubble on a more regular basis, out
:14:27. > :14:31.into the real world? I couldn't have put it better myself. It is
:14:32. > :14:34.absolutely right. There are 800 civil service buildings outside
:14:35. > :14:39.London. We have important targets of developing the civil service around
:14:40. > :14:42.the country, at strategic hubs, and the more people out of the
:14:43. > :14:52.Westminster bubble, the better. We know the Minister's friend the
:14:53. > :14:53.Paymaster General if close to the Chancellor and therefore like stupid
:14:54. > :15:01.northern powerhouse into every speech he makes but most of the jobs
:15:02. > :15:08.are now based in London and with no sense of irony, Sheffield jobs have
:15:09. > :15:12.been moved to London. The test to the minister when he gets the
:15:13. > :15:18.promotion he has been looking for and so richly deserves will be
:15:19. > :15:22.whether or not he has more senior policymakers in London or less. Does
:15:23. > :15:30.he have the ability to live up to our expectations? I genuinely cannot
:15:31. > :15:37.understand the premise of the Lady's question. She should be proud of the
:15:38. > :15:41.fact we are double being jobs right across the regions and we are one of
:15:42. > :15:50.the most radical governments in terms of devolution. I am sad that
:15:51. > :15:54.she does not support this. As the infrastructure and projects
:15:55. > :16:00.authority has only been in place for the last two months, it is early to
:16:01. > :16:05.give it -- to give a proper assessment to the House, but I am
:16:06. > :16:07.confident that we will be able to monitor better the projects that the
:16:08. > :16:15.Government is engaged in from beginning to end. Following the
:16:16. > :16:20.success of infrastructure UK with Crossrail, does my right honourable
:16:21. > :16:24.friend think that the pooling of expertise in the newly merged body
:16:25. > :16:28.bodes well for Crossrail two, which has such a positive impact for
:16:29. > :16:38.people in Hertfordshire? Broadly, yes. Of course, the final decision
:16:39. > :16:44.on Crossrail to well only be made after the investigation from Lord
:16:45. > :16:50.Adonis. I am confident that if we get there, we will improve its
:16:51. > :17:00.prospects of running to schedule and on budget. We announced our response
:17:01. > :17:03.to the independent commission on the Freedom of information last week and
:17:04. > :17:06.while the commission did not make a formal recommendation about
:17:07. > :17:10.extending the coverage of the act, we will take action to extend pay
:17:11. > :17:15.transparency across the public sector. I am pleased to know that
:17:16. > :17:23.the Government appeared to have retreated on their intent to
:17:24. > :17:26.introduce fees on freedom of information request is. Does the
:17:27. > :17:32.Minister agree with me that it is in the public interest that the Freedom
:17:33. > :17:41.of a night be extended to public and private companies? As I have said
:17:42. > :17:44.before, I am a strong supporter of freedom of information and I would
:17:45. > :17:48.like to record at this moment my thanks to the commission who did
:17:49. > :17:52.hard work and made sensible suggestions for improvements. The
:17:53. > :18:01.issue she suggests is a complex one. We do not want to make small
:18:02. > :18:07.companies reject making information available to Government so we will
:18:08. > :18:12.look into this further. Will my right honourable friend join me in
:18:13. > :18:18.welcoming the conclusion that it would not be welcome to introduce
:18:19. > :18:23.further companies to the act and will he join me and saying he would
:18:24. > :18:33.not want to do that? As I said last week, we will not introduce fees and
:18:34. > :18:38.it is important that anyone can use freedom of information to find that
:18:39. > :18:43.what is going on inside public bodies to make sure that taxpayers
:18:44. > :18:51.money is spent better because the people spending it are held to
:18:52. > :18:56.account. The Minister has just mentioned about extending the act to
:18:57. > :19:01.cover private providers doing public service contract. We have talked
:19:02. > :19:04.about small businesses. Clear springs, who run a Home Office
:19:05. > :19:14.contract in my constituency for asylum seeker accommodation, are
:19:15. > :19:19.failing the taxpayer and the asylum seekers living in that accommodation
:19:20. > :19:26.safe under the protection of that act. Will he assure me that this.? I
:19:27. > :19:30.cannot give him -- her that assurance, not least because a
:19:31. > :19:35.former recommendation was not made on this. What I can tell her is that
:19:36. > :19:39.F O I can be made to scrutinise those who set the contract up, that
:19:40. > :19:54.business is large or small then supply to. Could the Minister...
