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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Kirsty Blackman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Kirsty Blackman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsty Blackman on 2016-02-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 2 February 2016 to Question 24107 on tribunals: Scotland, how many of those people whose data was breached were not made aware that that breach had occurred.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    Her Majesty’s Courts & Tribunals Service takes its responsibility for data incidents very seriously and treats each case on its individual merits. Notifying individuals of data breaches or incidents is considered, but is not a mandatory action in every instance.

    Informing people and organisations about a breach is not an end in itself. Notification should have a clear purpose, whether this is to enable individuals who may have been affected to take steps to protect themselves or to allow the appropriate regulatory bodies to perform their functions, provide advice and deal with complaints.

    The above criteria is considered when deciding whether or not to inform individuals or organisations of a data breach. In relation to the incidents referred to in this PQ it is unclear, as no statistical information has been retained, as to whether or not individuals were notified.

    Guidance on data breach notification is set out by the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) in the link below:

    https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/principle-7-security/

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  • Martyn Day – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Martyn Day – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Martyn Day on 2016-03-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential terrorist and security threat to the corps of Royal Engineers who will be deployed in March to provide short-term engineering support to the multinational force and observers in Sinai.

    Penny Mordaunt

    As is the case with all operational deployments, a full risk assessment was conducted prior to the decision to deploy Royal Engineers to support the Multi-National Force Observers (MFO) mission in Sinai. This covered the full range of risks to our personnel and identified appropriate measures to mitigate risk.

  • Ruth Cadbury – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Ruth Cadbury – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Cadbury on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans his Department has to increase capacity on public transport links to Heathrow Airport from central London.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Elizabeth line will replace the existing two train per hour Heathrow Connect service from May 2018 providing a 4 train per hour service to Terminals 1 to 4, operating alongside the existing 4 train per hour Heathrow Express service. This will offer significant improvements in connectivity from and to Heathrow, particularly from the West End, the City and Canary Wharf.

    Heathrow is also served by regular Piccadilly line services from central London. Upgrading this line is a matter for the Mayor and Transport for London who plan to introduce new modern signalling systems and new trains to provide 60% more capacity (the equivalent of up to 21,000 customers per hour).

    For any improvements associated with airport expansion, the Government will agree the nature and scale of the surface access transport as part of its decision on its preferred scheme for additional airport capacity in the South East. The Government has also been clear that it expects the scheme promoter to meet the costs of any surface access proposals that are required as a direct result of airport expansion and from which they will directly benefit.

  • Jack Dromey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jack Dromey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jack Dromey on 2016-05-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 27 April 2016 to Question 34842, how much of the £3.95 million spent on Cyber Streetwise in 2014-15 was spent on (a) media spend and production, (b) PR, partnership and social, (c) research and (d) website; and how much of the £4.1 million spent on Cyber Streetwise in 2015-16 was spent on (i) media spend and production, (ii) PR, partnership and social, (iii) research and (iv) website.

    Mr John Hayes

    Cyber Streetwise is a cross Government campaign, developed by private and public stakeholder partners and coordinated by the Home Office’s Research, Information and Communications Unit. It is designed to measurably make the UK a safer place to interact and do business online by increasing individual and SME adoption of safe online behaviours.

    Government experts estimate that a significant proportion of cyber security issues would be avoided by safer online behaviours. Cyber Streetwise supports this by increasing digital confidence by informing people about the key things that keep them safer online. It does this by:

    • Delivering actionable and positive solution focussed advice on how to be secure.

    • Creating arresting communications that highlight the consequences and cut through low interest.

    • Reminding and reinforcing individuals and SMEs of the core protective behaviours at the point of risk/incidence.

    Currently our prioritised protective behaviours are: using strong passwords made up of three random words; installing security software on all devices; and regularly downloading software updates. Government and Industry experts agree that adopting these 3 behaviours will provide SMEs and individuals with the best protection against cyber-crime.

