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169568

	registered interest
	date	10/12/2014
	answering body	House of Commons Commission
	answering dept id	18
	answering dept short name	House of Commons Commission
	answering dept sort name	House of Commons Commission
	hansard heading	House of Commons: Bookshops
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross representing the House of Commons Commission, if he will make an assessment of the availability of books by women in the House of Commons bookshop.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
	tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
	uin	218201
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/12/2014 answer text <p>I understand that the hon. Member raised the issue of the availability of books written by women with the Senior Retail Operations Manager, who explained that we are committed to the inclusion of women authors within our range and that it is our aim to fully represent women’s role in British politics wherever possible.</p><p>In the current book range, we have a variety of titles by women including <em>Women of the World</em> by Helen McCarthy, <em>Everyday Sexism</em> by Laura Bates, <em>Wise Women</em> by Carole McKenzie, <em>The Times: Great Women’s Lives</em> by Sue Corbett and <em>The Women’s Suffrage Movement</em> by Molly Housego. A best seller earlier in the year was Baroness Trumpington’s book <em>Coming Up Trumps</em>.</p><p>In making the range selection for the Houses of Parliament Shop, we are conscious of the need to present a political balance, and we seek books that shed light on British politics, Parliament and Government. In selecting individual titles we are constrained by what is available and in print at any one time. With limited retail space, it makes commercial sense to stock the current “best sellers”, whoever the authors are. Having said that, we do actively seek to include women authors and books about women within the range and will continue to do so.</p><p>The Retail Buying team will always welcome suggestions on current titles in general circulation that would make a positive addition to the current book selection.</p> answering member constituency Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross answering member printed John Thurso question first answered 15/12/2014 11:14:51 answering member 1399 label Biography information for Viscount Thurso
	tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

170493

	registered interest
	date	15/12/2014
	answering body	House of Commons Commission
	answering dept id	18
	answering dept short name	House of Commons Commission
	answering dept sort name	House of Commons Commission
	hansard heading	Written Questions
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross representing the House of Commons Commission, what estimate he has made of the savings to the House of Commons Commission from the Q&A system in (a) the present financial year and (b) the next five financial years.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
	tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
	uin	218805
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/12/2014 answer text <p>Identified savings to the House of Commons Commission, in reduced printing, publishing and administration costs, from the Questions and Answers (Q&amp;A) system are estimated to be £443,000 in 2014/15, £785,000 in 2015/16 and £795,000 every year from 2016/17.</p> answering member constituency Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross answering member printed John Thurso question first answered 19/12/2014 13:57:02 answering member 1399 label Biography information for Viscount Thurso
	tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

171194

	registered interest
	date	17/12/2014
	answering body	House of Commons Commission
	answering dept id	18
	answering dept short name	House of Commons Commission
	answering dept sort name	House of Commons Commission
	hansard heading	House of Commons: Bookshops
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross representing the House of Commons Commission, pursuant to the Answer to Question 218201, how many book titles in total are on sale in the House of Commons Book Shop; what proportion of such books are by women; and what proportion of such books which do not have the words woman, women or sexism in their title are by women.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
	tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
	uin	219283
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/01/2015 answer text <p>We do not hold information regarding the gender of authors or editors on our stock control systems. Without considerable research it would not be possible to assign a gender to each author as names are not always easily assigned.</p><p>In addition, we stock a significant number of titles for which there is no author or editor named on our system. Such titles include <em>The London Diplomatic List, the Civil Service Yearbook, Vacher’s Quarterly </em>and a number of similar reference titles<em>.</em> The stock changes on a regular basis as many titles are written about current issues and do not stay in the range for long so that titles are added and deleted from the range each month.</p><p>As previously stated, we are committed to the inclusion of women authors within our range, and aim to represent women’s role in British politics wherever possible. This is an essential part of our objective to stock titles that shed light on British politics, Parliament and democracy.</p><p>If the hon. Member would like to discuss the matter further, the Senior Retail Operations Manager would be more than happy to meet her.</p> answering member constituency Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross answering member printed John Thurso question first answered 05/01/2015 11:05:50 answering member 1399 label Biography information for Viscount Thurso
	tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

