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Written Question
Prisoners' Release
Tuesday 23rd April 2024

Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, which prisons will be included in the extension of the end of custody supervised licence measure from 35 to 60-days.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

End of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL) is a temporary measure and is used in a targeted way where its use is only where it is absolutely necessary. For this reason, the list of prisons varies according to need.


Written Question
Prisoners' Release
Tuesday 23rd April 2024

Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what guidance his Department has published on when a person with an end of custody supervised licence should be recalled to prison.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

Public protection is our priority. Offenders released early on ECSL are subject to a standard supervision licence which is designed to enable the Probation Service to manage the risk that offenders may pose on release from prison and to safeguard public protection. The recall process is the same for those released on ECSL and other standard releases.

The decision to recall an offender on licensed supervision is taken on the professional advice of senior probation staff following consideration of safe alternatives to recall. Where offenders are recalled, it is because they present a risk of serious harm to the public and the controls available are no longer sufficient to keep the public safe. These individuals will remain in prison for only as long as necessary to protect the public. Guidance on the recall of offenders to prison is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/recall-review-and-re-release-of-recalled-prisoners.


Written Question
Prisoners' Release
Tuesday 23rd April 2024

Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will publish a complete list of prisons in England and Wales in which the 18-day prisoner early release scheme has (a) applied and (b) continues to apply.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

End of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL) is a temporary measure and is used in a targeted way where its use is only where it is absolutely necessary. For this reason, the list of prisons varies according to need.


Written Question
BBC: Finance
Monday 22nd April 2024

Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she has taken to publicly advertise opportunities to apply for membership on the BBC funding model review panel.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The BBC Funding Review is looking at how alternative funding models could help secure the broadcaster’s long-term sustainability amid an evolving media landscape, increased competition and changing audience behaviour, while reducing the burden on licence fee payers. It is a government-led review, supported by an expert panel that incorporates a broad range of views from across the sector, providing advice and external challenge on the issues set out in the review’s Terms of Reference, which are available on gov.uk..

The Panel does not have any decision making powers, and is one aspect of the Government’s BBC Funding Model Review.

The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport appointed Panel members based on their expertise across relevant sectors, including television, radio, news and international relations. The experts were selected in consultation with industry stakeholders based on their experience and knowledge of wide ranging issues at the heart of the UK media sector such as the role of Public Service Broadcasters, press sustainability and content for children and young adults. Panel membership is voluntary. The Expert Panel has no legal status and was therefore not set up under the Cabinet Office guidelines for public appointments.


Written Question
BBC: Finance
Monday 22nd April 2024

Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she has taken to ensure a transparent selection process for the BBC funding model review panel.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The BBC Funding Review is looking at how alternative funding models could help secure the broadcaster’s long-term sustainability amid an evolving media landscape, increased competition and changing audience behaviour, while reducing the burden on licence fee payers. It is a government-led review, supported by an expert panel that incorporates a broad range of views from across the sector, providing advice and external challenge on the issues set out in the review’s Terms of Reference, which are available on gov.uk..

The Panel does not have any decision making powers, and is one aspect of the Government’s BBC Funding Model Review.

The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport appointed Panel members based on their expertise across relevant sectors, including television, radio, news and international relations. The experts were selected in consultation with industry stakeholders based on their experience and knowledge of wide ranging issues at the heart of the UK media sector such as the role of Public Service Broadcasters, press sustainability and content for children and young adults. Panel membership is voluntary. The Expert Panel has no legal status and was therefore not set up under the Cabinet Office guidelines for public appointments.


Written Question
BBC: Finance
Monday 22nd April 2024

Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has required specific (a) competencies and (b) experience from applicants to the BBC funding model review panel.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The BBC Funding Review is looking at how alternative funding models could help secure the broadcaster’s long-term sustainability amid an evolving media landscape, increased competition and changing audience behaviour, while reducing the burden on licence fee payers. It is a government-led review, supported by an expert panel that incorporates a broad range of views from across the sector, providing advice and external challenge on the issues set out in the review’s Terms of Reference, which are available on gov.uk..

The Panel does not have any decision making powers, and is one aspect of the Government’s BBC Funding Model Review.

