Asked by: Peter Grant (Scottish National Party - Glenrothes)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
What recent discussions he has had with (a) devolved Administrations and (b) Cabinet colleagues on the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The Government has been clear we intend to continue to work in partnership with the devolved administrations and local communities. We have demonstrated this commitment by confirming that devolved administrations will have a place within the governance structures for the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF).
Ministers regularly speak to Cabinet colleagues on the UKSPF and my officials routinely engage with their devolved administration counterparts on their priorities. To date, we have conducted 25 engagement events across the UK, many of which were attended by the devolved administrations. We will continue this engagement as we develop the UKSPF investment framework and in advance of its publication.
Asked by: Peter Grant (Scottish National Party - Glenrothes)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
What recent discussions he has had with his counterparts in the devolved Administrations on the UK shared prosperity fund.
Answered by Jake Berry
Government regularly engages the devolved administrations, and I spoke to counterparts in the devolved administrations regarding the UK Shared Prosperity Fund during the last Joint Ministerial Committee on Europe. My officials have also held 25 engagement events across the UK, attended by over five hundred representatives from a breadth of sectors.
Asked by: Peter Grant (Scottish National Party - Glenrothes)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, on how many occasions his Department applied the exemption in section 38(1)(b) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (disclosure likely to endanger the safety of any individual) in wholly or partly refusing a freedom of information request in each of the last five years.
Answered by Mark Francois
No guidance has been issued to staff on the application of Freedom of Information Act Awareness Guidance No.19, issued by the Information Commissioner's Office, about the application of section 38 of the Act. However, the Ministry of Justice has published its own guidance on the use of this exemption. This is available here: http://www.justice.gov.uk/information-access-rights/foi-guidance-for-practitioners/exemptions-guidance.
Statistics on the use of Freedom of Information exemptions are published by the Ministry of Justice (Table 10 of annual reports). They are available here https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics.
These statistics provide the number of times section 38 as a whole has been used by each government department. More detailed figures for the constituent parts of section 38 are not readily available because our systems are not designed to provide a more detailed breakdown than is required for the published statistics.
Asked by: Peter Grant (Scottish National Party - Glenrothes)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, on how many occasions his Department applied the exemption in section 38(1)(a) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (disclosure likely to endanger the physical or mental health of any individual) in wholly or partly refusing a freedom of information request in each of the last five years.
Answered by Mark Francois
No guidance has been issued to staff on the application of Freedom of Information Act Awareness Guidance No.19, issued by the Information Commissioner's Office, about the application of section 38 of the Act. However, the Ministry of Justice has published its own guidance on the use of this exemption. This is available here: http://www.justice.gov.uk/information-access-rights/foi-guidance-for-practitioners/exemptions-guidance.
Statistics on the use of Freedom of Information exemptions are published by the Ministry of Justice (Table 10 of annual reports). They are available here https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics.
These statistics provide the number of times section 38 as a whole has been used by each government department. More detailed figures for the constituent parts of section 38 are not readily available because our systems are not designed to provide a more detailed breakdown than is required for the published statistics.
Asked by: Peter Grant (Scottish National Party - Glenrothes)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what instructions have been given to staff in his Department dealing with freedom of information requests on the application of Freedom of Information Act Awareness Guidance No. 19, issued by the Information Commissioner's Office, in considering whether to apply the exemptions in section 38 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Answered by Mark Francois
No guidance has been issued to staff on the application of Freedom of Information Act Awareness Guidance No.19, issued by the Information Commissioner's Office, about the application of section 38 of the Act. However, the Ministry of Justice has published its own guidance on the use of this exemption. This is available here: http://www.justice.gov.uk/information-access-rights/foi-guidance-for-practitioners/exemptions-guidance.
Statistics on the use of Freedom of Information exemptions are published by the Ministry of Justice (Table 10 of annual reports). They are available here https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics.
These statistics provide the number of times section 38 as a whole has been used by each government department. More detailed figures for the constituent parts of section 38 are not readily available because our systems are not designed to provide a more detailed breakdown than is required for the published statistics.