:19:55. > :19:57.Sorry, number one. Thank you, Mr Speaker. The responsibilities of the
:19:58. > :20:03.Cabinet Office remain much as they were last month. We continue to
:20:04. > :20:11.ensure that the Government fully and effectively continues with its
:20:12. > :20:14.programme across areas. Could the Minister update the House on
:20:15. > :20:18.progress made to ensure that every serving member of our Armed Forces,
:20:19. > :20:23.where ever they are in the world, will be able to vote in the upcoming
:20:24. > :20:27.EU referendum and will he guarantee that they will receive their ballots
:20:28. > :20:34.in good time and that their vote is counted? My honourable friend has
:20:35. > :20:37.been tireless in her attempts to make sure that Armed Forces
:20:38. > :20:41.personnel get a vote in the referendum and I can confirm to have
:20:42. > :20:47.the pie Minister's commitment given last week that we will make sure all
:20:48. > :20:50.the Armed Forces can vote. I am happy to tell her that the chief
:20:51. > :20:55.counting officer for the referendum has now directed that the postal
:20:56. > :20:58.ballots will be sent between the 23rd and 27th of May to ensure there
:20:59. > :21:08.is plenty of time for their votes to be counted. Thank you, Mr Speaker.
:21:09. > :21:12.Will the Government -- when the Government introduced new gagging
:21:13. > :21:22.clauses on charities receiving monies last month, they credited
:21:23. > :21:30.this as a key recommendation. Months previously, a member of the Cabinet
:21:31. > :21:36.Office received a ?4000 donation. Surely this is just a myth
:21:37. > :21:44.understanding, so if that is the case, will he make oral information
:21:45. > :21:49.on this available -- will he make all information available on this as
:21:50. > :21:59.he is keen on Freedom of information? This is about making
:22:00. > :22:03.sure that taxpayers money is spent on the things it was intended for,
:22:04. > :22:14.not on making sure that lobbyists can take people and politicians out
:22:15. > :22:18.for lunch. Does my right honourable friend agree that recording laws on
:22:19. > :22:27.Val is a millennium long tradition and an important part of our
:22:28. > :22:35.tradition? And we should maintain this. I certainly do and I would say
:22:36. > :22:39.we should maintain our debate on this. In 1000 years, I want people
:22:40. > :22:47.to be able to look at the laws that we pass on this House and I hope to
:22:48. > :22:51.see a strong turnout in support. The Government is finally reviewing at
:22:52. > :22:55.'s contracts after a number of National Audit Office and select
:22:56. > :22:58.committee reports going back for years which showed what poor for
:22:59. > :23:05.formance they are and a lack of value money -- value for money they
:23:06. > :23:08.are. In addition to this, they had a devastating impact on disabled
:23:09. > :23:12.people. Why has the Government taken so long to do this and will the
:23:13. > :23:16.Minister confirm that the savings anticipated have not been made? The
:23:17. > :23:20.honourable lady ignores the fact that the Government has taken the
:23:21. > :23:26.action which should have been taken long ago to deal with contractors
:23:27. > :23:31.who were not up to scratch which the previous Labour Government failed to
:23:32. > :23:34.take. We are dealing with contracts which need to be improved so that
:23:35. > :23:40.people get the service they deserve and that is why or -- all our
:23:41. > :23:49.programmes are back on track. Far too much noise in the chamber. A
:23:50. > :23:52.constituent of mine who works for HMRC in Shipley has contacted me
:23:53. > :23:57.after being told by his managers that he is unable to help the
:23:58. > :24:01.campaign to leave the use in the forthcoming referendum, even
:24:02. > :24:06.delivering leaflets in his own time. Given that comment ministers can
