Live Cabinet Office Questions House of Commons

Not for the first time, the government is looking at thhs

through the wrong end of thd telescope. Surely rather th`n try

and put bent local authorithes from taking ethical and admire a mental

issues into account when making decisions it should, as the Scottish

Government does, encourage them to do so. Does the Minister re`lly

believe that council tax paxers money should be used to prop up

oppressive regimes and support unlawful activity throughout the

world? I find it surprising that the SNP and gauges and supports

discrimination of this kind when what we should do is we shotld trade

with the world, except wherd there is a boycott or a decision `t a

national level. The idea we should discriminate against companhes where

we otherwise have otherwise good trading relationship is wrong.

Question three. At present H am afraid that following the moves of

an outstanding permanent secretary from Whitehall into being chief

executive of Ofcom, there are no permanent secretaries from the B M E

communities at present. There are, however, 20% of permanent

secretaries who are women which is higher than the percentage hn 2 10

and higher than the 8% in 2005, but it is considerably too low `nd we

have a great deal more work to do to make sure we are drawing on a talent

pool that reflects the nation as a whole. In 2011 50% of permanent

secretaries were female for the first time and since then and since

the Prime Minister took control the glass ceiling has been painstakingly

reassembled. If he can't be trusted to appoint women, then isn't it

about time we introduced sole positive discrimination? Well, the

honourable member is referrhng to a brief moment during which bdcause of

appointments already in place and new appointments made there was a

spike that was replicated as a long-term move and we have `ppointed

a range of permanent secret`ries who are women in the last few months and

I am glad to tell the honourable member that we are doing a great

deal to try and ensure that the pool from where we draw the perm`nent

secretaries in the first pl`ce, obviously the director-general is,

is significantly improving. We have now 37% about your director,general

that women and we hope to move that further forward and we need to see

that guy want to wrap the sdnior civil servant of course. According

to the Leonard Cheshire dis`bility, only 4.5% of senior civil sdrvants

are disabled. What is the government doing to ensure that disability is

not impeding people from re`ching the highest levels and will the

government review the on a lat and keep this house updated on his

efforts to improve employment prospects for disabled people in the

civil service? I think the honourable member is right `nd the

situation is worse than she quotes. The percentage of disabled senior

civil servants, or those who register themselves as disabled in

the staff surveys is only 2.4% and we think that is much too low and it

must represent the fact that we haven't yet been able to relove all

the barriers we have needed to remove. I am sitting next to my

right honourable friend who has shown that in politics it is

perfectly possible to reach the highest levels if you suffer from a

significant disability and we need to draw on talent from wherd ever it

comes. As the Minister has just concerned, since the Prime Linister

gave himself the power to appoint, 80% of permanent secretaries are now

men. In the spirit of the open government, will the Ministdr commit

to publishing the short list from which the Prime Minister has

appointed? I will go back and talk to colleagues about the methods by

which we publish what happens in that procedure, but I would like to

point out to the opposition spokesman that the pool frol which

we draw the spokesperson... The pool from which we draw the secrdtaries

is the director general and we need to encourage more and more women to

be director-general and we `re now up at 37% as women and we would

obviously like to get up to be on the 50% point and the truth is that

as we do so we will have thd talent from which to draw into the

permanent secretary ranks which is where we want to see women of talent

ending up. Number four, Mr Speaker. The government has a directhon of

travel which is ensuring value for money for the taxpayer and value for

money overall. The government property unit is working closely

with departments to reduce the government estate from around 8 0

buildings to close at the 200 by 2023 and in London the numbdr of

government offices has falldn from 181 in 2010 to just 54 todax and we

seek to further reduce this number to around 20 buildings by 2025.

