Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to establish a public inquiry into how the Church of England has responded to allegations of paedophilia.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse was established to consider whether important institutions — including the Anglican Church — had taken seriously their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse. The Inquiry published a report, entitled “The Anglican Church - Safeguarding in the Church of England and the Church of Wales”. The report, published in October 2020, is available on the Inquiry’s website, alongside the response to its recommendations from the Church of England and the Church of Wales. The response by the Church of England was considered by the House of Bishops on 19 October 2020 and a unanimous vote supported and accepted all of the Inquiry’s recommendations, particularly the two most significant themes arising from the report; firstly, proper redress for victims and survivors, and secondly, greater independence in safeguarding decision making.
The Chair of the Inquiry, Professor Alexis Jay, subsequently conducted an independent review, on behalf of the Church of England, into the future of Church Safeguarding, which was published in February 2024. The Government does not plan to establish a further inquiry.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to commission a study on the benefits and disbenefits of the UK’s departure from the EU, and in particular its impact on the UK economy.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government is currently focused on looking forwards and resetting the relationship with our European friends. As such the Prime Minister hosted 45 leaders from across Europe to the European Political Community on Thursday 18 July, to enhance cooperation on European security and other shared challenges the continent faces. Publicly available research on the interactions between the UK-EU relationship and the UK economy is widely accessible.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they propose to issue a code of behaviour requiring Ministers and their advisers to be respectful in their dealings with civil servants, including banning the use of foul language in the workplace.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Prime Minister is committed to restoring confidence in government and ensuring ministers are held to the highest standards. Under his leadership, this Government will ensure the highest standards of integrity and honesty. When meeting with his new Cabinet for the first time, the Prime Minister was clear about the standards he expects of them and their ministerial teams.
He will issue a Ministerial Code in due course which will set out the standards of behaviour expected of ministers. As public office holders, ministers are also bound by the Nolan Principles. One such principle that applies is leadership, under which ministers are required to “treat others with respect”.
Ministers' special advisers are contractually required to abide by the standards set out in the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers, which includes the requirement to “establish mutual relationships of confidence and trust” with civil servants.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of annual vehicle theft in the UK is accomplished by offenders cloning the signal from the vehicle owner’s remote locking device.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
Please see the letter attached from the National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority.
The Lord Birt
House of Lords
London
SW1A 0PW
9 May 2024
Dear Lord Birt,
As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking what percentage of annual vehicle theft in the UK is accomplished by offenders cloning the signal from the vehicle owner’s remote locking device (HL4379).
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publish figures on the levels and trends of crime in England and Wales primarily based on two sets of crime statistics: the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) and police recorded crime data. The CSEW provides estimates of the prevalence of crime and different crime types as experienced by victims, which may not always be reported to the police.
Table 1 shows an estimate of the percentage of households who have experienced theft of a vehicle, where the method of entry into the vehicle was through manipulation of the signal from the remote locking device. This is taken from our Nature of crime: vehicle-related theft tables for the year ending March 2023 published on 3 April 2024. Due to the suspension of the CSEW during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, data are not available for the year ending March 2021 and the year ending March 2022.
Unfortunately, we do not hold any information from police-recorded crime which shows what percentage of annual vehicle theft in England and Wales is accomplished by offenders cloning the signal from the vehicle owner’s remote locking device.
Crime and justice statistics for Scotland can be found on the Scottish Government website and for more information please contact Justice_Analysts@gov.scot. The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) are responsible for producing crime and justice statistics for Northern Ireland and can be contacted at statistics.research@justice-ni.x.gsi.gov.uk.
Yours sincerely,
Professor Sir Ian Diamond
Table 1: Estimated percentage of theft of vehicles where method of entry was through manipulation of the signal from remote locking device, year ending March 2019 to year ending March 2023 CSEW
England and Wales - household incidents, percentages | |||
| Apr’18 to Mar’19 | Apr’19 to Mar’20 | Apr’22 to Mar’23 [1] |
Entry to vehicle through manipulation of signal from remote locking device[2] | 13 | 36 | 40 |
Unweighted base – number of incidents[3] | 46 | 50 | 51 |
Source: Office for National Statistics – Crime Survey for England and Wales
[1]CSEW estimates for the year ending March 2023 have been temporarily suspended of their National Statistics status. Caution should be taken when interpreting these estimates because of the impact of lower response rates, and reduced interviewer numbers on the quality of the estimates.
[2]This category was added into the survey from the year ending March 2019.