:24:07. > :24:13.campaign in a personal capacity, why is the same not allowed for civil
:24:14. > :24:26.servants? My honourable friend's constituency -- constituents should
:24:27. > :24:32.follow the rules outlined in his contract but I would say this, that
:24:33. > :24:35.we want to stay in a reformed European Union and I am sure my
:24:36. > :24:41.honourable friend for Shipley would be the first to say that it is only
:24:42. > :24:44.because of the munificence, the tolerance and the generosity of
:24:45. > :24:48.spirit of our Prime Minister that ministers are allowed to disagree in
:24:49. > :24:57.public with the Government position at all. Mr Speaker, the
:24:58. > :25:03.anti-advocacy clause has been widely condemned. Can the Minister explain
:25:04. > :25:09.why this was brought in with no scrutiny in this House? The
:25:10. > :25:13.honourable gentleman failed to recognise that taxpayers money
:25:14. > :25:22.should not be used to lobby Government. Those who argue against
:25:23. > :25:27.this clause are arguing against hard working people, to say they should
:25:28. > :25:32.pay their taxes to be spent on lobbyists. This clause has been in
:25:33. > :25:35.operation for over a year in one area where it was found to be
:25:36. > :25:44.working well and that is why we expanded it across comment. Given
:25:45. > :25:48.that there is now a presumption of building first on brown field sites,
:25:49. > :25:55.will be ministers work with local authorities in Norfolk to help
:25:56. > :25:58.identify further sites. Yes, we will indeed and we are also taking steps
:25:59. > :26:03.to release the greatest possible amount of public sector land on
:26:04. > :26:07.Brownfield sites so that in places like his own constituency and mind,
:26:08. > :26:14.we can see building in places people will welcome it to provide homes to
:26:15. > :26:19.the benefit of the taxpayer. Mr Speaker, in the last Parliament,
:26:20. > :26:28.clear policy targets were set and the date they needed to -- be
:26:29. > :26:32.achieved by. This time, there are no targets set. The Government
:26:33. > :26:35.deliberately preventing the Government from holding them to
:26:36. > :26:41.account would they genuinely not know what are doing? I am sorry the
:26:42. > :26:46.honourable lady obviously hasn't read the items on the website. There
:26:47. > :26:55.is a multiple selection of dates and it will be updated as we go through
:26:56. > :27:01.the parliament. We are one of the most transparent Government in the
:27:02. > :27:18.world and I would have expected her to encourage that.
:27:19. > :27:24.Will the Minister commit to assessing the impact that the
:27:25. > :27:32.anti-advocacy clause will have on Scottish charities? Once again we
:27:33. > :27:37.have a request from the SNP for hard-working payers -- hard-working
:27:38. > :27:42.taxpayers to pay their taxes for them to be used to lobby the very
:27:43. > :27:47.Government which is giving out the grants. I think that is wrong in
:27:48. > :27:51.principle. We have been using this in practice for over a year and that
:27:52. > :28:01.is why we have extended it across the Government.
:28:02. > :28:09.The Prime Minister. Thank you Mr Speaker. This morning I had meetings
:28:10. > :28:16.with my colleagues and I shall have further such meetings today. People
:28:17. > :28:23.in Bristol South look forward to the promised Chef apprenticeships yet
:28:24. > :28:27.question how this will happen on the eve of National Apprenticeship Week,
:28:28. > :28:33.does the Prime Minister have a delivery plan or is he making it up
:28:34. > :28:37.as he goes along? We achieved 2 million in the last Parliament, we
:28:38. > :28:41.are confident of achieving 3 million in this Parliament. We have a
:28:42. > :28:44.delivery plan, based on large companies continuing with their
:28:45. > :28:47.plans for apprenticeships. We want small companies to do more and the
:28:48. > :28:48.public sector