Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government which minister has cross-government responsibility for co-ordinating all matters relating to (1) citizenship, and (2) civic engagement.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Minister Kevin Foster has overall responsibility for matters relating to citizenship in the United Kingdom in the Home Office. This portfolio includes the current and future visa system, as well as immigration casework and nationality.
DCMS is responsible for youth engagement across Government and provides grant funding for the UK Youth Parliament programme and Youth Engagement Grant. These are key programmes through which young people can engage with policy and decision-makers and have a say on issues that matter to them. The lead minister is Nigel Huddleston.
DCMS is responsible for youth volunteering and social action across government, and supports the #iwill movement and the #iwill Fund, both of which aim to get 10 to 20 year-olds involved in volunteering, fundraising and campaigning in local communities
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they plan to update the Life in the UK test; and when the test was last updated.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Life in the UK test is based on the Life in the UK handbook, “Life in the UK: a guide for new residents”. An updated impression of the current edition of the handbook was published in early 2020.
Questions in the test are reviewed on an ongoing basis. New questions were added between October 2020 and January 2021.
The test is kept under review and will be updated further as needed.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what mechanisms are in place to ensure that the use of drone surveillance technology during the COVID-19 pandemic is necessary and proportionate.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Decisions to use drones and in which circumstances are operational matters for police forces who are subject to the requirements of the Air Navigation Order and Data Protection legislation when operating drones. The Police have not been granted any additional powers to use drones during the Covid-19 pandemic. The Health Protection Regulations 2020 give police the powers they need to enforce compliance with the social distancing measures and all use of police powers must be legitimate, necessary and proportionate.
The Civil Aviation Authority have granted the Emergency Services, including the police, an exemption from some of the requirements contained in the Air Navigation Order 2016, to support the enforcement of Government COVID-19 restrictions. These changes do not grant extra powers to police. They relax restrictions in place for operating drones for the specific case of enforcing Covid-19 restrictions. Mitigation for use of the exemption needs to be written into the Operations Manuals of drone teams and use needs to be reported to the CAA on renewal of the permission.
The Home Office does not hold any information on the use of drones by other public bodies in relation to Covid-19.
The Data Protection Act and the Surveillance Camera Code govern police use of surveillance cameras.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what guidance has been issued on the collection, use and storage of data collected by drone surveillance technology during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Decisions to use drones and in which circumstances are operational matters for police forces who are subject to the requirements of the Air Navigation Order and Data Protection legislation when operating drones. The Police have not been granted any additional powers to use drones during the Covid-19 pandemic. The Health Protection Regulations 2020 give police the powers they need to enforce compliance with the social distancing measures and all use of police powers must be legitimate, necessary and proportionate.
The Civil Aviation Authority have granted the Emergency Services, including the police, an exemption from some of the requirements contained in the Air Navigation Order 2016, to support the enforcement of Government COVID-19 restrictions. These changes do not grant extra powers to police. They relax restrictions in place for operating drones for the specific case of enforcing Covid-19 restrictions. Mitigation for use of the exemption needs to be written into the Operations Manuals of drone teams and use needs to be reported to the CAA on renewal of the permission.
The Home Office does not hold any information on the use of drones by other public bodies in relation to Covid-19.
The Data Protection Act and the Surveillance Camera Code govern police use of surveillance cameras.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what additional powers, if any, have been granted to the police and other bodies in relation to the use of drone surveillance technology during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Decisions to use drones and in which circumstances are operational matters for police forces who are subject to the requirements of the Air Navigation Order and Data Protection legislation when operating drones. The Police have not been granted any additional powers to use drones during the Covid-19 pandemic. The Health Protection Regulations 2020 give police the powers they need to enforce compliance with the social distancing measures and all use of police powers must be legitimate, necessary and proportionate.
The Civil Aviation Authority have granted the Emergency Services, including the police, an exemption from some of the requirements contained in the Air Navigation Order 2016, to support the enforcement of Government COVID-19 restrictions. These changes do not grant extra powers to police. They relax restrictions in place for operating drones for the specific case of enforcing Covid-19 restrictions. Mitigation for use of the exemption needs to be written into the Operations Manuals of drone teams and use needs to be reported to the CAA on renewal of the permission.
The Home Office does not hold any information on the use of drones by other public bodies in relation to Covid-19.
The Data Protection Act and the Surveillance Camera Code govern police use of surveillance cameras.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government which (1) public bodies, and (2) private companies assisting public bodies, are using drone surveillance technology in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Decisions to use drones and in which circumstances are operational matters for police forces who are subject to the requirements of the Air Navigation Order and Data Protection legislation when operating drones. The Police have not been granted any additional powers to use drones during the Covid-19 pandemic. The Health Protection Regulations 2020 give police the powers they need to enforce compliance with the social distancing measures and all use of police powers must be legitimate, necessary and proportionate.
