Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how the Resilience Review has incorporated input from the voluntary and community sector; and what steps he plans to take to facilitate ongoing collaboration in resilience planning and response.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office recognises the valuable role that the voluntary and community sector can play in all aspects of resilience. The Cabinet Office has ensured that contributions from a range of Voluntary, Community, and Faith sector representatives have been able to inform the resilience review, specifically to inform the understanding of disproportionate impacts to at-risk groups in emergencies. The Cabinet Office has ongoing engagement with the sector. The Head of Resilience in the Cabinet Office chairs the Voluntary and Community Sector Strategic Discussion Forum every six months. The Forum brings together senior leaders from national voluntary sector organisations and central government. We will continue to explore opportunities to further strengthen voluntary, community and faith sector engagement to build national resilience as part of the resilience review.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on long-term funding and resource allocations for cross-government resilience work; and how these agreements will support the delivery of the Government's Resilience Review recommendations.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Spending Review will set resource or day-to-day departmental budgets until 2028-29 and capital departmental budgets until 2029-30. I and my Cabinet Office officials engage regularly with HM Treasury to support the Spending Review, the outcomes of which will inform the delivery of the Resilience Review. The resilience review is considering established practices and policies to support UK resilience against the full spectrum of risks we face. It is evidence based and is identifying what should be kept, changed or improved to ensure we are best prepared now and into the future.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he has taken to ensure that the findings of the Government's Resilience Review (a) reflect the specific needs of and (b) engage with (i) people on low incomes, (ii) people who face discrimination and (iii) other disproportionately impacted communities.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Disproportionate impacts and vulnerability is a key focus of the Cabinet Office-led review of our approach to resilience. We are engaging with charitable, faith and other representative organisations to understand how the reduction and prevention of disproportionate impacts to at-risk groups and persons can be better considered in resilience planning and policy.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 21 October 2019 to Question 359 on Electronic Government: Proof of Identity, for what reason the Answer did not publish the 46 Government services which were originally intended to be accessible through GOV.UK Verify by March 2018.
Answered by Simon Hart
As per PQ 359 not all the services originally considering using GOV.UK Verify completed their digital transformation, or had well-evidenced need for digital identity. It is therefore not appropriate to publish these services, a number of which are no longer in existence. The current government services available through GOV.UK Verify are available on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department has taken to improve electoral accessibility for voters with blindness following the decision of the High Court on 3 May 2019.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Government continues to work with the Accessibility of Elections Working Group to make an informed assessment of the most suitable options to take forward. Officials are due to hold a meeting on this topic with the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) very soon
Work has been undertaken to revise guidance to electoral administrators and, with input from RNIB, to research technical solutions which will be further discussed at a dedicated sub-group.
We are also starting to bring forward measures following the Government’s response to the 2018 Call for Evidence on Access to Elections. Proposals were announced during the Queen’s Speech. This will include increasing the range of support available to voters with disabilities in polling stations and allowing a wider range of people (such as carers) to assist disabled voters in polling stations if needed.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many meetings he has had with the RNIB since the 3 May 2019 decision of the High Court on electoral accessibility.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Government continues to work with the Accessibility of Elections Working Group to make an informed assessment of the most suitable options to take forward. Officials are due to hold a meeting on this topic with the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) very soon
Work has been undertaken to revise guidance to electoral administrators and, with input from RNIB, to research technical solutions which will be further discussed at a dedicated sub-group.
We are also starting to bring forward measures following the Government’s response to the 2018 Call for Evidence on Access to Elections. Proposals were announced during the Queen’s Speech. This will include increasing the range of support available to voters with disabilities in polling stations and allowing a wider range of people (such as carers) to assist disabled voters in polling stations if needed.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Answer of 5 September 2019 to Question 284390 on Public Sector: Computer Software, whether (a) his Department and (b) the GDS is monitoring the number and proportion of public sector computers transitioning from Windows 7 prior to the end of the support date.
Answered by Simon Hart
Individual technology choices and volumes purchased rest with individual departments
The Cabinet Office will soon start work on an audit to allow for a more comprehensive and consistent approach to reviewing legacy IT in government and will support departments to understand their legacy systems and any risks associated with those systems.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether (a) local authorities or (b) Government will bear the cost of producing a local electoral identity document.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Government will bring forward measures to introduce voter ID when parliamentary time allows.
As was the case in the 2018 and 2019 voter ID pilots, electors who do not have any of the required types of ID will be able to apply for a locally issued electoral identity document, free of charge.
Funding for the additional cost of producing locally issued electoral identity documents will be provided by the Government.
We will continue working with the pilot authorities who have tested voter ID, the Electoral Commission, and the Cabinet Office pilot and reference group to develop a secure and accessible process for national implementation.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Answer of 8 October to Question 293725 on Government Chief Data Officer, until what date the objective of appointing a Chief Data Officer by 2020 applies.
Answered by Simon Hart
No specific date has been set for the appointment, however the government remains committed to appointing within the timeframe set out in the Government Transformation Strategy.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many known cases of incorrect identity verification on Gov.UK Verify there have been since 2014.
Answered by Simon Hart
We are not aware of any cases where an individual has been verified as being someone they are not, or as an identity that is fake or synthetic through GOV.UK Verify.