Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the oral contribution of the previous Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport of 22 July 2019, Official Report, column 1135, on the Telecoms Supply Chain Review, whether her Department has set a timetable for the decision on what involvement Huawei should have in the provision of the UK’s 5G network.
Answered by Matt Warman
Decisions on additional controls relating to any supply chain company that poses significant security and resilience risks to UK telecoms are still under consideration. This is to allow the implications of the US entity listing on the telecoms market as a whole to be taken into account. These decisions will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 30 September 2019 to Question 291081 on Cybercrime: Skilled Workers, for what reason the Answer did not include information on whether a target has been set for the number of people to be assisted by the third round of funding from the Cyber Skills Immediate Impact Fund.
Answered by Matt Warman
The third round of the Cyber Skills Immediate Impact Fund closed for applications on 27 September. The department will review the bids received before considering appropriate targets and performance indicators for the third round of funding.
The Fund is designed to increase the number and diversity of individuals pursuing a career in the cyber security profession, through supporting and encouraging a sector-led approach to stimulating a sustainable cyber security retraining ecosystem.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 30 September 2019 to Question 291138, on Stronger Towns Fund: Leigh, if he will publish (a) the full methodology and (b) the score of each town within Leigh constituency.
Answered by Jake Berry
As part of the process of identifying the initial 100 places, towns have been chosen on the basis of a robust selection methodology. This took into account various qualitative and quantitative indicators including income deprivation, skills, productivity, EU exit exposure, economic shocks, investment opportunities, and policy alignment.
As the development of Town Deal proposals is a live process it would not be appropriate for the Department to publish individual scores.
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 the working relationship will be between the Chief Digital Information Officer and the Chief Data Officer.
Answered by Simon Hart - Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury (Chief Whip)
The Government Chief Digital and Information Officer (GCDIO) will lead HMG’s 17,000 strong DDaT community and be responsible for shaping and delivering HMG’s innovation and transformation strategies, the Chief Data Officer will work with the GCDIO to deliver this agenda.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to her Department's announcement entitled New boost to increase diversity in nation’s cyber security industry published on 14 August 2019, what target her Department has set on the number of people who will be assisted by the third round of funding from the Cyber Skills Immediate Impact Fund.
Answered by Matt Warman
The Cyber Skills Immediate Impact Fund encourages a sector-led approach to stimulating the cyber security retraining ecosystem in a sustainable way. It is designed to increase the number and diversity of individuals pursuing a career in the cyber security profession. Launched in 2018, the Cyber Skills Immediate Impact Fund announced its third funding round on 14 August 2019.
We are currently running an open grant competition for proposed initiatives to apply for funding. We expect to support several new initiatives in this round of funding, working closely with employers to maximise the employment prospects of the individuals benefiting from the training programmes. Over 400 people have already benefited from training supported by previous funding rounds, and our objective is that greater numbers will benefit as the businesses we partner with further invest in this sector. The outcome of this programme will be reported in due course.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 22 July 2019 to Question 277853, whether her Department has set a timescale for the publication of guidance on the use of DNS over HTTPS.
Answered by Matt Warman
We are working with industry stakeholders and all interested parties to ensure that any unintended consequences of implementation of the DNS over HTTPS protocol are addressed. Recommendations on a course of action will be developed in due course.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department made of the eligibility of towns in Leigh constituency when issuing funding from the (a) Stronger Towns Fund and (b) Towns Fund.
Answered by Jake Berry
As part of the process of identifying the initial 100 places, towns have been chosen according to the same robust selection methodology. This took into account various qualitative and quantitative indicators. These included, income deprivation, skills, productivity, EU exit response, economic shocks, investment opportunities and policy alignment. The government will publish further details on how the fund will operate in due course.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 2 September 2019 to Question 276285, if she will outline the responsibilities of the chief data officer role; and when she plans to appoint an individual to that position.
Answered by Simon Hart - Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury (Chief Whip)
The Government intends to appoint a Chief Data Officer in 2020 as set out in the Government Transformation Strategy. The role of the Chief Data Officer will be outlined in due course.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many computers use the (a) Windows XP and (b) Windows 7 operating system in his Department.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
To release any information may assist in determining the effectiveness of a future cyber attack and could compromise measures to protect government systems. If those systems are attacked it could lead to the loss of confidentiality, integrity and availability of government information and/or personal data.
Providing information which could lead to a crime being committed and/or the disruption to the delivery of justice services is not in the public interest.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish the (a) dates of and (b) attendees at meetings held by Keith Williams as part of the Government Rail Review.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Yes; a list of Keith Williams’ meetings with key stakeholders will be published in due course.