Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Prime Minister, when he plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton of 10 November 2020 on Islamophobia.
Answered by Boris Johnson
My Office has no record of receiving this letter. I have asked my Office to contact the Hon Member’s Office to re-send the correspondence and arrange for a reply to be sent.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the recommendations of the Committee on the Future Relationship with the European Union's report entitled, The Shape of Future Parliamentary Scrutiny of UK-EU Relations, published on 14 January 2020, what steps his Department is taking to ensure effective future scrutiny of the UK-EU relationship.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
The Government will be responding to the report in due course.
The Trade and Cooperation Agreement establishes a set of committees to oversee its operation.
We are committed to facilitating parliamentary scrutiny of our new relationship with the EU as we do with other international agreements.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many political adverts were placed on online without a digital imprint during the 2019 General Election.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The government does not hold the information requested.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Government response to the Protecting the Debate: Intimidation, Influence and Information consultation, published May 2019, for what reasons the Government has not yet brought forward proposals to introduce a new digital imprint regime.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The Government is committed to implementing an imprints regime for digital election material. This will ensure greater transparency and make it clearer to the electorate who has produced and promoted online political materials.
The Government is planning to bring forward the technical proposal on the regime and further details will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he plans to extend the digital imprint requirement to all online campaign materials.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The Government is committed to implementing an imprints regime for digital election material. This will ensure greater transparency and make it clearer to the electorate who has produced and promoted online political materials.
The Government is planning to bring forward the technical proposal on the regime and further details will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he plans to create a publicly available online database of political adverts.
Answered by Chloe Smith
Whilst there are no current plans for a database of online political adverts, we are taking action to increase transparency of wider political advertising online, such as by introducing a digital imprints regime.
Online platforms should take responsibility for content posted on them, and we welcome the steps that several social media companies have taken to improve transparency of political advertisements on their platforms, including through the introduction of ad libraries.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 22 January 2020 to Question 4773 on Russia: Subversion, how long the process to establish the new Intelligence and Security Committee will take.
Answered by Oliver Dowden - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
Members are appointed by the Houses of Parliament (having been nominated by the Prime Minister in consultation with the Leader of the Opposition). The Chair of the Committee is elected by its Members.
Nominations require careful consideration and consultation. The committee is being formed in the normal way and at a normal pace.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the number of people who do not have access to any form of photo ID; and how many of those people are (a) aged between 18 and 25, (b) aged over 65 and (c) BAME voters.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The Electoral Commission’s independent statutory evaluation of the 2019 voter ID pilots, found that in elections where photo ID was required, 99.6% of electors coming to polling stations were able to show the right photographic ID and cast their vote.
Locally issued ID was made available by local authorities, free of charge, whenever an elector was unable to produce the required ID. This will also be the case when voter ID is rolled out nationally. In the 2019 photographic ID pilots, of the 34,800 people that voted, only 100 people needed to rely on a Local Elector ID issued by their local authority - 63 voters in Pendle and 27 voters in Woking.
Cabinet Office does not collect or hold data on the total number of people who do not have access to any form of photographic ID. However, based on the Cabinet Office evaluation of the pilots, there is no indication that any consistent demographic was adversely affected by the voter ID models.
Showing ID is something people of all backgrounds already do every day, for example to take out a library book, claim benefits or pick up a parcel from the post office. Proving who you are before you make a decision of huge importance at the ballot box should be no different. As was the case during the pilots, any voter who does not have an approved form of ID will be able to apply, free of charge, for a local electoral ID from their local authority.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people have been found guilty of voter impersonation in the last 10 years.
Answered by Chloe Smith
Data on any convictions for offences related to personation is not collected or held by the Cabinet Office. The Electoral Commission report on electoral fraud and hold more detailed information which can be found at this link: https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/who-we-are-and-what-we-do/our-views-and-research/our-research/electoral-fraud-data/2018-electoral-fraud-data
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many individuals are at risk of becoming disenfranchised as a result of voter ID requirements.
Answered by Chloe Smith
Voter ID is part of a body of work this Government is delivering to strengthen the integrity of our electoral system and give the public confidence that our elections are secure and fit for the 21st century.
Both the pilots and the Northern Irish experience demonstrate that the requirement to provide ID before voting does not have an adverse effect on turnout or participation.
Any voter who does not have an approved form of ID will be able to apply, free of charge, for a local electoral ID from their local authority to ensure that everyone eligible to vote has the opportunity to.