175181

	registered interest
	date	19/01/2015
	answering body	House of Commons Commission
	answering dept id	18
	answering dept short name	House of Commons Commission
	answering dept sort name	House of Commons Commission
	hansard heading	House of Commons: Bookshops
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross representing the House of Commons Commission, what steps the Commission is taking to ensure that women authors are better represented in the books on sale in the House of Commons Bookshop.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
	tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
	uin	907160
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/01/2015 answer text <p>The Houses of Parliament Shop (formerly the Parliamentary Bookshop) on Bridge Street stocks a small selection of political books, primarily recently published, best-selling titles. The Commission supports the buying manager’s current policy that, within these parameters, women authors are represented in the range wherever possible.</p> answering member constituency Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross answering member printed John Thurso question first answered 22/01/2015 14:51:05 answering member 1399 label Biography information for Viscount Thurso
	tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

227312

	registered interest
	date	13/03/2015
	answering body	House of Commons Commission
	answering dept id	18
	answering dept short name	House of Commons Commission
	answering dept sort name	House of Commons Commission
	hansard heading	ICT
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross representing the House of Commons Commission, what comparative assessment the Commission has made of the costs of offering iPads and equivalent Android devices free of charge to all hon. Members.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
	tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
	uin	227498
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/03/2015 answer text <p>In 2013 the House of Commons Commission agreed to a recommendation in the Administration Committee’s report, <em>First weeks at Westminster: induction arrangements for new MPs in 2015,</em> that:</p><p>“…a tablet and a laptop should be the first pieces of equipment offered to all Members after the 2015 election. The tablet should be in addition to the current allowance and should come with a SIM card. This provision of a tablet would replace any tablets available as part of the current select committee pilot. The laptop would come from the IT equipment allowance for Members provided by PICT.”</p><p>The gross cost was estimated to be around £200,000 per annum (including the cost of SIM cards) averaged over the life of the parliament but is linked to a programme to reduce hard copy printing in favour of online publication that is already delivering savings in excess of £3 million per year. These savings are expected to grow further in the new parliament.</p><p>An independent assessment was completed by Parliamentary ICT (PICT) in January 2015, covering comparative tablet costs, the costs associated with the re-working of existing services and infrastructure (where required), and any costs for training Members, Members’ staff and ICT support teams.</p><p>Having been in use across Parliament since 2012, iPads are integrated with current business processes (eg committee paper circulation) and infrastructure (eg mobile device management). A move away from the Apple operating system (iOS) at this time would incur costs to change these processes.</p><p>Given the established nature of iOS in the Houses’ IT service offering, access to parliamentary digital services on iPads is mature, offering greater access than on other mobile devices. Members are able to access the intranet and intranet hosted services via their iPads, they are able to access and annotate committee papers and can download a number of Office apps to access any content held within Office 365. In addition, PICT are able to remotely manage their security in the case of loss. While all of these services could be provided on other devices and operating systems, currently this would incur further costs in order to deliver them.</p><p>There would be a significant change to move existing Members to a different tablet operating system. There are at present 209 iPads supplied centrally to Members; PICT are experienced at supporting these. Any departure from iOS would require re-training for the current Members using iOS and new training to be developed for the remaining 441 Members and all relevant PICT support staff.</p><p>The assessment of the current marketplace revealed a wide range of prices, from entry level tablets starting at under £100, through to high-end tablets at approximately £600. Across this range, specifications and capabilities vary a great deal. Our requirements are for a secure, SIM-enabled tablet with a good life expectancy and capable of supporting future upgrades. The Apple iPad Air 2 meets these requirements and is competitively priced when compared with similar models.</p> answering member constituency Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross answering member printed John Thurso grouped question UIN 227725 question first answered 18/03/2015 16:17:37 answering member 1399 label Biography information for Viscount Thurso
	tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

