Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, with reference to the Government Legal Department Business Plan 2023-24, published on 23 May 2023, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of using the Pilgrim Quarter development as a worksite for the Government Legal Department.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
Whilst Newcastle is not currently under consideration as a base for the Government Legal Department (GLD), the GLD's position might change in the future if demand for GLD services increases in the region.
GLD sites have been selected based on a model of developing a national organisation located in the proximity of its clients and using established legal markets which have strong pipelines for recruiting from diverse pools.
Decisions on sites are evidence-based, for example, on research and analysis of local academic and labour markets, whilst also reflecting various Government estate and property initiatives such as Places for Growth.
The Pilgrim Quarter Development will be the Government Hub for HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in the North East, housing 9,000 HMRC employees when complete. As GLD does not currently offer legal services to HMRC, we would not automatically co-locate within their sites.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 21 January to Question 138966, how many information gateways for the purposes of sharing data his Department has.
Answered by Michael Ellis
The Attorney General’s Office does not hold a central list of all information sharing gateways available to it.
Each information gateway will have its own management and governance requirements and will have to comply with the Data Protection Legislation.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how many information gateways there are in operation in her Department; and how those gateways are managed and monitored.
Answered by Michael Ellis
The Attorney General’s Office (‘AGO’) takes the security of its data very seriously. All electronic gateways are managed and monitored through Government Legal Department (GLD) and Crown Prosecution Service HR, Finance, IT and the Unduly Lenient Sentence (‘ULS’) casework shared service provision. Where issues are identified, appropriate actions are taken. Revealing details of AGO monitoring capabilities in public would likely prejudice the capability, effectiveness and ability to strongly preserve those systems. In order to safeguard processing systems, we are unable to provide the information requested.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what the timetable is for the Serious Fraud Office investigation into London Capital & Finance.
Answered by Robert Buckland
The criminal investigation into London Capital & Finance Plc has only recently been announced by the Director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) who acts independently in making such decisions.
It is not appropriate for me to provide a running commentary on a live criminal investigation or estimate when it will be completed. Whilst the SFO does make every effort to ensure that it progresses its investigations as quickly and efficiently as possible, its cases are by their nature complex, lengthy and resource intensive.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, with reference to the oral contribution of the Solicitor General of 21 June 2018, Official Report, column 462, when he plans to respond to the Spicer report on the sexual exploitation of girls and young women in Newcastle.
Answered by Robert Buckland
David Spicer’s comprehensive review sheds light on abhorrent child sexual exploitation and I have not taken this matter lightly. The Home Office will be writing to you on behalf of the Government shortly.
I would like to reassure you that the CPS, along with the wider Government, is committed to improving the national response to tackling sexual exploitation. The CPS will be considering its guidance on the involvement of the Service with the changing local safeguarding arrangements in line with the broader recommendations. Specifically, CPS North East is working closely with Newcastle Crown Court and other partners within the Criminal Justice System to improve the experience of victims and witnesses when attending court and to ensure that the commitments to witness care set out in the Victim’s Code and the Witness Charter are properly delivered.
More broadly, the Government has already taken significant action to tackle this issue. In February 2017, the Government published its Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation: Progress Report and announced a £40m package of measures to protect children and young people from sexual abuse, exploitation and trafficking, and to crack down on offenders. This included £7.5m for a new, ground-breaking Centre of Expertise that will identify, generate, and share high quality evidence of what works to prevent and tackle child sexual abuse and exploitation. The recommendations of the review cover a wide range of issues, which we will consider carefully in the context of this existing programme of work.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 12 March 2018 to Question 131392 on Sexual Offences: Newcastle upon Tyne, what assessment he has made of the effect of the Spicer Review on his Department's existing programme of work.
Answered by Robert Buckland
With regard to local programmes of work, CPS North East is working closely with Newcastle Crown Court and other partners within the Criminal Justice System to improve the experience of victims and witnesses when attending court and to ensure that the commitments to witness care set out in the Victim’s Code and the Witness Charter are properly delivered.
