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2 Jun 2009 : Column 421W—continued
Duchy of Lancaster
Civil Servants
Mr. Maude: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster whether his Department has conducted research on levels of morale in the Civil Service in the last 12 months. [270137]
Mr. Watson: The civil service is strongly committed to researching levels of staff engagement and satisfaction. All Departments undertake regular staff surveys and recent results are available on the civil service website:
Copies will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Mr. Maude: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster whether the Cabinet Office has issued guidance to civil servants in respect of taking minutes at formal meetings. [270157]
Civil Servants: Codes of Practice
Mr. Maude: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will place in the Library a copy of the Directory of Civil Service Guidance. [271963]
Mr. Watson: The “Directory of Civil Service Guidance” is already available in the Libraries of both Houses.
Civil Servants: Vacancies
Mr. Maude: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (1) pursuant to the answer of 17 March 2009, Official Report, column 1057W, on civil servants: vacancies, which (a) Departments and (b) executive agencies do not advertise their job vacancies on the Civil Service Recruitment Gateway; [271913]
(2) pursuant to the answer of 17 March 2009, Official Report, column 1057W, on civil servants: vacancies, what the (a) job title, (b) salary range and (c) name of the recruiting Department or agency was of each vacancy advertised within the Civil Service via the Civil Service Recruitment Gateway in the last 12 months; [271915]
(3) what criteria are used to determine whether a Civil Service job vacancy advertised via the Civil Service Recruitment Gateway is reserved for existing civil servants; [272009]
(4) what steps he plans to take to encourage greater use of the Civil Service Recruitment Gateway. [271966]
Mr. Watson: Government Departments and Executive agencies have delegated responsibility for recruitment advertising. All Departments have been asked to give an assurance that their vacancies will be advertised on the new online service. The Government are committed to making vacancies widely available to job seekers and are undertaking a programme of work to encourage greater use of the online facility.
Departments and agencies determine whether a vacancy should be advertised internally within the civil service or externally. The civil service senior leadership committee
must approve the mode of recruitment for the most senior civil service job vacancies. In all cases the decision to advertise is based on a range of factors, including workforce plans, talent management strategies and cost.
A breakdown of the vacancies appearing online can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Civil Service: Recruitment
Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (1) what recent discussions the Cabinet Office has had with the Recruitment and Employers Confederation on the application of Government security clearance rules to candidates applying for Civil Service positions; [270767]
(2) what guidance his Department has issued to recruitment agencies on security clearance procedures for recruitment to positions in the Civil Service. [271806]
Mr. Watson: Policy officials in the Cabinet Office have regular discussions with the Recruitment and Employers Confederation (REC) on a range of issues: this includes the application of Government policy in respect of national security vetting for candidates for employment in the civil service as well as contractors and temporary staff recruited through employment agencies or recruitment companies.
A copy of the relevant Cabinet Office guidance, posted on the REC's website and also issued as an Office of Government Commerce (OGC) Procurement Policy Notice (09/08) has been placed in the Library.
Departmental ICT
Jenny Willott: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many and what proportion of IT products in each category procured for each division of his Department were compliant with the Government's Buy Sustainable-Quick Win standard in the latest year for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [269625]
Mr. Watson: In the Cabinet Office, IT products are supplied under the Public Sector Flex framework contract. This contract contains a number of measures to ensure that all purchases comply with the energy saving objectives of the Greening Government ICT Strategy which include the Government's Buy Sustainable-Quick Win standard.
John Thurso: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what steps he has taken to reduce the levels of carbon dioxide emissions arising from the operation of ICT systems in (a) the Cabinet Office and (b) 10 Downing Street under the Greening Government ICT Strategy. [273551]
Mr. Watson: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Cardiff, Central (Jenny Willott) on 22 April 2009, Official Report, columns 692-93W.
Departmental Mobile Phones
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many (a) BlackBerry devices and (b) mobile telephones have been lost by (i) Ministers, (ii) special advisers and (iii) civil servants in his Department in each year since 2005. [274456]
Kevin Brennan: Our records do not differentiate between mobile devices supplied to Ministers, special advisers and civil servants. The following departmentally provided equipment is recorded as follows:
14 mobile phones have been reported lost since 2005 and three BlackBerry devices have been reported stolen since 2005.
The following figures show an annual basis.
| Mobile phones | BlackBerry devices | |
| (1) Figures not available. | ||
Departmental Pay
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how much (a) the Cabinet Office and (b) its agency paid in end-of-year performance bonuses to (i) all staff and (ii) senior Civil Service staff in 2008-09; and how many such payments were made. [275262]
Mr. Watson: An element of the Cabinet Office’s overall pay award is allocated to non-consolidated variable pay related to performance. These payments are used to drive high performance and form part of the pay award for members of staff who demonstrate exceptional performance, for example by exceeding targets set or meeting challenging objectives. Non-consolidated variable pay awards are funded from within existing pay bill controls, and have to be re-earned each year against pre-determined targets and, as such, do not add to future pay bill costs.
Details of non-consolidated payments made in 2008-09 will only be available once the Department’s annual report has been published.
