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Written Question
Electronic Government: Proof of Identity
Thursday 24th October 2019

Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 21 October 2019 to Question 359 on Electronic Government: Proof of Identity, for what reason the Answer did not publish the 46 Government services which were originally intended to be accessible through GOV.UK Verify by March 2018.

Answered by Simon Hart - Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury (Chief Whip)

As per PQ 359 not all the services originally considering using GOV.UK Verify completed their digital transformation, or had well-evidenced need for digital identity. It is therefore not appropriate to publish these services, a number of which are no longer in existence. The current government services available through GOV.UK Verify are available on GOV.UK.


Written Question
Elections: Visual Impairment
Monday 21st October 2019

Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department has taken to improve electoral accessibility for voters with blindness following the decision of the High Court on 3 May 2019.

Answered by Kevin Foster

The Government continues to work with the Accessibility of Elections Working Group to make an informed assessment of the most suitable options to take forward. Officials are due to hold a meeting on this topic with the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) very soon

Work has been undertaken to revise guidance to electoral administrators and, with input from RNIB, to research technical solutions which will be further discussed at a dedicated sub-group.

We are also starting to bring forward measures following the Government’s response to the 2018 Call for Evidence on Access to Elections. Proposals were announced during the Queen’s Speech. This will include increasing the range of support available to voters with disabilities in polling stations and allowing a wider range of people (such as carers) to assist disabled voters in polling stations if needed.


Written Question
Elections: Visual Impairment
Monday 21st October 2019

Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many meetings he has had with the RNIB since the 3 May 2019 decision of the High Court on electoral accessibility.

Answered by Kevin Foster

The Government continues to work with the Accessibility of Elections Working Group to make an informed assessment of the most suitable options to take forward. Officials are due to hold a meeting on this topic with the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) very soon

Work has been undertaken to revise guidance to electoral administrators and, with input from RNIB, to research technical solutions which will be further discussed at a dedicated sub-group.

We are also starting to bring forward measures following the Government’s response to the 2018 Call for Evidence on Access to Elections. Proposals were announced during the Queen’s Speech. This will include increasing the range of support available to voters with disabilities in polling stations and allowing a wider range of people (such as carers) to assist disabled voters in polling stations if needed.


Written Question
Public Sector: Computer Software
Monday 21st October 2019

Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Answer of 5 September 2019 to Question 284390 on Public Sector: Computer Software, whether (a) his Department and (b) the GDS is monitoring the number and proportion of public sector computers transitioning from Windows 7 prior to the end of the support date.

Answered by Simon Hart - Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury (Chief Whip)

Individual technology choices and volumes purchased rest with individual departments

The Cabinet Office will soon start work on an audit to allow for a more comprehensive and consistent approach to reviewing legacy IT in government and will support departments to understand their legacy systems and any risks associated with those systems.


Written Question
Elections: Proof of Identity
Monday 21st October 2019

Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether (a) local authorities or (b) Government will bear the cost of producing a local electoral identity document.

Answered by Kevin Foster

The Government will bring forward measures to introduce voter ID when parliamentary time allows.

As was the case in the 2018 and 2019 voter ID pilots, electors who do not have any of the required types of ID will be able to apply for a locally issued electoral identity document, free of charge.

Funding for the additional cost of producing locally issued electoral identity documents will be provided by the Government.

We will continue working with the pilot authorities who have tested voter ID, the Electoral Commission, and the Cabinet Office pilot and reference group to develop a secure and accessible process for national implementation.


Written Question
Government Chief Data Officer
Monday 21st October 2019

Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Answer of 8 October to Question 293725 on Government Chief Data Officer, until what date the objective of appointing a Chief Data Officer by 2020 applies.

Answered by Simon Hart - Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury (Chief Whip)

No specific date has been set for the appointment, however the government remains committed to appointing within the timeframe set out in the Government Transformation Strategy.


Written Question
Electronic Government: Proof of Identity
Monday 21st October 2019

Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many known cases of incorrect identity verification on Gov.UK Verify there have been since 2014.

Answered by Simon Hart - Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury (Chief Whip)

We are not aware of any cases where an individual has been verified as being someone they are not, or as an identity that is fake or synthetic through GOV.UK Verify.


Written Question
Electronic Government: Proof of Identity
Monday 21st October 2019

Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, which 46 Government services were originally intended to be accessible through GOV.UK Verify by March 2018.

Answered by Simon Hart - Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury (Chief Whip)

Not all the services originally considering using GOV.UK Verify are still in service, completed their digital transformation, or had well-evidenced need for digital identity. 21 services currently use GOV.UK Verify.


Written Question
Electronic Government: Correspondence
Monday 21st October 2019

Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent correspondence he has received from each Gov.UK Verify provider on their continued participation in that scheme.

Answered by Simon Hart - Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury (Chief Whip)

The Cabinet Office, including ministers, is in regular contact with all GOV.UK Verify identity providers. For example, we held a roundtable in July 2019. Details of ministerial meetings are published as part of routine government transparency on GOV.UK.


Written Question
Public Sector: Databases
Thursday 17th October 2019

Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the call for public sector application programming interfaces will include the interoperability of databases containing citizens' data.

Answered by Simon Hart - Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury (Chief Whip)

There is an increased desire for standards and guidance for application programming interfaces (APIs) due to their increasing popularity and the benefits they offer to departments and their users.

APIs are being used more frequently within government because they assist the interoperability of databases in an affordable and user-friendly way.

While APIs allow interoperability to enable data sharing, in government they are programmed to only share small subsections of data or “attributes”, thereby protecting identity and limiting the specific data available.