The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport appointed Panel members based on their expertise across relevant sectors, including television, radio, news and international relations. The experts were selected in consultation with industry stakeholders based on their experience and knowledge of wide ranging issues at the heart of the UK media sector such as the role of Public Service Broadcasters, press sustainability and content for children and young adults. Panel membership is voluntary. The Expert Panel has no legal status and was therefore not set up under the Cabinet Office guidelines for public appointments.


Written Question
BBC: Finance
Monday 22nd April 2024

Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what criteria she applied in the selection of members for the BBC funding model review panel.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The BBC Funding Review is looking at how alternative funding models could help secure the broadcaster’s long-term sustainability amid an evolving media landscape, increased competition and changing audience behaviour, while reducing the burden on licence fee payers. It is a government-led review, supported by an expert panel that incorporates a broad range of views from across the sector, providing advice and external challenge on the issues set out in the review’s Terms of Reference, which are available on gov.uk..

The Panel does not have any decision making powers, and is one aspect of the Government’s BBC Funding Model Review.

The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport appointed Panel members based on their expertise across relevant sectors, including television, radio, news and international relations. The experts were selected in consultation with industry stakeholders based on their experience and knowledge of wide ranging issues at the heart of the UK media sector such as the role of Public Service Broadcasters, press sustainability and content for children and young adults. Panel membership is voluntary. The Expert Panel has no legal status and was therefore not set up under the Cabinet Office guidelines for public appointments.


Written Question
BBC: Finance
Thursday 18th April 2024

Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she has taken to publicly advertise application opportunities to the BBC funding model review panel.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The BBC Funding Review is looking at how alternative funding models could help secure the broadcaster’s long-term sustainability amid an evolving media landscape, increased competition and changing audience behaviour, while reducing the burden on licence fee payers. It is a government-led review, supported by an expert panel that incorporates a broad range of views from across the sector, providing advice and external challenge on the issues set out in the review’s Terms of Reference, which are available on gov.uk..

The Panel does not have any decision making powers, and is one aspect of the Government’s BBC Funding Model Review.

The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport appointed Panel members based on their expertise across relevant sectors, including television, radio, news and international relations. The experts were selected in consultation with industry stakeholders based on their experience and knowledge of wide ranging issues at the heart of the UK media sector such as the role of Public Service Broadcasters, press sustainability and content for children and young adults. Panel membership is voluntary. The Expert Panel has no legal status and was therefore not set up under the Cabinet Office guidelines for public appointments.


Written Question
Immigration: Databases
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to rectify the misidentification of individuals by the Home Office Person Centric Data Platform.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

The Person Centric Data Platform (PCDP) holds millions of identities that have been submitted or otherwise provided in support of immigration applications. Individuals have not been ‘misidentified’ by the PCDP. Rather, the Home Office has for some time been aware of issues around ‘merged identity’ - where a single ‘identity island’ has been formed with data belonging to two or more individuals.

The ‘merged identities’ issue affects around 0.02% of PCDP customer records - over 99.98% of records are not impacted by this issue. We have identified around 46,000 records with an identity issue, of which over 13,000 have already been resolved and we have a dedicated team working on the remainder.

The Home Office takes data security and accuracy very seriously. We continue detailed analysis to identify erroneous PCDP records so that appropriate remedial work can be undertaken as quickly, and as carefully, as possible.

Where customers identify an issue with their data, we encourage them to contact the UK Visas and Immigration Contact Centre to enable this to be investigated and resolved.


Written Question
Immigration: Databases
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Kevin Brennan (Labour - Cardiff West)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent estimate he has made of the number of individuals misidentified by the Home Office Person Centric Data Platform in the last 12 months.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

The Person Centric Data Platform (PCDP) holds millions of identities that have been submitted or otherwise provided in support of immigration applications. Individuals have not been ‘misidentified’ by the PCDP. Rather, the Home Office has for some time been aware of issues around ‘merged identity’ - where a single ‘identity island’ has been formed with data belonging to two or more individuals.

The ‘merged identities’ issue affects around 0.02% of PCDP customer records - over 99.98% of records are not impacted by this issue. We have identified around 46,000 records with an identity issue, of which over 13,000 have already been resolved and we have a dedicated team working on the remainder.

The Home Office takes data security and accuracy very seriously. We continue detailed analysis to identify erroneous PCDP records so that appropriate remedial work can be undertaken as quickly, and as carefully, as possible.

Where customers identify an issue with their data, we encourage them to contact the UK Visas and Immigration Contact Centre to enable this to be investigated and resolved.