Contributions
860 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDTopical QuestionsI came promptly to the House to make a statement after receiving the second interim report, and I said then that the Government have always been focused on ensuring a…11 May 2023HANSARDTopical QuestionsWe are all struggling over the opportunity to endorse what my hon. Friend says, because it is absolutely right and we do not say it enough. A huge amount of hard work is done by…11 May 2023HANSARDTopical QuestionsI take enormously seriously what the right hon. Lady says on this issue, on which she has campaigned long and hard and very successfully. We are now in the final stages, as she…11 May 2023HANSARDTopical Questionsrose—11 May 2023HANSARDSpeakers at Government Events: Social Media HistoryI have nothing to hide. If the hon. Gentleman would like it published, I will publish it. It is internal guidance, and it therefore tends to be internal, but I will lay a copy in…11 May 2023HANSARDSpeakers at Government Events: Social Media HistoryIt may shock the hon. Lady, and I apologise, but I cannot recall her exact parliamentary question. I recall the parliamentary question of the hon. Member for Ellesmere Port and…11 May 2023HANSARDSpeakers at Government Events: Social Media HistoryThe Cabinet Office has drawn up guidance to help protect civil service values. Taxpayers’ money should not unwittingly be used to pay for speakers linked to abhorrent…11 May 2023HANSARDResignation Honours ListsAs I say, this is a long-standing convention that has gone on under successive Administrations. It continues to be a convention. It is typical, according to convention, that the…11 May 2023HANSARDResignation Honours ListsIt is a long-standing convention present under successive Governments that outgoing Prime Ministers can draw up a resignation list. Any names proposed are subject to the usual…11 May 2023HANSARDMinisterial Code: Civil ServiceI rather dispute the premise of the hon. Lady’s question. There is and always should be a professional relationship between civil servants and the Government. We should all ensure…11 May 2023HANSARDSpeakers at Government Events: Social Media HistoryI appreciate that the hon. Lady has not had the opportunity to do so, and I look forward to her having that opportunity, but if she were to read on from the phrase that she…11 May 2023HANSARDCivil Service: External ConsultantsI will always endeavour to ensure that no consultant is ever employed where they are “not needed”, to quote the hon. Lady. We always ensure that we use the propositions that…11 May 2023HANSARDCivil Service ImpartialityI do not want to comment on the specifics raised, because I am unfamiliar with them, but I would say that, in carrying out procurements under public contract regulations,…11 May 2023HANSARDTopical QuestionsI sympathise hugely with the hon. Lady’s constituent. That is one of many, many—far too many—tragic incidences that we are aware of in the House. That does not alter the fact that…11 May 2023HANSARDCivil Service ImpartialityThe rules, which I have already set out, along with the fundamental principle that civil servants do not take actions that could lead to their impartiality being questioned by an…11 May 2023HANSARDCivil Service ImpartialityAs to the former, I do not believe so; my understanding is that all the rules were followed in that regard and it was done appropriately. In relation to the latter, that is…11 May 2023HANSARDCivil Service ImpartialityIt is, I believe, wholly unprecedented. It is particularly important that permanent secretaries, of all people, should conduct themselves in a way such that the impartiality of…11 May 2023HANSARDCivil Service: External ConsultantsWe do make use of that expertise. I am keen to see civil servants providing advice across the full remit of their capabilities. Embedded in civil service learning are modules…11 May 2023HANSARDCivil Service ImpartialityThe hon. Lady will not find me criticising civil servants who are hard-working, who do their job, who are committed and who continue to provide tremendous expertise to our…11 May 2023HANSARDCivil Service: External ConsultantsMy focus is on ensuring that the civil service has enhanced skills to provide all forms of advice where appropriate. However, there is also a role, as there is for other…11 May 2023