Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what measures they are taking to ensure that the UK’s critical national infrastructure is protected from security threats.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Much of the UK’s Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) is owned or operated by the private sector. Lead Government Departments (LGD) for each CNI sector work closely with the National Protective Security Authority (NPSA), the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and regulators to ensure that owners and operators have adequate resilience for the risks they face. Government support takes the form of direct engagement through site visits and briefings and through the provision of information on risks and best practice guidance.
In the Resilience Framework, the Government has additionally committed to introducing minimum standards for resilience, where these are not already in place; this includes specific and ambitious cyber resilience targets for CNI sectors to meet by 2025 as announced at CyberUK in Belfast in April this year.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that UK citizens are protected from online fraud and the rise in social media and text messaging scams.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government is committed to doing everything we can to stop criminals abusing online platforms and telecommunications networks for fraud. This is why we published the Fraud Strategy, setting out how we will address the threat of this crime. One of the three pillars included in the strategy focuses on blocking frauds from happening in the first place, which includes actions to prevent online fraud and telecommunications-enabled fraud.
We are currently working with tech companies to create an Online Fraud Charter which will include a number of voluntary actions to help design out fraud. The Online Safety Bill will also tackle online harms, including fraud and fraudulent advertising. This means that social media and search engine companies will have to take robust, proactive action to ensure that their users are not exposed to these crimes in the first place. We expect this to have a strong impact on some of the highest harm fraud types.
In October 2021, we launched the Telecommunications Fraud Sector Charter which includes actions to block scam calls and smishing texts. In the strategy, we also announced the launch of a consultation with a view to ban SIM farms. These are devices that allow fraudsters to send hundreds of thousands of scam texts in short time and at low cost. We are consulting on making it illegal to sell, purchase, possess, or use SIM farms. Following the consultation, we will rapidly bring forward legislation to ensure criminals can no longer use them to scam UK citizens.
Whilst it is vital we continue to target the criminals behind fraud and work with industry to make it harder for them to operate, one of the best ways to safeguard the public is to also ensure they are well-informed about how to protect themselves. That is why raising awareness and safeguarding victims forms another of the three pillars in the Fraud Strategy.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure the safety of children online, including measures to combat cyberbullying, online grooming, and exposure to harmful content.
Answered by Viscount Camrose - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The strongest protections in the Online Safety Bill are for children. The Bill will require all services in scope to protect their users from illegal content. This includes all forms of child sexual exploitation and abuse, including grooming, which have been designated as priority offences under the Bill. This means all in scope companies must take proactive, preventative measures to limit people’s exposure to this content and criminal behaviour.
In addition, where content is harmful to children but falls below the criminal threshold, service providers which are likely to be accessed by children will have to take action to protect children from encountering it. This includes cyberbullying, pornography and content which promotes suicide, self-harm and eating disorders. These duties extend to ensuring that systems for targeting content to children, such as the use of algorithms, and other features and functionalities on the service such as live streaming and private messaging, protect children from harmful material.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of army recruits who take sick leave return to complete their training.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
In training year 2021-22, within the Army Recruiting and Initial Training Command, 454 trainees were removed from training due to injury or illness, of which 213 were recorded as having returned to training (47%). Within the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, of the 34 officer cadets who were discharged from the rehabilitation platoon, 21 returned to training (62%).
This information is not held centrally therefore these are estimated figures and will not include short-term illnesses.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the average waiting time between passing the army recruitment process and receiving a job offer.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
There is no waiting time between passing the Army recruitment process and receiving a job offer as job offers are given at the point that a candidate completes the Army recruitment process.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government (1) how many, and (2) what class, of naval ships will be required in the Channel to tackle illegal migrant crossings.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
The Royal Navy currently utilises one Class One Offshore Patrol Vessels (from three on rotation), six Archer Class P2000 Patrol Boats, three held at Ramsgate and three held at Portsmouth and a pair of Rigid Hull Inflatable Boats (RHIBs) in support of Defence primacy for responding to small boat migration in the channel. As announced by the Prime Minister, primacy will transfer back to the Home Office from 31 January 2023. In anticipation of this, the Home Office will procure a number of Crew Transfer Vessels to replace the capacity provided by Royal Navy assets.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many (1) nurses, and (2) GPs, there are per head of population in England.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
This information is not held in the format requested. However, as of September 2022, there were 58.5 full time equivalent nurses per 10,000 head of population in England. This includes nurses in Hospital and Community Health Services and general practice settings. This excludes nurses working in social care, the voluntary sector or in the private sector. As of September 2022, there were 6.5 full time equivalent doctors working in general practice per 10,000 head of population in England.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to give the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland the power to change the date of the local elections in that country to avoid the counting of votes clashing with Coronation Day.
Answered by Lord Caine - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government already has the power to change the date of local elections by order under section 84 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998. The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland is considering options to ensure people in Northern Ireland can celebrate the Coronation of His Majesty King Charles III while ensuring the smooth running of the democratic process.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of remote electronic monitoring of UK fishing vessels.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As part of our commitment to delivering a world class fisheries management system, Defra is developing a set of proposals for expanding the use of remote electronic monitoring (REM) in English waters.
Defra is using a strong evidence-base to assess which fisheries and monitoring priorities we should focus on. This will help us to maximise the potential of this technology and ensure that it complements other marine and fisheries reforms, such as fisheries management plans.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support students who have online problem gambling issues.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
A variety of initiatives are in place across the gambling regulatory framework, health services, and the educational curriculum to protect young people, and the wider public, from harmful gambling and to raise awareness of its risks.
The Gambling Commission requires all gambling operators to make information available to customers on how to gamble safely and how to access information on problem gambling and the support available. Most operators direct people to the charity GambleAware’s begambleaware.org site, which contains a wide range of information for everyone on risks, as well as links to advice and support, including the 24-hour National Gambling Helpline. The NHS webpage 'Help for problem gambling' also covers common indicators which suggest that people may be experiencing harmful gambling, as well as advice and links to treatment services.
In addition, support is provided specifically for children and young people. To prevent children and young people from suffering gambling-related harm later in life, since 2020 children have been taught about the risks relating to gambling, including the accumulation of debt, as part of the statutory Relationships, Sex and Health Education curriculum in England. The Young Gamers and Gamblers Education Trust charity provides free training for university staff and students’ unions and maintains a bespoke student website dedicated to help protect university students and young people from gambling harm.
In 2019, DCMS secured a commitment from industry to contribute £100 million over four years to problem gambling treatment. NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) are also continuing work to improve and expand specialist treatment services, with up to 15 new NHS clinics set to open by 2023/24.
His Majesty’s Government is closely considering the protections in place for children and young adults as part of the scope of its wide-ranging Review of the Gambling Act to ensure they are fit for the digital age. A White Paper setting out our next steps and proposals for reform will be published in the coming weeks.