Asked by: Lord Harris of Haringey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the reply by Lord Young of Cookham on 5 July (HL Deb, cols 766–70), what progress has been made in the introduction of mobile alert technology.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
Cabinet Office is working with the Home Office and the police to explore the types of emergency where a national mobile alerting system can add value, beyond the mobile alerting schemes already in place in the UK. In order to inform any technical solution, these emergency scenarios will be explored in depth to establish where and when in the evolution of an incident a mobile alerting scheme offers the best opportunity to reduce harm to citizens.
Once we have fully assessed the need for an alerting scheme further work would be undertaken including exploring how situational awareness might be obtained, thresholds for activation and how the content of alert messages stands the best chance of eliciting helpful behaviours from the recipients. This is not without complexity since in terrorist-related incidents the protagonists will also receive the same message.
Additionally, a scheme used for major incidents stands the chance of being used infrequently. To ensure effectiveness, there will be a need for a carefully managed media campaigns.
Asked by: Lord Harris of Haringey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many cloud services contracts that were previously delivered by British cloud services providers for the Cabinet Office are now delivered by multinational cloud service providers; what is the value of those contracts; and what are the names of the previous providers.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
This information cannot be obtained without incurring disproportionate costs.
Asked by: Lord Harris of Haringey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of Cabinet Office data is hosted (1) in the UK, and (2) overseas.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
Information on what percentage of Cabinet Office data is hosted is not collated centrally and can only be provided at a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Harris of Haringey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress has been made in (1) replacing the High Integrity Telecommunications System mobile terminals that were withdrawn from service in 2013, and (2) introducing improvements aimed at increasing ease of access to, and thus usability of, the network that were due to be announced by the end of 2016.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
Telecommunications System (HITS) will end in March 2019. A review is currently underway to determine the requirement for a successor system, including ease of access, mobility and usability.
Asked by: Lord Harris of Haringey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to upgrade the High Integrity Telecommunications System.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The current contract for the High Integrity Telecommunications System (HITS) will end in March 2019. A review is currently underway to determine the requirement for a successor system and the associated costs.
Asked by: Lord Harris of Haringey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many sites in the UK are connected to the High Integrity Telecommunications System.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The High Integrity Telecommunications System (HITS) is a resilient communications solution providing a voice and data link to 47 fixed sites across the UK. It is intended to provide failsafe communications in times of national crisis, connecting local responders and the Devolved Administrations with COBR.
Asked by: Lord Harris of Haringey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the Written Answer by Lord Young of Cookham on 21 March (HL5825), whether the information requested would be available from the Departments concerned under the Freedom of Information Act 2000; if not, why not; and if so, why it cannot be provided in answer to a Question for Written Answer.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
Requests for information are processed in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act. It will be a matter for individual departments as to whether they hold this information. The Cabinet Office does not hold records of the number of mobile phones allocated by other government departments.
Asked by: Lord Harris of Haringey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the Written Answer by Lord Young of Cookham on 21 March (HL5826), what messaging applications are specifically approved for use on Cabinet Office-issued official smartphones issued to Ministers and Civil Servants; whether they will publish the acceptable use guidelines and departmental records management policy; and if so, when.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The departmental records policy, which is in line with the requirements set out in the Lord Chancellor's Code of Practice and the Civil Service Code, is currently subject to its annual review and, in the interests of transparency, will be published in due course.
In the interests of departmental security, the Cabinet Office does not publish details of applications that are authorised for use on Government smartphones.
Guidelines on use of social media have been published on GOV.UK and can be found at the following: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/social-media-guidance-for-civil-servants/social-media-guidance-for-civil-servants
Asked by: Lord Harris of Haringey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many smartphones have been issued to (1) ministers, and (2) senior civil servants, from public funds in each of the last three years.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Lord Harris of Haringey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether WhatsApp and other instant messaging applications are enabled on smartphones issued to ministers and senior civil servants; and if so, what guidance is provided for their use.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
Only applications specifically approved for use on Cabinet Office-issued OFFICIAL smartphones are accessible to Ministers and Civil Servants within the department.
The use of such applications is subject to strict conditions of use including acceptable use guidelines and departmental records management policy, which govern what systems may be used for and how records of such communications are retained, in line with our legal obligations and the Civil Service code.