Asked by: Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Viscount Camrose on 11 March (HL2719), whether, as a result of engagement between Aylo and XHamster, the Information Commissioner's Office was satisfied that these two websites are operating in full accordance with data protection law, including the Age Appropriate Design Code, and if not, what further regulatory action they are taking to achieve compliance.
Answered by Viscount Camrose - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The ICO provided advice and guidance to Aylo and XHamster on compliance with data protection legislation and on their Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs). The ICO would consider further interactions with these organisations if subsequent compliance concerns arise.
Should the ICO receive a complaint that these or any other pornography website organisations have breached their obligations, the ICO would consider the complaint and take action where necessary.
Asked by: Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many pornographic websites have been the subject of (1) regulatory inquiries, or (2) formal investigations by the Information Commissioner’s Office, regarding their use of children’s personal data, on the basis that they are likely to be accessed by minors, since the Age Appropriate Design Code came into force in September 2020.
Answered by Viscount Camrose - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Following publication of its “Likely to be accessed by children" guidance, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has worked with Ofcom and engaged with two pornographic website companies (Aylo and XHamster).
During the development of its guidance on the Age Appropriate Design Code, the ICO also worked with the content subscription service provider OnlyFans on how the code would impact their processing activities.
The ICO proactively reviewed the Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs) for all three organisations, providing feedback where appropriate, and suggesting improvements in two cases. These were not formal investigations.
Asked by: Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of projects such as the Barbuda Ocean Club and Cedar Tree Point on the human rights of Barbudans, and in particular the impact of such projects on access to sufficient safe drinking water, environmental protection, and communal land ownership.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
HMG is not involved in the development of the Barbuda Ocean Club and Cedar Tree Point projects. Any impact assessment would be conducted by the Government of Antigua and Barbuda.
Asked by: Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the use of Hurricane Irma relief funds provided to Barbuda since September 2017.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK provided over £196 million in response to Hurricanes Irma and Maria. This included direct humanitarian support to the population of Barbuda, who were evacuated to Antigua in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Irma. We also committed £3 million to longer-term reconstruction work for the energy sector on the island of Barbuda. The use of funds was assessed by a Foreign Affairs Committee enquiry and the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) performance review early in 2018, and is also subject to our standard project governance and oversight. The Barbuda Energy Resilience Project is underway and will be evaluated in 2026.
Asked by: Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the use of Hurricane Irma relief funds provided to Barbuda since September 2017.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK provided over £196 million in response to Hurricanes Irma and Maria. This included direct humanitarian support to the population of Barbuda, who were evacuated to Antigua in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Irma. We also committed £3 million to longer-term reconstruction work for the energy sector on the island of Barbuda. The use of funds was assessed by a Foreign Affairs Committee enquiry and The Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) performance review early in 2018, and is also subject to our standard project governance and oversight. The Barbuda Energy Resilience Project is underway and will be evaluated in 2026.
Asked by: Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of projects such as the Barbuda Ocean Club and Cedar Tree Point on the human rights of Barbudans, and in particular the impact of such projects on access to sufficient safe drinking water, environmental protection, and communal land ownership.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
HMG is not involved in the development of the Barbuda Ocean Club and Cedar Tree Point projects. Any impact assessment would be conducted by the Government of Antigua and Barbuda.
Asked by: Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to providing entitlement to legal aid to Windrush scandal victims to navigate the compensation process; and what steps they plan to take, if any, to improve the accessibility of the compensation scheme.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
We have designed the Compensation Scheme to be as clear and simple as possible, so people do not need legal assistance to make a claim. However, for those who want or need support to make a claim, the Home Office provides free assistance in making applications through our independent claims assistance provider – We Are Digital (WAD).
WAD has extensive experience of dealing with isolated and vulnerable customers and working with the Home Office and, through their partners, have a nationwide network of community-based centres.
Were we to allow applicants to recover legal costs in applying to the Scheme, we may serve to encourage organisations to take advantage of potentially vulnerable individuals and charge them for unnecessary support to complete a claim.
Claims forms were redesigned in 2021, in collaboration with stakeholders to make them easier to complete. This included obtaining the Crystal Mark, demonstrating our commitment to clarity, and communicating with claimants using plain English.
Decision makers also work with claimants to gather information on their behalf.
Asked by: Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of findings by Human Rights Watch that human rights are being violated as a result of the failure to implement an effective compensation scheme under the Windrush Compensation Scheme.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
We do not accept the Human Rights Watch assessment of the Windrush Compensation Scheme nor that human rights are being violated in the way it is operated. We remain absolutely committed to righting the wrongs of Windrush. The latest Windrush Compensation Scheme statistics show that £57.13m had been paid out by the end of February 2023 across 1,520 claims. A further £11.13m has been offered, awaiting acceptance, or pending review, taking the total amount paid or offered to £68.27m. In addition, over 60% of claims have received a final decision.
We have engaged with Human Rights Watch in response to their report and will continue to work with them to discuss their findings. We are making good progress towards the vast majority of recommendations from Wendy Williams’ report and believe there are more meaningful ways of achieving the intent of a very small number of others.
Through this work, we will make sure that similar injustices can never be repeated and are creating a Home Office worthy of every community it serves.
The Home Secretary continues to co-host Windrush Working Group meetings to discuss how we can work together to drive further improvements.
Asked by: Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to grant victims of the Windrush scandal the right to have a hearing at the Home Office.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
If an individual is dissatisfied with the outcome of their compensation claim, they can ask the Home Office to review its decision. This will be an internal independent review by someone who has not been involved in the individual’s case (Tier 1 review).
If an individual remains dissatisfied, they can then request an external independent review (Tier 2 review). Their claim will be looked at by the Adjudicator’s Office.
The Adjudicator’s Office is a separate organisation, independent of the Home Office who can look at, among other things, whether the department has followed its policies, and the use of discretion by the Windrush Compensation Team.
The compensation scheme is intended to properly compensate members of the Windrush generation and to deliver on the commitment to right the wrongs that were experienced, while avoiding the need for court proceedings. We think this is in the best interests of those affected.
Asked by: Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to assist victims of the Windrush scandal who still face long waits; and what plans they have to review the levels of compensation granted to applicants of the Windrush Compensation Scheme.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
Following implementation of the significant changes made to the Scheme since December 2020, we are now fully focused on reducing the time between claim submission and decision. The Scheme continues to run ongoing recruitment campaigns to ensure the necessary level of staffing is maintained and has continued to backfill those who have left. Alongside significantly increasing the number of EO decision makers, the Scheme has also increased quality assurance capacity to ensure more decisions can be assured and processed at pace.
In the meantime, as set out by the Home Secretary at the Windrush Working Group Meeting on 24 January 2023, additional experienced EO decision makers have been deployed on a temporary basis to assist with accelerating decision making, this is in addition to the established EO decision makers that are already in post.
Alongside significantly increasing the amount of Decision makers, we have also increased our Quality Assurance capacity to ensure more decisions can be assured and processed at pace. Furthermore, we are improving the evidence gathering process, including revising our data sharing agreements with other government departments.
We continue to listen and respond to feedback received from stakeholders and our customers to ensure the Scheme is operating effectively for everyone.