Departmental Work Experience
Bob Spink: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many work placements his Department offered to (a) school pupils, (b) university students and (c) graduates in each of the last five years. [274492]
Mr. Watson: The Cabinet Office arranges placements to and help young people better understand the workplace, promote itself as an employer of choice, enhance the image of the civil service and increase diversity.
Records of how many work placements are offered to (a) school pupils, (b) university students and (c) graduates in each of the last five years are not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Director of Digital Engagement
Mr. Maude: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what timetable has been set for the appointment of a Director of Digital Engagement; and to whom the Director will report once appointed. [269908]
Mr. Watson: Andrew Stott has been appointed as Director of Digital Engagement and took up the post on 1 June 2009.
The Director of Digital Engagement will report to the Permanent Secretary, Government Communications.
Emergency Services: Floods
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of emergency response facilities to floods; and what steps have been taken to improve such facilities since the floods of summer 2007. [277447]
Mr. Watson: This was the subject of recommendation 44 of Sir Michael Pitt’s review of the summer 2007 floods, which recommended that Category 1 and 2 responders should assess the effectiveness of their emergency response facilities and undertake any improvement works. In their response, the Government said that they would develop a check-list to help local responders to establish and assess the effectiveness of emergency facilities. This was done in December last year with publication of Parts One and Two of the “Expectation and Indicators of Good Practice Set for Category 1 and 2 Responders” which gives guidance on what is expected of responders in implementing the Civil Contingencies Act and wider capability building activity.
The particular improvement recommended by Sir Michael Pitt was the incorporation of IT to support flood visualisation tools in Gold and Silver Commands. This measure was the subject of Pitt Review recommendation 36, the Government’s response to which indicated that the necessary hardware and training will be in place during 2009 to make relevant flood visualisation data held in electronic map format available to Gold and Silver Commands. Progress in meeting this recommendation will be reported as part of the Government’s next six-monthly progress report in June.
Flood Control
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (1) whether the updated national recovery guidance will include guidance on pre-planned arrangements to meet the costs of recovery from flooding; [276239]
(2) by what date he expects the national recovery guidance to have been updated as recommended in the Pitt report on the floods of summer 2007; and whether the updated guidance will include guidance on (a) local and (b) central recovery reporting. [276219]
Mr. Watson: The National Recovery Guidance was first published (online) in October 2007 and has been regularly updated since then, taking on board lessons from incidents and exercises, including recommendations from the Pitt Review.
Guidance on pre-planned arrangements to meet the costs of recovery from flooding (and all other emergencies), and guidance on local and central recovery reporting, has been consulted on as part of a wider consultation on revisions to “Emergency Response and Recovery”, the non-statutory guidance that accompanies the Civil Contingencies Act. This consultation closed on 24 April.
The final revised version of “Emergency Response and Recovery” will be published later this year.
Once “Emergency Response and Recovery” is published, the National Recovery Guidance will be updated to include the agreed guidance on pre-planned arrangements to meet the costs of recovery from flooding and guidance on local and central recovery reporting.
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster whether the National Resilience Forum on flooding has held its first meeting. [276241]
Mr. Watson: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Beverley and Holderness (Mr. Stuart) on 15 May 2009, Official Report, columns 1056-1057W. It should be noted that the Government agreed with Sir Michael Pitt that the National Resilience Forum should cover not just flood resilience, but include a wide range of other risks.
Government Departments: Disclosure of Information
Mr. Maude: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Cardiff Central of 23 February 2009, Official Report, column 402W, on Government departments: disclosure of information, what the figures are for each department responsible for the policy area in respect of which the information was disclosed, in each of the three years. [270172]
Mr. Watson: Further to the answer given on 23 February 2009, Official Report, column 402W, to the hon. Member for Cardiff, Central (Jenny Willott), the Cabinet Office does not hold a record by Department of unauthorised disclosures. There is no necessary connection between an unauthorised disclosure and the Department responsible for the policy in respect of the information disclosed.
Government Departments: Email
Mr. Maude: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster whether Government departments plan to make use of digital signatures when emailing members of the public. [271972]
Mr. Watson: Government Departments use a number of different means of securing communications between themselves and members of the public. The appropriate method is adopted to suit the particular business needs of individual Government Departments. Such security and authentication regimes include measures such as traditional cryptography, Transport Layer Security and X.509 server certificates as well as digital signatures.
Mandatory requirement 38 of the Security Policy Framework states that:
“all ICT systems must have suitable identification and authentication controls to manage the risk of unauthorised access, enable auditing and the correct management of user accounts.”
This may include the use of digital signatures.
Government Departments: Internet
Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what steps the Minister for Digital Engagement has taken to promote the use of blogs within Government in the last 12 months. [274579]
Mr. Watson: 12 months ago I launched the Power of Information Task Force to look at social media use within Government. As part of that work the Government has clarified that civil servants can blog and how they should act at
accompanied by guidance from COI at
The task force published its report on 2 February 2009 setting out 25 detailed recommendations on how Government should act online. The Government response of 13 May 2009 can be found on
Copies of the documents have been placed in the Library of the House.
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