170525

	registered interest
	date	15/12/2014
	answering body	Northern Ireland Office
	answering dept id	21
	answering dept short name	Northern Ireland
	answering dept sort name	Northern Ireland
	hansard heading	Written Questions
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what estimate she has made of the savings to her Department from the Q&A system in the (a) 12 months and (b) five years since 4 June 2014; what additional ICT systems or improvements to existing systems her Department has introduced or plans to introduce that would not have been feasible without the Q&A system; and what assessment she has made of the extent to which the system has made it easier to answer questions from hon. Members on time.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
	tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
	uin	218789
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/01/2015 answer text <p>The electronic Q&amp;A system has removed the requirement to subscribe to the TSO feed for Parliamentary Questions (PQs) resulting in a saving to the Department of £6,504.40 per year.</p><p>The reduced paper costs, although relatively small, are also welcome both in environmental and financial terms.</p><p>The Northern Ireland Office has not had to introduce, plan to introduce or improve any existing ICT systems.</p><p>The Q&amp;A system has allowed the department to answer PQs later in the day than the previous paper-based system, mitigating against the small number of cases where answering close to the deadline was unavoidable. It also allows hon and Rt hon Members to receive their answers instantly once uploaded, and on the electronic platform of their choosing.</p><p>One of the benefits of the new system is the possibility for the reporting of the timeliness of answers to Parliamentary Questions to be delivered with greater consistency and accuracy across all answering bodies.</p><p>It will be for the Procedure Committee to evaluate the effectiveness of the new system in improving performance when it assesses the evidence following the end of the session.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Chipping Barnet answering member printed Mrs Theresa Villiers question first answered 06/01/2015 15:13:24 answering member 1500 label Biography information for Theresa Villiers
	tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

179670

	registered interest
	date	12/02/2015
	answering body	Northern Ireland Office
	answering dept id	21
	answering dept short name	Northern Ireland
	answering dept sort name	Northern Ireland
	hansard heading	Training
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what guidance her Department provides to its managers on how many days training should be made available to staff.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
	tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
	uin	224432
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/02/2015 answer text <p>My Department provides guidance to our managers and their staff on the Civil Service commitment to provide 5 days development a year.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Chipping Barnet answering member printed Mrs Theresa Villiers question first answered 26/02/2015 11:42:02 answering member 1500 label Biography information for Theresa Villiers
	tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

179671

	registered interest
	date	12/02/2015
	answering body	Northern Ireland Office
	answering dept id	21
	answering dept short name	Northern Ireland
	answering dept sort name	Northern Ireland
	hansard heading	Training
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how much her Department spent on training in each of the last three financial years.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
	tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
	uin	224519
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/02/2015 answer text <p>My Department’s expenditure on training in each of the last three financial years is shown below:</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Financial Year</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Expenditure (£)</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2012/13</strong></p></td><td><p>19,912</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2013/14</strong></p></td><td><p>31,234</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2014/15 to 31 January 2015</strong></p><p>Known committed expenditure for remainder of financial year</p><p> </p><p>Total</p></td><td><p>18,050</p><p> </p><p>7,960</p><p> </p><p>26,010</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p> answering member constituency Chipping Barnet answering member printed Mrs Theresa Villiers question first answered 26/02/2015 11:40:25 answering member 1500 label Biography information for Theresa Villiers
	tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

179672

	registered interest
	date	12/02/2015
	answering body	Northern Ireland Office
	answering dept id	21
	answering dept short name	Northern Ireland
	answering dept sort name	Northern Ireland
	hansard heading	Training
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what her Department's training budget was in each of the last three financial years.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
	tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
	uin	224500
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/02/2015 answer text <p>My Department’s training budget in each of the last three financial years is shown below:</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Year</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Budget (£)</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2012/13</strong></p></td><td><p>32,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2013/14</strong></p></td><td><p>40,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2014/15</strong></p></td><td><p>40,000</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p> answering member constituency Chipping Barnet answering member printed Mrs Theresa Villiers question first answered 26/02/2015 11:43:53 answering member 1500 label Biography information for Theresa Villiers
	tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

179673

	registered interest
	date	12/02/2015
	answering body	Northern Ireland Office
	answering dept id	21
	answering dept short name	Northern Ireland
	answering dept sort name	Northern Ireland
	hansard heading	Training
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what the average number of days training of full-time equivalent staff employed in her Department was in each of the last three financial years.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
	tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
	uin	224481
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/02/2015 answer text <p>The number of average training days of full-time equivalent staff employed in my Department is not held in this format. This is because training takes place in many informal formats such as work-shadowing, on the job training and research etc, which are not formally recorded.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Chipping Barnet answering member printed Mrs Theresa Villiers question first answered 26/02/2015 11:45:26 answering member 1500 label Biography information for Theresa Villiers
	tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah