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14 Jun 2010 : Column 331W—continued
Government Departments: ICT
Mr Iain Wright: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 26 May 2010, Official Report, columns 2-3WS, on savings (2010-11), in respect of which (a) IT projects and (b) contracts with each company the £95 million savings in IT spending are to be made. [846]
Mr Maude: As part of the Government's response to addressing the financial shortfall in the public sector and to contribute to the £6 billion savings required for 2010-11, we have instructed Departments, agencies and NDPBs to carry out a review of ICT projects in order to reduce costs. Each project will need to be reviewed individually to ascertain if the project should be stopped, reshaped or continue, as a result targets by project have not been set.
The review of ICT projects will be followed by a contract renegotiation exercise which will be undertaken at supplier level and will focus on those suppliers who have the largest overall revenues from UK public sector contracts. Targets by contract have not been defined as each will need to be individually reviewed and negotiated.
Dr Pugh: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what recent estimate he has made of the likely level of savings to be made consequent on specifying compliance with open standards in Government IT procurement. [1224]
Mr Maude: I have not made any estimate on the likely level of savings that will accrue from specifying compliance with open standards in Government IT procurement. The coalition Government have made a clear manifesto pledge to open up Government procurement and reduce costs.
As part of the forward work programme, the Efficiency and Reform Group within the Cabinet Office has already begun work to review and simplify ICT procurement including an increased focus on the use of open standards. Once this programme is under way we will be define the targets for savings from this activity and these will be published.
Government Departments: Publications
Mr Watson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what plans he has for the open document standard in which future data releases are to be published; and if he will make a statement. [1936]
Mr Maude:
I will be seeking the advice of the Public Sector Transparency Board on the open standardised formats to be used for future data releases; they in turn
will involve and engage developers and others likely to use the data. Where possible we will use recognised open standards including Linked Data standards.
However I do not wish discussion of standards to delay the initial release of key datasets, and so for these we will where necessary use widely accepted basic formats (such as Delimiter Separated Variable format, as used for the Treasury COINS database) and listen to feedback from developers and data users in improving the formats for subsequent releases.
Mr Watson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office whether he plans to authorise departments to publish data sets in a machine readable format. [1937]
Mr Maude: Departments do not need authorisation to publish data sets in machine readable formats and some already do so. The Government's policy is that this should be the norm for all datasets published by all public bodies, and my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister has already asked Government Departments and agencies to ensure that any information published includes the underlying data in an open standardised format for July 2010.
National Security Council
Mr Ellwood: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office who the members are of the National Security Council. [2149]
Mr Letwin: The National Security Council is chaired by the Prime Minister. Permanent members are the Deputy Prime Minister, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, the Home Secretary, the Secretary of State for Defence, the Secretary of State for International Development, the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, the Minister for Security and myself.
Other Cabinet Ministers are invited to attend as required. The Chief of the Defence Staff, the heads of the intelligence agencies and other senior officials also attend as required.
Public Bodies
Mr Watson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office pursuant to the answer of 3 June 2010, Official Report, column 52W, on non-departmental public bodies, whether his Department holds a list of the names and addresses of all (a) non-departmental public bodies and (b) agencies. [1946]
Mr Maude: The names of non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) are published in the annual Cabinet Office report "Public Bodies" copies of which are in the Libraries of the House. These reflect the bodies established by the last Administration. Regarding the addresses of the NDPBs, I refer to the answer of 3 June 2010, Official Report, column 52W. Names and addresses of UK agencies will be published shortly in the "List of Ministerial Responsibilities".
Public Sector Transparency Board
Mr Watson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office (1) which Ministers will attend Public Sector Transparency Board meetings; and if he will make a statement; [1929]
(2) how many officials have been allocated to work for the Public Sector Transparency Board; [1930]
(3) what budget he has allocated to support the work of the Public Sector Transparency Board; and how often the Board will meet; [1931]
(4) who the members of the Public Sector Transparency Board are; [1932]
Mr Maude: I will chair the Public Sector Transparency Board myself and Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Professor Nigel Shadbolt and Mr Tom Steinberg will be members. Further initial external members of the Board will be announced shortly. Ministers, officials and others may also be invited to attend meetings if they can help on particular issues the Board is considering.
The Board will also involve and engage the wider community of experts, developers and advocates on transparency and open data, as well as working with Ministers and officials in Government Departments and other public bodies. I envisage that the Board will meet formally as necessary, and at least quarterly, but that most of its work will be through its members working together, individually and with others on transparency, open data and standards issues.
The secretariat and initial budget for the Board itself will be drawn from the existing resources of the Cabinet Office. The overall budget for the Board's work, which
will be from within existing departmental allocations, will be settled once I have the Board's advice on the work which is necessary and its priority.
Senior Civil Servants: Pay
Mr Watson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the salary is of each civil servant appointed since 1 April 2010 who earns more than £150,000 per annum. [1989]
Mr Maude: On 21 May we announced the appointment of Peter Housden, currently Permanent Secretary for Communities and Local Government, as Permanent Secretary to the Scottish Government. Mr Housden will take up his appointment later this month and his salary will be disclosed in the same way as for other senior civil servants earning £150,000 or more per annum. I am not aware of any further appointments at this pay level.
Swine Flu
Paul Flynn: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office when his Department will publish the results of its investigation into the swine influenza pandemic. [2080]
Mr Maude: The independently chaired review of the UK response to the 2009 H1N1 ("swine flu")pandemic is aiming to publish its report on 1 July 2010.
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