Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
What recent assessment the Government has made of the (a) viability and (b) value for money of the Verify scheme.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
Verify continues to work well, supporting 19 services. More than 8 million Verify accounts have been created, with over 2.3 million added since the start of the pandemic as citizens accessed critical online services.
Building on the lessons and experiences of Verify, and as we announced in last year's Spending Review, the Government Digital Service is collaborating with other departments - including the Department for Work and Pensions, HMRC and Home Office - to develop a new login and identity assurance system that will make it easier for more people to use online services safely. While this new system is being developed, users and connected services will continue to rely on GOV.UK Verify. The Government has therefore decided to extend the current Verify service, enabling new users to sign up until April 2022.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
What recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of GOV.UK Verify.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
Verify continues to work well, in support of 22 government services. Over 8 million people have used Verify, with 2 million added in the last year as citizens accessed critical online services during the pandemic.
Building on the lessons and experiences of Verify, and as we announced in last year's Spending Review, the Government Digital Service is collaborating with other departments to develop a new login and identity assurance system that will make it easier for more people to use online services safely.
For example, we know that extra data sources will be needed for a more inclusive service, so we are also working with the Home Office on its digitisation of birth, marriage and death records.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what progress has been made on implementing a fully digital trade documentation system to help facilitate the cross-border movement of goods and reduce delays for (a) businesses reliant on just-in-time food supply chains and (b) other businesses.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
In December 2020, the Government published the 2025 Border Strategy. As we set out in this strategy, we are committed to developing a Single Trade Window for the UK, which will create a single portal through which information required to import and export can be submitted to border agencies. We will invest £16m during 2021-22 to take forward the foundational elements of this project across Government.
Alongside the work to develop the UK’s Single Trade Window, we continue to identify and pursue opportunities to digitise border documentation wherever possible, including paperwork which stems from international requirements. Aligned with this, we are identifying opportunities to make permanent a number of digitisation changes which have been implemented as a short term response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to mitigate against (a) under-counting of populations in cities with large university populations not residing in that area as a result of the covid-19 outbreak and (b) potential under-funding allocated on that per-capita basis.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have therefore asked the Authority to respond.