Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to prevent veterans’ personal data from being breached by malign actors.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence takes Cyber Security seriously including protecting personal data for all defence people including veterans.
Defence employs a Cyber Risk Management Framework that regularly reviews and escalates risk. This uses evidence from a variety of sources including as the Cabinet Office’s Gov Assure ‘Cyber Assessment Framework’ (CAF). All Defence Organisations sit within this framework.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Answer of 16 May 2023 to Question 184569 on Ministry of Defence: Data Protection, how many personal data breaches among suppliers contracted by his Department were reported to his Department in each year since 2010.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
I refer the right hon. Member to the answer I gave on 16 May 2023 to Question 184569. As an update to this information I can confirm that 12 incidents were reported to the Defence Industry Warning Advisory and Reporting Point in 2023. The data provided only includes security incidents that have been closed and are not under investigation. So far in 2024 there are no incidents that have been reported, investigated and closed.
Information on incidents between 2010 and 2020 is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Matt Hancock (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how many businesses the Information Commissioner’s Office regulated (a) as of 20 May 2024 and (b) in 2016.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Under the Data Protection (Charges and Information) Regulations 2018, individuals and organisations that process personal data need to register and pay a data protection fee to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), unless they are exempt.
At the end of December 2016, 457,846 organisations were registered with the ICO. The most recent figure shows that on 20 May 2024, 1,183,158 organisations were registered with the ICO.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to generate real-world data on any future RSV immunisation programme for older adults and infants and, if so, how such data would be used to inform future eligibility.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK Health Security Agency monitors national immunisation programmes in England, and will monitor the implementation of any future protection immunisation programmes for older adults and infants. This includes immunisation coverage, immunisation effectiveness at preventing disease, including the duration of the protective effect, the overall impact of the immunisation programme, and any safety signals. This real-world data will be shared with the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation and the Department, to inform future policy including future eligibility.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Haltemprice and Howden)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an estimate of how much monies his Department expects to recover via the powers in Clause 128 of the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill for fraud related to (a) the Attendance Allowance, (b) Universal Credit, (c) the State Pension, (d) the Personal Independence Payment, (e) the Disability Living Allowance, (f) carers allowance, (g) housing benefit, (h) child benefit and (i) pension credit as (i) an annual sum and (ii) as a proportion of overall estimated fraud for each of those.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Whilst the power covers all benefits to ensure we are empowered to address fraud and error wherever it arises, the Impact Assessment makes clear that we initially intend to use the power for Universal Credit, Employment Support Allowance, Pension Credit and Housing Benefit (passported from Pension Credit). DWP can also only exercise this power in relation to benefits for which DWP is responsible.
The Third-Party Data Measure is estimated to save up to £600m by 2028/29. This was certified by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) during the Autumn Statement 2023 and updated for the Spring Budget 2024. This is based on the initial use of the power which includes savings from the four benefits outlined above and the pilot period. Further information about the methodology can be found in the published impact assessment (DWP_third_party_data_impact_assessment_november_2023.pdf (publishing.service.gov.uk)).
The table below shows savings are split by each of benefit and that we are testing the measure. Estimates of these savings as a proportion of overall estimated fraud for each of these benefits is not available as the AME savings modelled are not directly comparable to the Monetary Value of Fraud and Error.
£m | 2025-26 | 2026-27 | 2027-28 | 2028-29 | Total |
ESA | £5 | £18 | £52 | £41 | £116 |
HB (passported from PC) |
| £4 | £11 | £14 | £29 |
PC | £7 | £26 | £78 | £103 | £214 |
UC | £5 | £23 | £79 | £126 | £233 |
Note: figures may not sum due to rounding
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking with Ofcom to ensure that its guidance on age (a) verification and (b) assurance under the Online Safety Act 2023 reflects data privacy considerations.
Answered by Saqib Bhatti - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Online Safety Act 2023 includes strong safeguards for user privacy. The Act includes principles that Ofcom must have regard to when recommending the use of age assurance technologies for compliance with duties in the Act. Privacy has been represented in these principles, which outline that considerations relating to privacy, as set out in the Data Protection Act 2018, apply to all uses of age assurance technologies used to comply with duties in the Act.
Ofcom is consulting on its codes of practice and guidance, with the child safety codes of practice currently out for consultation.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much his Department spent on refugee integration loans in each year since 2007.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Refugee Integration Loans were introduced in 2007 following a public consultation and are intended to help people with the costs of integrating into UK society. They are funded by the Home Office, who make the initial decisions on applications. They are then administered and recouped by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
Refugee integration loans are interest-free loans with favourable repayment terms for individuals who are over 18 and meet the following eligibility criteria:
Individuals are currently able to borrow between £100 and £500. Between £100 to £780 can be borrowed if submitting a joint application with a partner.
All loan repayments are expected in full and money recovered can be recycled to provide funds for new refugees
The Home Office work with DWP to administer the loans across different IT platforms. Consequently, data is not held in an easily reportable format and would require a manual search of records that would incur a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many refugees from Gaza have been accepted into the UK since October 2023.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes data on asylum decisions in table Asy_D02 of the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’ on gov.uk. The latest data relates to 2023. Data for the year ending March 2024 will be published on 23 May 2024. From October to December 2023, 69 asylum claims (relating to 84 people) from nationals of the Occupied Palestinian Territories, of which Gaza forms a part, were granted some form of protection.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Rwandan nationals have successfully applied for asylum in the UK since 2019.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on grants by nationality are published in table Asy_D02 of the ‘Asylum applications, initial decisions and resettlement detailed datasets’. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates to 2023.
Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.
The UK has a proud history of providing protection to those who need it, in accordance with our international obligations under the Refugee Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Those who need protection are normally granted refugee status or humanitarian protection.
All asylum and human rights claims lodged from within the UK and admitted to the UK asylum system, including those seeking asylum from Rwanda, are carefully considered on their individual merits in accordance with our international obligations, and against the background of relevant case law, policy guidance, and the latest available country of origin information.
Asked by: Lord Smith of Finsbury (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what representations they are making to the government of Qatar to ensure that Manuel Guerrero, a UK citizen, is either released or provided with the HIV medication that he needs.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Supporting the welfare of British nationals detained overseas is a priority for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). The FCDO cannot interfere in the judicial affairs of other countries, however where there are concerns that an individual's welfare needs are not being met, with their consent, we will raise this with the relevant authorities. We are unable to provide comment on the detail of individual consular cases in line with relevant UK data protection legislation.
[https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/foreign-commonwealth-development-office/about/personal-information-charter]