    The impact of Cyber Streetwise on behaviours is evaluated via regular quantitative tracking research. Since its launch in January 2014, it is estimated that 2 million adults have adopted safer online behaviours that will better protect them.

    The spend for Cyber Streetwise in 2014/15 and 2015/16 is as follows:

    • 2014/15 – £3.95m excl VAT

    • 2015/16 – £4.1m excl VAT

  • Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Norman Lamb on 2016-06-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Mental Health Taskforce’s report, entitled The five-year forward view for mental health, published in February 2016, what steps he is taking to implement the recommendation that an equalities champion for mental health be approved; and what responsibilities that champion will have for women’s mental health.

    Alistair Burt

    The Government is working with delivery partners to carefully consider the independent Mental Health Taskforce’s recommendations and aims to publish a strategic implementation plan in the autumn that will set out how Government and partners will deliver the recommendations, including that of equalities champion.

  • Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town on 2016-09-05.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to review the guidance issued under the Building Regulations 2010, in particular that guidance relating to fire safety.

    Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

    The Government is considering a number of issues related to the Building Regulations 2010 and building control system matters in England. We will make an announcement about our plans in due course.

  • Karen Lumley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Karen Lumley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Lumley on 2016-10-20.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the average waiting time was for telephone calls to HM Revenue and Customs to be answered in each year for which figures are available.

    Jane Ellison

    Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs publishes regular performance reports, including average speed of answer; details of which are available on GOV.UK.

  • Caroline Ansell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Caroline Ansell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Ansell on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to ensure the routine use by his Department of the family test; and if he will make a statement.

    Brandon Lewis

    Officials in my Department have liaised with the Department for Work and Pensions as the lead Department for the Family Test to embed it and encourage routine use of the Test. This has included training officials on applying the Test, disseminating relevant evidence, learning materials and best practice.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-12-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what information his Department holds on the number of (a) local authorities and (b) housing associations which had planned, prior to the announcement in paragraph 1.125 of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, to raise rents above any of the relevant local housing allowance rates between 2016 and 2020.

    Brandon Lewis

    The Department does not hold information about the individual rent setting plans of local authorities or housing associations.

    At Budget 2015 the Government announced its intention to reduce rents for housing association and local authority tenants, by 1% a year, for four years, from April 2016. This will help protect social tenants from rising housing costs, whilst protecting taxpayers from rising costs of subsidising rents through housing benefit. We expect local authorities and housing associations to be planning on this basis.

  • Robert Flello – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Robert Flello – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Flello on 2016-01-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the National Audit Office report, Delivering major projects in Government, published on 6 January 2016, what steps his Department is taking to ensure all infrastructure projects are delivered on time and on budget.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Department for Transport (DfT) accounts for a whole life value of £92bn within the Government Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP).

    The DfT follows the Cabinet Office transparency policy by publishing the Department’s data in line with requirements, including the annual publication of GMPP data, SRO appointment letters and individual project cases.

    The Department continually assures project delivery in relation to costs, timings and benefits through clear governance and project and programme management (PPM) requirements, which must be satisfied throughout the life cycle of a project. This includes investment board endorsement at key project planning and delivery stages, and independent assurance within the Department. Further external assurance is provided for example by the Infrastructure and Project Authority (IPA). The department uses a widely understood and highly regarded economic tool, known as WebTAG, for calculating costs.

    In addition to individual project assurance, the Department works with the IPA on both GMPP and its own portfolio reporting requirements. The Department has been actively involved in work to improve the collection, collation and analysis of key areas of project delivery, including costs and benefits, in line with the recent IPA review and refresh of GMPP data collection.

    As part of the Department’s internal governance, regular portfolio reporting on the aggregated performance and health of major projects is presented to the Department’s investment board. The Department has recently assessed the maturity of its portfolio reporting and has an action plan to further develop its capability in key areas.

    The Department reports infrastructure projects that are £50m or more on the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) which details public and private infrastructure investment which is either forecast, being delivered, or completed. It is published on the Treasury’s website (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-infrastructure-pipeline-july-2015).

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