Would my honourable friend `gree that where ever possible all tax

payer funded bodies should look at relocating outside a central London

to save money and will he write to it so that this suggestion? If I

didn't know my honourable friend better I would think he was bidding

for an HQ to be located in Northampton South so I would tell

him to be careful that he whshes for. I know however that

Northamptonshire has led thd way as the first area in the country to

announce plans to bring thehr police and Fire Service together in a

shared estate. The Minister indicated the value for mondy

approach, would he also agrde with me that it would be advisable and

better if government officers were spread right across the United

Kingdom, and given the valud for money approach in Northern Hreland,

would he look at Northern Ireland as a location? Yes, my honourable

friend makes an important point and there is a policy on rebalancing the

civil service across all regions of the United Kingdom and the civil

service is already signific`nt in the United kingdom and many civil

servants are employed in Northern Ireland and we look to extend this

further and create multiple occupancy units in key locations in

the country. I am happy to lake a bid in terms of the relocathon of

government offices. Coastal communities, as my right honourable

friend will know, and many advantages, but also serious

challenges. Does my right honourable friend agree that as the sunniest

ounce in the United Kingdom, thriving cultural scene, bohling

chamber of commerce, that E`stbourne might be just the place for

relocation? My boyfriend is a member of

Parliament in her area. We know that the Eastbourne Chamber of Commerce

was one of the ten happiest places to stay in the United Kingdom. It

might be a place for all of us to go after the European referendtm,

regardless of the result. The extent of the boundary review is one for

the boundary commission. Can my honourable friend confirm that the

electoral commission should split constituencies by size? My

honourable friend is absolutely right the principle that all votes

should have equal weight. They must be more equal in size, the

constituencies. It is part of the boundary commission 's work for some

time. They are expected to hntroduce it for constituencies in England

this time. The number of democratically appointed melbers of

this house from Scotland will be diminished by six members. Given

that, should membership be `ble to report on issues which involve both

Scotland and the United Kingdom I cannot confirm plans to confirm or

otherwise with regard to ch`nges within the House of Lords. H am in a

generous mood. I welcome thd consultation period. But dods my

honourable friend believe it is important to ensure people `re aware

of the consultations in orddr for them to make their views known?

These consultations tend not to be publicised. My honourable friend is

absolutely great. People should know what is going on. It is being

advertised on the boundary commission 's website. It is also

opt to political parties on all sides of the house to make sure that

people are galvanised and that any submission they may have our cake

and regard. In some constittencies, two extra wards have been added He

cannot use the December figtres to redraw the boundaries or will the

government go back to drawing up boundaries for their own political

gain? The final ones will not be published for ten days. No latter

what the outcome of that is, it cannot be right for us to c`rry on

with the existing constituents boundaries, which are based on

electoral rolls from 15 years ago. They are shockingly out of date We

need to update them. I can reassure the honourable lady that thdy will

be updated every five years, rather than ten, so that constituency

boundaries will be more acctrate and up-to-date than they have ever been

in the past. Thank you very much. This government and this Prhme

Minister have taken a global lead on tackling the scourge of corruption.

Each member of the Anti-Corruption Summit signed up to all the

recommendations on the commtnique. They have also set out for the

measures the Baltic. In Aprhl 2 14, the Prime Minister said, I believe

the registration on a centr`l register are important for tackling

illicit finance and tax evasion Why does the government no longdr

calling on public registers in the British Overseas Territories? We are

calling for them. The Prime Minister said that. We are dealing whth no.

Later this month, we will ptblish the beneficial ownership register

from the United Kingdom. All the overseas Territories have shgned up

to that. We want them to make the public.

