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  • Nicola Blackwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Nicola Blackwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicola Blackwood on 2015-11-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how much of her Department’s funding allocated in the Spending Review 2015 will be for research and development expenditure up to 2020.

    Mr Ben Wallace

    My Department has no funding allocated in the Spending Review 2015 for research and development expenditure. Funding for research and development expenditure in Northern Ireland is allocated to NI Executive Departments.

  • Nicola Blackwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Leader of the House

    Nicola Blackwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Leader of the House

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicola Blackwood on 2015-11-26.

    To ask the Leader of the House, how much of his Office’s funding allocated in the Spending Review 2015 will be for research and development expenditure up to 2020.

    Chris Grayling

    Spending Review 2015 set out settlements for departments and showed how the government will deliver on its priorities, eliminate the deficit, and deliver security and opportunity for working people.

    Final decisions on internal departmental funding allocations for future years, including for research and development, have not yet been made.

  • Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-11-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, (a) what obligations exist on search engine providers registered as data controllers with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) (including those with offices outside the jurisdiction) to ensure that any data processing by them complies with the Data Protection Principles and (b) what steps the ICO (i) has taken and (ii) is planning to take to ensure that such principles are complied with.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    Search engines are data controllers if they process information about living, identifiable people, for example within a search result based on a person’s name.Data controllersmust comply with the data protection principles, for example by explaining to customers how their information is collected and used. Although the main search engines are international operations, if they have an establishment in the UK, then their activities will be subject to UK data protection law.

    The ICO ensures thatdata controllerscomply with the lawfor example by investigating complaints and carrying out enforcement or liaison work. The ICO will continue to engage with the search engines to ensure that the right balance is struck between online access to information and individuals’ privacy rights.

  • Caroline Ansell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Caroline Ansell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Ansell on 2015-11-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what training his Department has provided to staff on the family test; what other steps he has taken to raise awareness of the family test among staff of his Department; and if he will make a statement.

    Caroline Dinenage

    This department has liaised directly with DWP for advice and guidance on applying the Family Test in policy development. Policymakers in this department have been encouraged to attend Family test training on applying the Test and have been made aware of best practice.

  • Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-11-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much the Information Commissioner’s Office has spent on processing assessments pursuant to section 42 of the Data Protection Act 1998 in each of the last five financial years; how many such requests that Office has received in each of the those years; and what the recorded outcomes were of those requests.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    Under section 42 of the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA), any person who is, or believes that he is, directly affected by the processing of personal data, can ask the Information Commissioner to consider whether the processing is likely to comply with the law. On receiving such a request, the Commissioner is obliged to consider the concern and make an assessment. Any such request, and cases taken forward are dealt with by the ICO’s customer contact and performance improvement business areas. The ICO does not cost up S42 assessments separately from other data protection casework, but the total staffing costs for these two business areas for the last five financial years are set out below:

    2015/16 (April-Nov)

    £2,883,256.14

    2014/15

    £3,879,782.83

    2013/14

    £3,969,104.17

    2012/13

    £3,581,161.82

    2011/12

    £3,389,336.87

    Numbers of assessments received and concluded for each of the past 5 years are set out below:

    Financial years

    2010-11

    2011-12

    2012-13

    2013-14

    2014-15

    Number of assessments received under s42 DPA

    13034

    12980

    13760

    14738

    14268

    Number of assessments completed under s42 DPA

    14276

    12725

    14280

    15492

    15052

    The recorded outcomes of those assessments are set out below:

    Financial years

    Outcome of s42 assessment

    2010-11

    2011-12

    2012-13

    2013-14

    2014-15

    Not progressed

    14%

    11%

    13%

    14%

    Compliance likely

    22%

    21%

    22%

    19%

    Compliance unlikely

    33%

    31%

    35%

    34%

    Ineligible/Made too early

    27%

    36%

    30%

    33%

    Reopened – pending final outcome

    4%

    1%

    No Action for Data Controller

    35%

    Data Controller Action required

    22%

    Concern to be raised with Data Controller

    17%

    compliance advice given to Data Controller

    10%

    Response needed from Data Controller

    7%

    Complaint not applicable under DPA

    4%

    General advice given to Data Controller

    4%

    Data Controller outside UK

    1%

    Improvement action plan agreed with Data Controller

    1%

    “

  • Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-11-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many requests under section 42 of the Data Protection Act have been made in respect of (a) Google Commerce Limited, (b) Google Inc., (c) Google Payment Limited and (d) Google UK Limited.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    Information relating to the number of requests under section 42 of the Data Protection Act that have been made in respect of (a) Google Commerce Limited, (b) Google Inc, (c) Google Payment Limited and (d) Google UK Limited is outlined below:

    Year

    Google Inc

    Google UK Ltd

    Google Payment Limited

    2012/2013

    4

    16

    0

    2013/2014

    1

    4

    0

    2014/2015

    3

    0

    3

    2015/2016

    1

    0

    0

  • Paul Maynard – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Paul Maynard – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Maynard on 2015-11-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the speech given by the Secretary of State for Justice at Prisons Hearing Alliance on 17 July 2015, whether he plans for participation in chaplaincy-led programmes with a proven effect on rehabilitation rates to count towards earned release in the same manner as does classroom-based educational activities.

    Andrew Selous

    Reoffending rates for offenders sentenced to custody are too high and the Ministry of Justice is looking at ways to make sure that offenders are properly rehabilitated and better equipped to lead a crime free life. As the Secretary of State indicated in his speech of 17 July, earned release is being explored as an option to help achieve this. We are still at the very early stages of exploring how any earned release scheme might work.

  • David Anderson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    David Anderson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2015-11-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to mitigate the effect of proposed courts and tribunal closures on (a) staff with caring responsibilities, (b) disabled staff, (c) black and minority ethnic staff and (d) court users.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    The staff impact of these proposals will be managed using the department’s Managing Organisational Change Framework which has been endorsed by the Departmental Trade Unions. This will make sure that the transition to new arrangements proceeds in a fair and transparent manner for all staff.

    In an increasingly digital age, court users will not always need to attend hearings in person in order to access the justice system and whilst we have already established alternative ways users can interact with our services, we are looking to expand these provisions to provide more choice than is currently available.

    In order to achieve these aims, we have secured over £700m of funding to invest in our courts and tribunals. We have worked closely with the senior judiciary to develop a plan for investing this in reforming the courts and tribunals so they can deliver swifter, fairer justice at a lower cost. This will include digitisation and modernisation of our IT infrastructure. This will mean court users can attend hearings remotely, and not be inconvenienced by having to take a day off work to come to court. It will also mean victims of crime can give evidence from somewhere they feel safe.

    A full impact assessment will be published alongside the consultation response.

  • Nicola Blackwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Nicola Blackwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicola Blackwood on 2015-11-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much of his Department’s funding allocated in the Spending Review 2015 will be for research and development expenditure up to 2020.

    Mike Penning

    The amount of funding allocated for research and development will be determined through the Ministry of Justice’s internal budget setting process. This process has not yet concluded so the amount is not known.

  • Nicola Blackwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Nicola Blackwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicola Blackwood on 2015-11-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much of her Department’s funding allocated in the Spending Review 2015 will be for research and development expenditure up to 2020.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    DFID is a leader in funding high-quality high-impact development research, providing technologies and rigorous evidence to tackle critical development challenges – from new treatments for children with malaria to what approaches work to prevent violence against women. DFID’s funding for research and development expenditure up to 2020 will be determined through the Department’s internal resource allocation process. Decisions will be based on an analysis of critical development challenges, key evidence and technology gaps, and DFID’s areas of comparative advantage as a research funder. We committed in our manifesto to lead a major new global programme to accelerate the development of vaccines and drugs to eliminate the world’s deadliest infectious diseases, and in November announced the Ross Fund which will deliver on this commitment.