Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve the personal and cyber security of high-profile individuals involved in politics, such as parliamentarians, ahead of the upcoming general election campaign.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The safety of our elected representatives is essential to the security of our country. Protecting our democratic values and processes is one of the most important duties of government. That is why the Government will take every possible step to safeguard the people, processes, and institutions upon which our democracy relies.
On 28th February the Prime Minister announced the Government was investing an additional £31 million in funding to protect the democratic process and our elected representatives. The funding is being used to strengthen protective security measures for MPs and locally elected representatives over the next year.
Through the funding we are enhancing police capabilities, increasing private sector security provision for those facing a higher risk, and expanding cyber security advice to elected representatives. The investment also enables the expansion of the Operation BRIDGER network, so that every elected representative and candidate is given a dedicated, named police contact to liaise with on security matters, where needed. Through this network all candidates will have access to security briefings in the run up to the General Election.
The funding is accompanied by a new Defending Democracy Policing Protocol, agreed with police to enhance the safety of elected representatives, and protect the UK’s democratic process from disruption. Further information about the Protocol is available on GOV.UK.
Furthermore, the Defending Democracy Taskforce has supported the Westminster Parliamentary authorities and the National Cyber Security Centre to develop and roll out an enhanced cyber security offer for Parliamentarians and their teams to better protect them against cyber-attacks and foreign interference. As part of the £31 million uplift, the Taskforce is now seeking to extend this offer to other elected officials including the Devolved Authorities and is working closely with staff from the Devolved Authorities to do so.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to eradicate modern slavery from centrally held procurement supply chains.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Modern slavery has no place in public supply chains.
We have taken action in the Procurement Act to strengthen the rules around excluding suppliers linked to modern slavery. The current rules require the supplier to have been convicted or there to have been a breach of international treaties banning forced labour, or evidence of grave professional misconduct.
We recognise that modern slavery often occurs in countries which are not party to international treaties on forced labour and which are unlikely to prosecute the perpetrators. Our changes will allow authorities to exclude suppliers and disregard their bids where there is sufficient evidence of modern slavery. This will apply whether or not there has been a conviction or a breach of an international treaty.
The Cabinet Office has also published a Procurement Policy Notice which sets out how UK Government departments must take action to ensure modern slavery risks are identified and managed in government supply chains.
Individual procurements and their contract management of course remain the responsibility of government departments.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to expand their GREAT campaign, and whether they have evaluated options for additional or alternative international brand marketing campaigns for the United Kingdom.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The GREAT brand has proved to be highly effective. On average for every £1 spent GREAT returns £15 to the UK economy. In the last year we estimate that GREAT has helped to generate over £900 million of foreign direct investment, £548 million of additional expenditure from international students, £210 million of additional expenditure from international tourism and over £90 million of export wins for UK companies.
The GREAT brand was successfully refreshed in Summer 2021 to better reflect the diversity of the UK and update our offer to the world. It is designed to promote the UK as dynamic, outward-looking, confident and collaborative and is used in 164 countries by 26 government departments and ALBs.
The GREAT Ministerial Programme Board meets quarterly to agree the strategic direction of the campaign, including new markets and sectors. As well as continuing to drive economic growth for the UK through existing campaigns, in 2024/25 the GREAT campaign looks forward to delivering new initiatives such as a GREAT FUTURES event in Saudi Arabia and a new marketing campaign in the US.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of new scientific discoveries in the field of longevity and radical life extension in order to better public health; and whether they have a strategy to promote longevity science.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We continue to monitor new research that shows promise for improving the health of the public. The Department commissions research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR's strategy, Best Research for Best Health: The Next Chapter, highlights the need to fund research which responds to demographic pressures, including an ageing population. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including ageing.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the risk to British–Iranian journalists in the United Kingdom after threats from the government of Iran, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in particular.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Whilst we do not routinely comment on operational matters or specific threats, Iran has been clear in its intentions, publicly calling for the capture or killing of those holding it to account, either in the UK or abroad. Since the start of 2022, Iran has attempted to carry out these threats on numerous occasions, with over 15 credible threats to kill or kidnap British or UK-based individuals.
The UK Government is committed to the promotion of media freedom and takes protection of individuals’ rights, freedoms, and safety very seriously. It is paramount that all media professionals are free to work without fear and journalists must be able to investigate and report independently.
We continually assess potential threats to individuals and take a proactive approach to identifying and investigating them. Wherever a threat is identified, we use all measures, including through the Police and security and intelligence services, to mitigate risk to individuals.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the timetable for the launch of the British ISA announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Budget Statement on 6 March.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
At Spring Budget 2024, the Chancellor announced the creation of a UK ISA. Alongside this, the Government published a consultation seeking responses on the policy design and implementation. The consultation closes on 6th June 2024, after which we will consider responses and next steps.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the quality of customer services provided by His Majesty's Revenue and Customers to taxpayers; and whether they will undertake a review or ask an independent third party to do so.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The quality of HMRC's customer service is regularly assessed by various bodies, including the Treasury Select Committee, National Audit Office, independent Adjudicator's Office, and Public Accounts Committee. HMRC also has internal customer surveys and key performance metrics to monitor its customer service objectives as outlined in the HMRC Charter.
HMRC Performance is published on a monthly and quarterly basis on GOV.UK:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmrc-monthly-performance-reports
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmrc-quarterly-performance-updates
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to The Angiolini Inquiry: Part 1 Report published on 29 February, which territorial and national police forces outsource their recruitment vetting to other police forces or other law enforcement agencies.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
All Home Office (territorial) forces in England and Wales conduct their recruitment vetting internally.
This is also the case for all non-Home Office national police forces, aside from the Royal Military Police who are assisted by Warwickshire Police for vetting checks.
The Part 1 report of Angiolini’s Inquiry highlighted that in 2010, the Civil Nuclear Constabulary had outsourced its force vetting to Thames Valley Police. They now carry out their own recruitment vetting.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will provide an update on their Gov.uk 'One Login' programme; and what is the programme’s plan of work over the next year.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The GOV.UK One Login system is fully operational providing a simple and secure way for people to access government services online.
Users can create an account, login and prove (and then reuse) their identity - through either a web-based journey, smartphone app or in-person route - to access an initial set of 30 government services. This includes important services such as ‘Request a Disclosure and Barring Service Basic Check’ and ‘Apply for an HM Armed Forces Veteran Card’. More than 3.8 million people have so far proven their identity through GOV.UK One Login, while its app has been downloaded more than 5 million times. GOV.UK One Login’s customer contact centre and technical service desk are now live.
Further government services - from HMRC to DWP and DVLA - are due to come on board over the next year. GDS will also continue to optimise GOV.UK One Login’s user journeys, for example by broadening the range of documents and evidence that people can use to prove who they are online.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will publish the number of ministerial directions made in each year since 2010 under the 'Managing Public Money' principles; and whether they will include a figure for unpublished or confidential ministerial directions.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Details of Ministerial Directions can be found on the GOV.UK website[1].
As set out in Managing Public Money, where confidentiality is required, the accounting officer will share the direction request and the direction itself with the chairs of the Committee of Public Accounts and the relevant departmental select committee, along with an explanation of the reasons for requiring confidentiality, and when they expect the need for confidentiality to fall away and publication to take place.
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ministerial-directions