The Civil Aviation Authority have granted the Emergency Services, including the police, an exemption from some of the requirements contained in the Air Navigation Order 2016, to support the enforcement of Government COVID-19 restrictions. These changes do not grant extra powers to police. They relax restrictions in place for operating drones for the specific case of enforcing Covid-19 restrictions. Mitigation for use of the exemption needs to be written into the Operations Manuals of drone teams and use needs to be reported to the CAA on renewal of the permission.
The Home Office does not hold any information on the use of drones by other public bodies in relation to Covid-19.
The Data Protection Act and the Surveillance Camera Code govern police use of surveillance cameras.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what guidance they have produced in relation to the use of drone surveillance technology during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Decisions to use drones and in which circumstances are operational matters for police forces who are subject to the requirements of the Air Navigation Order and Data Protection legislation when operating drones. The Police have not been granted any additional powers to use drones during the Covid-19 pandemic. The Health Protection Regulations 2020 give police the powers they need to enforce compliance with the social distancing measures and all use of police powers must be legitimate, necessary and proportionate.
The Civil Aviation Authority have granted the Emergency Services, including the police, an exemption from some of the requirements contained in the Air Navigation Order 2016, to support the enforcement of Government COVID-19 restrictions. These changes do not grant extra powers to police. They relax restrictions in place for operating drones for the specific case of enforcing Covid-19 restrictions. Mitigation for use of the exemption needs to be written into the Operations Manuals of drone teams and use needs to be reported to the CAA on renewal of the permission.
The Home Office does not hold any information on the use of drones by other public bodies in relation to Covid-19.
The Data Protection Act and the Surveillance Camera Code govern police use of surveillance cameras.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the recommendation of the Select Committee on Citizenship and Civic Engagement that the book Life in the UK should be revised, and to the undertaking by them to do so, when that review will take place; and when they plan to publish the revised text.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Government has announced that it will review and revise the Life in the UK test and associated text to give much greater prominence to and in-formation on the shared values which we believe underpin society here in the UK. We are currently considering how this will be taken forward.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the undertaking in their response to the report of the Select Committee on Citizenship and Civic Engagement (Cm9629), published on 28 June 2018, that they would respond further on the Committee's recommendations to review the Life in the UK Test, when that further response can be expected.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Government has announced that it will review and revise the Life in the UK test and associated text to give much greater prominence to and information on the shared values which we believe underpin society here in the UK. We are currently considering how this will be taken forward.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
Her Majesty's Government what agreements exist for the sharing of information held on the Elmer Database with other national and local government bodies.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
There are 2.11 million suspicious activity reports (SARs) on the Elmer database. These SARs remain on the system either as result of ongoing activity from a law enforcement agency, or because the SAR is within the six year period for which data can be held on Elmer, in line with the ECHR and Data Protection legislation. In 2015/16 the UKFIU received over 400,000 SARs. Each SAR may include detail of the activities of a number of persons, and it is therefore not possible to determine how many nominal subjects are within the database.
Following the House of Lords European Union Committee Inquiry into Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism in July 2009, and the Information Commissioner’s review of the ELMER database in 2010, the UK Financial Intelligence Unit (UKFIU) has implemented the Retention and Deletion policy for Suspicious Activity Reports. This sets the following criteria for the removal of SARs:
o If definitive feedback is received from law enforcement end users that states a SAR is not connected with criminality, that SAR is deleted.
o Otherwise, the retention period for SARs is six years from the date of submission. After that time they are automatically deleted from the SARs database (ELMER) and other derivative systems, on a rolling daily deletion programme.
o When a SAR is deleted, an audit record showing the SAR Unique Reference Number (URN), date of creation and date of deletion is retained for all SARs. This record contains no personal data, but is used to confirm, if necessary, that a SAR has been submitted.
o There are occasions when, after six years, a SAR still forms part of an on-going case, investigation or appeal and is entirely the responsibility of the end user to ensure that copies of the required SARs are transferred to the investigating agency’s ‘case record’. The data control responsibility for those records is then transferred from the NCA to that agency.
The UKFIU has access to the entire Elmer database, which includes ‘sensitive’ SARs such as those submitted on terrorism, integrity and some politically exposed persons.
SARs are only directly available to agencies with officers with powers under the Proceeds of Crime Act, or under the Terrorism Act (for terrorist finance), and only with officers who have an accreditation enabling them to see SARs. All such access is governed by user agreements at both an agency and individual level. For other organisations to qualify for access to the non-sensitive version of ELMER, they must accept the terms of ‘The Organisation Agreement for Direct Access to Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs)’ which sets the objectives, responsibilities and conditions within which both the NCA and the end user must comply.