To match an exact phrase, use quotation marks around the search term. eg. "Parliamentary Estate". Use "OR" or "AND" as link words to form more complex queries.


Keep yourself up-to-date with the latest developments by exploring our subscription options to receive notifications direct to your inbox

Written Question
Bus Services: South of England
Tuesday 5th November 2024

Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the annual cost to the rail network of providing rail replacement bus services between Three Bridges and Brighton.

Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

When engineering work takes place, it is the responsibility of the train operators to ensure the provision of rail replacement bus services, via their contracted suppliers.

My Department does not hold the information on these costs at a granular level.


Written Question
Arts: Finance
Monday 28th October 2024

Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)

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

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential benefits of a "Smart Fund" for the arts given its impact in 45 countries world-wide.

Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Government has made no recent assessment of the impact of a private copy levy scheme.

The 3rd Trade Specialised Committee on Intellectual Property under the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement discussed Private Copying Levies on 23 October 2023 and the Minutes were published on gov.uk here: https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/specialised-committee-on-intellectual-property


Written Question
Football: Finance
Monday 12th August 2024

Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)

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

To ask His Majesty's Government what is their policy on ensuring financial redistribution between the leagues and clubs in English football.

Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

Despite the global success of English football, the game has fundamental governance problems that have led to excessive and reckless risk-taking at too many clubs. Ineffective regulation poses very real dangers to our national game, threatening the stability of the football pyramid, impacting fans across the country. The King’s Speech set out our plans to address this with legislation to establish an independent football regulator.

We will introduce this legislation as soon as parliamentary time allows.


Written Question
Football: Finance
Monday 12th August 2024

Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)

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

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the adequacy of current structures to protect the long-term financial sustainability of football clubs in England.

Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

Despite the global success of English football, the game has fundamental governance problems that have led to excessive and reckless risk-taking at too many clubs. Ineffective regulation poses very real dangers to our national game, threatening the stability of the football pyramid, impacting fans across the country. The King’s Speech set out our plans to address this with legislation to establish an independent football regulator.

We will introduce this legislation as soon as parliamentary time allows.


Written Question
Government Departments: Cybercrime
Wednesday 27th September 2023

Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many (1) successful, and (2) unsuccessful, cyberattacks have been identified in each government department over the past 12 months.

Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)

The government does not comment on issues concerning national security.

The Government Cyber Security Strategy, published in January 2022, sets out how we will build and maintain our cyber defences. A key objective of the strategy covers how the Government will minimise the impact of cyber security incidents. Departments will need to prepare for incidents, be able to respond and contain when they inevitably do happen and learn the lessons from them after the event.


Written Question
Government Departments: Computer Viruses
Wednesday 27th September 2023

Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, over the past 12 months, how many individual devices issued by government departments have been identified as containing malware.

Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)

The government does not comment on issues concerning national security.

The Government Cyber Security Strategy, published in January 2022, sets out how we will build and maintain our cyber defences. The strategy outlines how departments must be able to minimise the impact when malware is found.


Written Question
Public Sector and Schools: Cybersecurity
Monday 25th September 2023

Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government, following several recent school closures resulting from cyberattacks, what steps they are taking to ensure (1) schools, and (2) other public services, have good cyber resilience.

Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)

The Department recognises that cyber security is a concern for many schools and academy trusts. To support schools with this, the Department released Cyber Security Standards in October 2022, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/meeting-digital-and-technology-standards-in-schools-and-colleges/cyber-security-standards-for-schools-and-colleges. These standards provide a base level requirement for good cyber security practices in schools, helping to raise resilience across the sector and make schools harder targets. Many of the areas suggested for improvement are low cost or free to implement.

The Department’s Risk Protection Arrangement (RPA) has more than 9,500 member schools, which constitutes 43% of eligible schools in England, and includes cover for cyber incidents as standard from the 2022/23 membership years. In the event of a cyber incident, RPA members have access to a 24/7 incident response service. Since September 2022, cyber cover has been available to multi academy trust RPA members, provided they meet the required criteria.

Jisc is the UK digital, data and technology agency focused on education, research and innovation. The Department continues to fund Jisc to provide quality connectivity and cyber security to Further Education colleges in England. In addition to network cyber security measures, Jisc provides advice, guidance, and training on cyber security, including alerts and information on identified security risks. This support includes access to a Cyber Security Incident Response Team. Jisc offers similar support to Higher Education, funded by the Office for Students.

