Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Ogmore)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many bilateral meetings the Prime Minister has held with foreign leaders in each year since 2015.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer of 15 November 2021, Official Report, PQ 66179.
Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Ogmore)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department plans to collate current incident reports and threat information to help create a nationwide measurement of cyber threats.
Answered by Michael Ellis
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) issues strategic warnings, regular advisories and guidance to individuals, organisations and government. This includes a weekly threat report which is drawn from open source reporting and the NCSC Annual Review which includes details of the cyber threat to the UK and the NCSC’s actions to respond to and deter these threats.
As it responds to nationally significant cyber incidents, the NCSC constantly tracks the evolution in cyber threats and uses the most appropriate mechanism to share updates with stakeholders across the UK. It may be through:
updates on its website, as it did recently in response to the situation in Ukraine;
via published advisories, including in concert with its international partners, such as the recent alert on Russian and criminal threats to critical national infrastructure;
through the Cyber Security Information Sharing Partnership (CiSP); or
tailored briefings to key sectors where required.
This is part of a broader approach to Cyber resilience, as set out in the National Cyber Strategy, launched in December 2021, by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (HCWS484). The Strategy sets out how we will ensure the UK continues to be a leading, responsible and democratic cyber power and able to protect and promote our interests in the rapidly evolving online world. This includes our approach to making the UK more resilient to cyber attacks and countering cyber threats. The strategy is available at the following link:
Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Ogmore)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when his Department intends to open the National Cyber Innovation Centre.
Answered by Michael Ellis
The National Cyber Innovation Centre is a commitment in the 2022 National Cyber Strategy which said: “We will transform the Cheltenham Innovation Centre, which includes the cyber accelerator ‘NCSC for Startups’, into a true international centre of innovation: the National Cyber Innovation Centre”. It is part of the "Golden Valley" development which is led by Cheltenham Borough Council, with support from the government and GCHQ/National Cyber Security Centre.
Funding for Golden Valley has been secured from the Gloucestershire Local Enterprise Partnership (£22 million) and Cheltenham Borough Council. They announced their preferred development partners, Henry Boot PLC and Factory, last summer. Based on the developers’ plans, the Centre is set to open in 2025/26, subject to planning permission.
Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Ogmore)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the potential benefits to the electoral system of automatic voter registration for elections in the UK.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
I refer you to the answers previously given to the Members for Oldham West and Royton and Linlithgow and East Falkirk, PQ1118 answered on 3rd July 2017. There are no plans to introduce automatic registration, as it contradicts the principles underpinning Individual Electoral Registration. Making an application to register to vote is the right of individuals and can be done easily online, in as little as three minutes, as well as using the traditional paper form, if people prefer. The 2017 UK parliamentary general election was fought on the largest ever register, according to initial estimates.
Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Ogmore)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what discussions his Department has had with other Government Departments on the potential use of automatic voter registration.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
I refer you to the answers previously given to the Members for Oldham West and Royton and Linlithgow and East Falkirk, PQ1118 answered on 3rd July 2017. There are no plans to introduce automatic registration, as it contradicts the principles underpinning Individual Electoral Registration. Making an application to register to vote is the right of individuals and can be done easily online, in as little as three minutes, as well as using the traditional paper form, if people prefer. The 2017 UK parliamentary general election was fought on the largest ever register, according to initial estimates.
Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Ogmore)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will bring forward proposals for automatic voter registration.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
I refer you to the answers previously given to the Members for Oldham West and Royton and Linlithgow and East Falkirk, PQ1118 answered on 3rd July 2017. There are no plans to introduce automatic registration, as it contradicts the principles underpinning Individual Electoral Registration. Making an application to register to vote is the right of individuals and can be done easily online, in as little as three minutes, as well as using the traditional paper form, if people prefer. The 2017 UK parliamentary general election was fought on the largest ever register, according to initial estimates.
Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Ogmore)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people aged between 18 and 25 in Ogmore constituency were (a) recorded in the latest census estimate and (b) recorded on the electoral register.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Ogmore)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many and what proportion of constituents in Ogmore constituency worked in the public sector in each year for which data is available.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Ogmore)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many instances of sudden cardiac death in young people occurred in each local authority area in each year since 2009-10.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Ogmore)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 18 July 2016 to Question 42682, whether he is taking steps to reduce the number of spoilt ballots in elections.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The Government has made improvements to ballot papers, forms and instructions used by voters at elections and referendums in order to make voting as accessible as possible. This involved public user-testing of the revised voting forms. The Government will consider reports from the Electoral Commission and other organisations on the polls held during 2016 and decide whether any further action is required.