In line with the broader recommendations made, the CPS will be considering its guidance on the involvement of the Service with the changing local safeguarding arrangements. While the CPS has no prescribed statutory obligations under the new arrangements, they will ensure that prosecutors are aware of the changes and we will continue to make a positive contribution. The CPS will also continue to work closely with other agencies in order to contribute to any relevant cross-Government strategies pertaining to Serious Case Reviews.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, whether he plans to respond to the recommendations relating to his Department in the Spicer review on sexual exploitation in Newcastle, published in February 2018.
Answered by Robert Buckland
On 23 February 2018, Newcastle Safeguarding Children Board and Newcastle Safeguarding Adults Board published their joint serious case review (SCR) for Operation Sanctuary.
Specifically, CPS North East is working closely with Newcastle Crown Court and other partners within the Criminal Justice System to improve the experience of victims and witnesses when attending court and to ensure that the commitments to witness care set out in the Victim’s Code and the Witness Charter are properly delivered.
Child sexual exploitation is abhorrent and the crimes perpetrated in Newcastle have had a devastating impact on the lives of the victims. The Government acknowledges the seriousness of the issues raised in this serious case review and is committed to improving the national response to tackling sexual exploitation.
More broadly, the Government has already taken significant action to tackle this issue. In February 2017, the Government published its Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation: Progress Report and announced a £40m package of measures to protect children and young people from sexual abuse, exploitation and trafficking, and to crack down on offenders. This included £7.5m for a new, ground-breaking Centre of Expertise that will identify, generate, and share high quality evidence of what works to prevent and tackle child sexual abuse and exploitation. The recommendations of the review cover a wide range of issues, which we will consider carefully in the context of this existing programme of work.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, if he will make an assessment of the legal practicability of introducing into UK law something similar to Rooney's law in the US; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Robert Buckland
The Government is committed to tackling inequality so that everyone can reach their full potential. That is why we have one of the strongest legal frameworks in the world for tackling discrimination and promoting equality for all. The Rooney rule applies specifically to American Football's National Football League and the Government has no plans to introduce a similar provision in the UK. I am unable to say whether an assessment of legal practicability has been made because, by convention, the fact that the Law Officers have advised or have not advised and the content of their advice must not be disclosed outside Government without their authority.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what estimate he has made of the savings to the Law Officers' Departments from the Q&A system in the (a) 12 months and (b) five years since 4 June 2014; what additional ICT systems or improvements to existing systems the Law Officers' Departments have introduced or plan to introduce that would not have been feasible without the Q&A system; and what assessment he has made of the extent to which the system has made it easier to answer questions from hon. Members on time.
Answered by Robert Buckland
The Attorney General’s Office has made an estimated saving of £164 in respect of stationery costs since June 2014. There may also have been some savings in staff time but it is not possible to quantify this without incurring a disproportionate cost. There have been no other identified savings.
There have also not been any modifications made to existing ICT systems that were dependent on introduction of the Q&A system.
One of the benefits of the new system is the possibility for the reporting of the timeliness of answers to Parliamentary Questions to be delivered with greater consistency and accuracy across all answering bodies.
It will be for the Procedure Committee to evaluate the effectiveness of the new system in improving performance when it assesses the evidence following the end of the session.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how many prosecutions of (a) cyber and (b) cyber-enabled crimes have been initiated in each the last five years; and how many such prosecutions were successful.
Answered by Robert Buckland
Neither the Crown Prosecution Service nor the Serious Fraud Office centrally record the number of prosecutions initiated, or those which resulted in a successful outcome, relating to cyber or cyber-enabled crime. A number of offences may involve the use of a computer or a network in the commission of the offence. To obtain details of the number of cases where defendants were alleged to have been involved in cyber or cyber-enabled crimes would require a manual review of individual case files to be undertaken which would incur a disproportionate cost.