The Department also continues to work closely with the NCSC (National Cyber Security Centre) to identify incidents and conduct analysis to monitor and identify emerging cyber threats.

Schools can access cyber security training for staff from the NCSC and the NCSC Active Cyber Defence tools are now available to all schools. These assist in protecting schools from a range of attacks. Further advice can be found on the NCSC schools’ website at: https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/section/education-skills/cyber-security-schools.

In the event of a cyber attack, the Department has a cyber security team who can provide advice and guidance to assist with recovery. To report an incident and receive support, schools can contact: sector.incidentreporting@education.gov.uk. Schools are also encouraged to report all cyber incidents to Action Fraud via their reporting site here: https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/.

The Department will continue to develop the support and tools offered to schools and academy trusts to improve their cyber security and resilience. This will help to streamline reporting and data capture and improve mutual understanding between the Department and schools.


Written Question
Arrests: Football
Wednesday 28th June 2023

Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many arrests for the offence of entering the playing areas at football grounds have led to football banning orders in the past three football seasons.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Home Office publishes annual figures on the number of football banning orders issued and the number of football-related arrests in England and Wales in the ‘Football-related arrests and banning orders, England and Wales’ Official Statistics publication. The latest data cover the 2021 to 2022 football season and are available here: Football-related arrests and banning orders, England and Wales: 2021 to 2022 season - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). Data on the number of football banning orders issued and the number of football-related arrests for pitch incursion since the 2010 to 2011 season are published in tables 1 and 5 of the accompanying data tables.

There were 516 new banning orders issued in the 2021 to 2022 football season, down by 46% since the 2010 to 2011 season.

There were 313 football-related arrests for pitch incursion in the 2021 to 2022 football season, up by 30% since the 2010 to 2011 season.

Data on arrests for the offence of entering the playing area at a designated football match that have led to the imposition of football banning orders is not held. A football banning order is a preventative measure which is not issued as part of a sentence, or solely based on an individual’s conviction offence. In deciding whether to make a banning order, a court may consider a range of prosecution evidence in support of a banning order application.


Written Question
Arrests: Football
Wednesday 28th June 2023

Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many arrests have been made following pitch invasions in each year since 2010.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Home Office publishes annual figures on the number of football banning orders issued and the number of football-related arrests in England and Wales in the ‘Football-related arrests and banning orders, England and Wales’ Official Statistics publication. The latest data cover the 2021 to 2022 football season and are available here: Football-related arrests and banning orders, England and Wales: 2021 to 2022 season - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). Data on the number of football banning orders issued and the number of football-related arrests for pitch incursion since the 2010 to 2011 season are published in tables 1 and 5 of the accompanying data tables.

There were 516 new banning orders issued in the 2021 to 2022 football season, down by 46% since the 2010 to 2011 season.

There were 313 football-related arrests for pitch incursion in the 2021 to 2022 football season, up by 30% since the 2010 to 2011 season.

Data on arrests for the offence of entering the playing area at a designated football match that have led to the imposition of football banning orders is not held. A football banning order is a preventative measure which is not issued as part of a sentence, or solely based on an individual’s conviction offence. In deciding whether to make a banning order, a court may consider a range of prosecution evidence in support of a banning order application.


Written Question
Anti-social Behaviour Orders: Football
Wednesday 28th June 2023

Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many football banning orders have been issued in each year since 2010.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Home Office publishes annual figures on the number of football banning orders issued and the number of football-related arrests in England and Wales in the ‘Football-related arrests and banning orders, England and Wales’ Official Statistics publication. The latest data cover the 2021 to 2022 football season and are available here: Football-related arrests and banning orders, England and Wales: 2021 to 2022 season - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). Data on the number of football banning orders issued and the number of football-related arrests for pitch incursion since the 2010 to 2011 season are published in tables 1 and 5 of the accompanying data tables.

There were 516 new banning orders issued in the 2021 to 2022 football season, down by 46% since the 2010 to 2011 season.

There were 313 football-related arrests for pitch incursion in the 2021 to 2022 football season, up by 30% since the 2010 to 2011 season.

Data on arrests for the offence of entering the playing area at a designated football match that have led to the imposition of football banning orders is not held. A football banning order is a preventative measure which is not issued as part of a sentence, or solely based on an individual’s conviction offence. In deciding whether to make a banning order, a court may consider a range of prosecution evidence in support of a banning order application.