Francis Maude MP is Minister for the Cabinet Office. Our coalition government has achieved much in these early months. We have worked hard to correct the profligacy endemic in the last government and rein in the record deficit. We have rooted out the wasteful spending in Whitehall and imposed freezes on consultants, IT, advertising and […]
At Cabinet Office questions yesterday, shadow Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude raised his concerns about the costs of the 2011 census. He suggests that it could be cheaper if it were less intrusive, and appears to suggest that a Conservative Government would want to do that – but for the fact that the current Government […]
It was a report from Bloomberg which first warned of the threat to the future integrity of mobile phones in the vicinity of the Prime Minister on hearing bad news: “The prime minister, 58, has hurled pens and even a stapler at aides, according to one; he says he once saw the leader of Britain […]
Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office and Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Francis Maude (right) has uncovered some Government hypocrisy through written questions. Back in December 2008, Mr Maude was told that the Security Commission – a Cabinet Office body dedicated to investigating security breaches in Whitehall – had looked into two cases since 1997. […]
Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office Francis Maude has pressed the Prime Minister over the rather fraught issue of Lord Falconer’s pension. In November 2007 the Telegraph reported that Lord Falconer was ready to sue Gordon Brown over the size of his pension. Lord Chancellors have historically had generous arrangements to reflect the fact that […]
Questions were put to the Cabinet Office / Duchy of Lancaster yesterday. Members were swift to express their deep sympathy to David Cameron and his family over the death of Ivan. I add my own. Shadow Cabinet Office Minister Nick Hurd posed a question about charities. (Naomi House, to which he refers, is a children’s […]
Francis Maude, Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office and Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, was recently informed in a written answer that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport lost several pieces of art in 2006: Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport with reference to the […]
The Interception Modernisation Programme is a plan for a database (condemned by critics as a "Big Brother" database) of every phone call, email, text and web browsing session. Conservatives have been unable to extract from ministers an estimate of how much it will cost, although a figure of £12 billion has been cited in the […]
The Cabinet Office has recently published a White Paper on social mobility – entitled New Opportunities – in which it expresses regret that: "In certain high-status professions, the chance for individuals to access opportunities can be frustrated by traditional cultures, established recruitment processes and inflexible career pathways. These often longstanding practices and processes can make […]
Francis Maude, Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office and Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster has received yet another interesting written answer: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what estimate the Office for National Statistics has made of the number of new additional jobs created since 1997 in the (a) public […]
Francis Maude, Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office, has had a noteworthy written answer: "To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission with reference to the answer of 4 March 2008, Official Report, column 2242W, on Liberal Democrats: finance, what the (a) status and (b) timetable is of […]
Francis Maude is now Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office and Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. (I’m sure he’s confident enough not to ask people to call him "Shadow Chancellor" for short!) Yesterday he raised the extremely important issue of data security. "Mr. Francis Maude (Horsham) (Con): The Cabinet Secretary’s report on data […]
The Political Parties and Elections Bill is being debated in the House of Commons today. Currently, Parliamentary candidates have a set limit on their spending once a general election has been called. This averages out at £11,000 (depending on the size of the constituency). This Bill would see the spending limited triggered as soon as […]
Francis Maude is Minister for the Cabinet Office. "Older people have misconceptions about young people. What they don't realise is that young people have misconceptions about other young people". That's what I was told by one of the 16-year-olds who took part in the 2010 National Citizen Service pilot. It's one of the challenges we're […]