Is there any colleagues with a similar question? In the run-up to

the Anti-Corruption Summit, people were calling for the same sort of

transparency in our overseas territories. Why did the Prhme

Minister ignore them? Was hd unable or unwilling to stop the corruption

in our tax havens? We have lade efforts to make sure we havd all the

public registers. The promises we have seen from the overseas

territories as the biggest we have seen from any government has

studied. Transparency International of the summit, it has been ` good

day for anti-corruption. Thd panel papers have shown how illicht

finance is shipping many economies. How can companies not have the tax

affairs scrutinised because they are in the Virgin Islands. Should we not

be able to force overseas jurisdictions like the Virghn

Islands to publish the accotnts If he cared so much about it, laybe he

would be congratulating us on that full dress which has made. The

Virgin Islands has signed up for the beneficial register. The have agreed

to share that information whth the United Kingdom government. We are

committed to tackling the scourge of corruption, something has government

and previous ones did their best to ignore. It is thanks largelx to the

efforts of my friend that the scheme into force in January 2013. It has

unlocked a range of public benefits and services. His findings `re

important and having power ` quick input implementation. Centr`l

government is driving forward this act and we will take further

actions. It has been seen as a benefit to benefit givers and the

wider community. We have reviewed central government 's progrdss on

the night. We are looking to increase their ways and a clear

commitment to implementing ht. We will set out in some of the said

steps we are going to take for the future. I have invited a panel of

social experts to review thd current plans. This will bring forw`rd the

government 's aspirations for social justice. If the Cabinet Offhce is

responsible for efficiency hn government.

Will the mother 's minister confirm that feel to award contracts for

feeling such as human rights abuses? The boycott of and discrimination

against countries as potenthally illegal. They gay going to ht was to

make absolutely clear that the decisions on boycott and ag`inst

countries need to be taken `t the national level and it is

inappropriate for local authorities to set their own policies. The

National Citizen service has been a wonderful success. What mord can be

done to make sure that even more young people in Yorkshire c`n find

out how to access this transformative service. It has made

a huge difference. 467 people who went through it in 2015. We are

absolutely determined to increase that number. There is a new

marketing campaign. There are 8 million hours of volunteering. I

hope he will see in his constituency a good proportion of that effect

coming through in the next few years. What provision has the

government made to ensure that none United Kingdom citizens not living

here will enjoy the same rates after a possible Brexit vote that as they

have no? It is a very hot topic It highlights one of the issues which

would have to be resolved. Ht is a very complex issue. This government

has a responsibility to enstre our citizens are safe on holidax. What

progress has he made on the cyber security? It is increasinglx

important, as we have an increasingly digital governlent We

have increased investment to ?1 9 billion. We will publish thd

strategy later this year. Thank you Mr Speaker. Inequality at the top of

the civil service is completely unacceptable. Can I ask agahn, will

the Minister release the gender breakdown with regard to permanent

secretaries, so we can offer a lot transparency on this issue? As I

said to the house a few momdnts ago, we will take that suggestion a week

and come back and let you know if it is possible to release that data

without compromising individual sense sensibilities. I agred with

that we need to see more wolen joining as permanent secret`ries.

The positions need to be much better balanced any gender sense. There is

a real opportunity for young people in Cornwall to have increasdd

opportunities. What steps are they taking to make sure people have

access to it. We have seen hundreds of people who have signed up for the

Citizen service. We have 486 people signed up and want to see m`ny more

in the coming year. I think it will have an enormous effect on social

cohesion. 80% of those who went through the National Citizen service

said they had a better view of people coming from other backgrounds

than they did previously. The Minister is offering serious thought

on a very serious subject. H think he deserves a more attentivd

audience. Thank you. Given the surge in registration for voters, how can

the Minister justify using such inaccurate figures to redraw the

boundary map of Great Britahn. We have just had this question a few

minutes ago. The answer is very clear. To use the alternative of

using figures from 15 years ago is completely unacceptable. We have

made it more frequent, not less We update the register for the purpose

of boundaries every five ye`rs, not every ten. What steps as thd estate

made after the arrest ending victory to stay in Europe to get all

departments working well ag`in after the destruction we have heard over

the last months? I am afraid the honourable member is mistakdn.

Gradually, as a CD by day, the departments have continued to

function smoothly and effectively during this period. As have members

of the Cabinet. We intend doing so in order to fulfil all the

commitments we were elected on. Questions to the Prime Minister I

know the whole house