Asked by: Lord Mann (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the current annual budget required to cover the cost of obtaining information, including IP addresses, from communication service providers in relation to criminal investigations.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Information relating to the cost of obtaining information from communication service providers in relation to criminal investigations is not held centrally by the Home Office.
Section 249 of the Investigatory Powers Act 2016 recognises that Telecommunications Operators and Postal Operators incur expenses in complying with requirements in the Act. The Act, therefore, allows for appropriate, minimal reimbursement to be made to them to cover these costs insofar as they do not suffer commercial disadvantage for complying with their notice. All other costs are expected to be met by the Telecommunications Operator. Section 22 of the Communications Data Code of Practice sets out further relevant detail in relation to Communications Data funding.
Asked by: Lord Mann (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many requests for information from the UK police and law enforcement agencies for information from communications service providers are currently outstanding for longer than (1) one month, (2) three months, and (3) one year.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Home Office do not hold this information centrally. Each Public Authority authorised to acquire data under the Investigatory Powers Act 2016 will likely maintain their own records.
Asked by: Lord Mann (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government which communications service providers charge for information requests, such as IP addresses, from the UK police and law enforcement agencies for use in criminal investigations, and whether these include (1) Facebook, (2) Twitter, (3) Google, (4) TikTok, and (5) Parler.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
It would be operationally and commercially sensitive to discuss the details of any specific company and their support in investigations. The IPA, in Section 249, provides a statutory cost recovery mechanism stating that the Telecommunications Operator should “receive an appropriate contribution in respect of such of their relevant costs” (s249(1)) and that any payment may be “subject to terms and conditions determined by the Secretary of State” (s249(3)).
Asked by: Lord Mann (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of which communications service providers do not (1) recognise, and (2) accept, the extraterritorial application of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000; and whether these include (1) Facebook, (2) Twitter, (3) Google, (4) TikTok, and (5) Parler.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Much of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 has been replaced by the Investigatory Powers Act 2016. The IPA regime enables the extraterritorial application of our laws so that requests can be made both domestically and overseas. Whilst HMG cannot comment on the opinion of private companies, the IPA is enforceable through civil proceedings.
Asked by: Lord Mann (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many of the 92 football league teams have been the subject of money laundering investigations in the last five years; and how many of those investigations are ongoing.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
Money laundering investigations are a matter for law enforcement agencies, who are operationally independent.
Asked by: Lord Mann (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to tackle the use of (a) spice, (b) mamba and (c) other illegal drugs.
Answered by Nick Hurd
We recognise how dangerous synthetic cannabinoids such as those supplied under the brand names ‘spice’ and ‘mamba’, can be and the devastating impact that they can have on communities, families and the individuals taking them. That is why we acted to control these substances as class B drugs under the Misuse of Drugs Act and give the police the powers they need to take action, including making possession illegal and delivering longer sentences for dealers.
More widely, the 2017 Drug Strategy builds on the approach set out in 2010, recognising that while progress has been made, we need to go fur-ther to respond to the evolving threats and challenges that continue to emerge from drug misuse.
We are taking firm action to prevent the harms caused by drugs. Our Drug Strategy sets out a balanced approach which brings together police, health, community and global partners to tackle the illicit drug trade, protect the most vulnerable and help those with a drug dependency to recover and turn their lives around.
Asked by: Lord Mann (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the timetable is for his Department to respond to it's consultation on the draft Domestic Violence and Abuse Bill; and what the timetable is for further steps to be taken in relation to that Bill.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
On 8 March we launched a 12 week public consultation on proposals for a landmark domestic abuse Bill and a supporting package of practical action to transform the response to domestic abuse. The consultation closed on 31 May. Over 3,200 responses to the consultation were received. The responses to the consultation are being considered and a draft Bill will be published later this session.
Asked by: Lord Mann (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the timetable is for his Department to respond to it's consultation on the draft Domestic Violence and Abuse Bill; and what the timetable is for further steps to be taken in relation to that Bill.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
On 8 March we launched a 12 week public consultation on proposals for a landmark domestic abuse Bill and a supporting package of practical action to transform the response to domestic abuse. The consultation closed on 31 May. Over 3,200 responses to the consultation were received. The responses to the consultation are being considered and a draft Bill will be published later this session.
Asked by: Lord Mann (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the oral contribution of Lord Ahmed of Wimbledon, of 17 January 2018, House of Lords Official Report, column 701, when the review of the exchange of notes between the UK government and the British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies expected to be published by the end of March will be published; and what the reasons are for the time taken to publish that report.
Answered by Ben Wallace
The review of the implementation of the arrangements with the relevant Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies is complete and will be published in due course.
Asked by: Lord Mann (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to introduce fines for social media companies which fail to remove extremist content from their platforms.
Answered by Sarah Newton
This Government has been clear there should be no safe space online for terrorists and their supporters to radicalise, recruit, incite, or inspire. In March 2017, the Home Secretary held a very positive meeting with industry to discuss online terrorist content. Subsequent to the roundtable, Google, Facebook, Twitter and Microsoft made a public commitment to look at options for establishing an industry-led forum focused on tackling terrorist and extremist content online.
This was formally announced by the companies on 26 June 2016. We continue to work closely with industry to come up with new, innovative ways for tackling terrorist use of the internet but, as the Prime Minister has made clear, we will also explore the possibility of creating legal requirements for communications service providers if they fail to take the necessary action to remove unacceptable content