[3]Estimates that are based on fewer than 50 respondents should be interpreted with caution.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the account of the workings of the communications function across Government set out in the chapter entitled “Government (Mis)Communications” in Dame Kate Bingham’s book The Long Shot.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
During a crisis, effective communication is essential. As public bodies we must be the source of accurate, relevant and timely information. The Government Communication Service has recently published a new operating model for Crisis Communications to ensure that we learn lessons from previous experiences, including the UK’s Covid response. This sets out clear guidelines for preparing for, responding to and recovering from crises. Our response to emergencies are kept under constant review.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Markham (HL391), whether they will now answer the question put, namely, whether they intend to review the processes and systems of supervision and governance in respect of projects commissioned by the Government.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
The Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) is the government’s centre of expertise for infrastructure and major projects. The IPA leads the government project delivery function and sits at the heart of government, reporting to the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury. The IPA and HM Treasury have the final decision on which projects and programmes join the Government Major Project Portfolio (GMPP). The IPA is responsible for the tracking and monitoring of GMPP projects. The IPA supports GMPP projects with expert advice and support, intervening early to ensure that projects are set up for success. Overall accountability to Parliament sits with responsible Accounting Officers; this includes supervising their governance processes and monitoring performance to ensure they are sufficient and proportionate. For projects not part of the GMPP, where IPA does not provide independent assurance, it is the responsibility of the Accounting Officer to ensure that a suitable assurance process is in place.
The IPA was established to provide support to priority projects. However, in recent years the IPA has developed a number of tools to support Accounting Officers and senior project leaders across government to set projects up for success. These tools are reviewed periodically to ensure they reflect current best practice.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to review the processes operating in the public sector for protecting data, including data about individuals held by suppliers to public sector bodies.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
The Government takes its data protection responsibilities very seriously, including where data is held by suppliers to the Government and suppliers to public sector bodies. Data protection processes are kept under continuous review. As the relevant National Technical Authority, the National Cyber Security Centre provides the Government, public sector bodies and the private sector with expert advice on protecting data from unauthorised access.
The Government Cyber Security Strategy was published last year. This sets out our plans significantly to harden the Government’s critical functions against cyber attack by 2025, with all organisations across the public sector being resilient to known vulnerabilities by 2030 at the latest.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they allow special advisers in government to review and delay responses to freedom of information requests.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
All Freedom of Information requests are processed according to the provisions of the Act. In 2022, government departments and other monitored bodies responded to 86% of requests within the permitted time limits. FOI statistics are published regularly and can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics
It is in line with the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers to give assistance and advice on any aspect of department business, including on requests for information made under the Freedom of Information Act, and to convey a minister’s views to officials. This has been the case under successive Administrations. The Cabinet Office has circulated a guidance note to cross-government practitioners which sets out the roles of special advisers in the process of responding to requests for information and which is available on Parliament’s website at https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5803/cmselect/cmpubadm/576/report.html#heading-1.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the data breach at the Electoral Commission, what plans they have to review the effectiveness of cyber defences of the Government's own technology platforms and those of other public bodies.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
The Government Cyber Security Strategy published last year sets out our plans to significantly harden the Government’s critical functions against cyber attack by 2025, with all organisations across the public sector being resilient to known vulnerabilities by 2030.
We have already made significant progress against the strategy. Earlier this year the Government launched GovAssure, the new cyber security assurance process for government organisations. Under GovAssure, government organisations will regularly review the effectiveness of their cyber defences against common cyber vulnerabilities and attack methods. GovAssure will enable government organisations to accurately assess their levels of cyber resilience across their critical services, highlight priority areas for improvement and provide the Government with a strategic view of cyber capability, risk and resilience across the sector.
The Electoral Commission is independent of Government and is accountable to Parliament through the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission. However, we have supported the Commission via the National Cyber Security Centre, who have provided the Commission with expert advice and support to aid their recovery after the cyber incident was first identified.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether (1) civil servants, and (2) special advisers, in 10 Downing Street are restricted from commenting on the process to elect a new leader of the Conservative Party.
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
The Civil Service should act as it did during previous periods in 2016 and 2019. Official resources must not be used to support leadership campaign activity.
As at all times, the Civil Service must serve the Government in a way which maintains political impartiality and retains the confidence of Ministers, while at the same time ensuring it will be able to establish the same relationship with those who may go on to lead the Government.
Special advisers are exempt from the Civil Service Code requirement of political impartiality. Therefore, as laid out in the Special Adviser Code of Conduct, their involvement in political activity does not need to be restricted in the same way as it is for other civil servants. All Special Advisers have been made aware of the expectations regarding their role and conduct during this period. If they wish to take part in leadership campaign activity, they must do so in their own time, out of office hours or via unpaid leave, and not involve the use of departmental resources.