Asked by: Robert Buckland (Conservative - South Swindon)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of allowing broadcasters to use verified fact checkers during the media blackout period on election days.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Robert Buckland (Conservative - South Swindon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department plans to take to improve defence cooperation with Japan in the Indo-Pacific.
Answered by Leo Docherty
The Ministry of Defence will continue to strengthen our defence relationship with Japan via the commitments made under the Hiroshima Accord, the Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA) and the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP). The Carrier Strike Group's deployment to the Indo-Pacific in 2025 will further strengthen UK and Japan defence cooperation.
Asked by: Robert Buckland (Conservative - South Swindon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an estimate of the number and proportion of working-aged adults that have not received adult social care following an approach to their local authority in the last 12 months.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
A total of 611,590 adults aged between 18 and 64 years old made requests for social care support in 2022/23. Of these, 216,135, or 35.3%, did not receive support from their local authority. Local authorities are responsible for assessing individuals’ care and support needs and, where eligible, for meeting those needs. Where a person is assessed as having eligible care and support needs, the local authority should then carry out a financial assessment to determine what they can afford to contribute towards the cost of meeting their care need. Where individuals do not meet the eligibility threshold, they can get support from their local authorities in making their own arrangements for care services, as set out in the Care Act 2014.
Asked by: Robert Buckland (Conservative - South Swindon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an estimate of the number and proportion of working-aged adults that receive adult social care that are (a) self-funded and (b) funded by their (i) local authority and (ii) Integrated Care Board.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
Data from the adult social care short and long-term collection shows that, as of 31 March 2023, 258,940 people aged 18 to 64 years old were receiving long-term support commissioned via, although not necessarily funded by, their local authority. The Department does not hold data centrally on working age adults who are self-funded, or on integrated care board funded care for working age adults.
Asked by: Robert Buckland (Conservative - South Swindon)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether her Department is taking steps to provide incentives to potential investors in the critical mineral extraction industry.
Answered by Alan Mak
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Robert Buckland (Conservative - South Swindon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, on what date does his Department provide councils with their Social Care Grant allocations each year.
Answered by Felicity Buchan
The Social Care Grant is distributed as part of the Local Government Finance Statement. Towards the end of each calendar year, the Government publishes a consultation setting out its proposals for council tax referendum principles, business rates retention and allocation of numerous grants, including the Social Care Grant, for the following financial year. After the consultation closes and any alterations are made, the final Settlement and local authority allocations are published early in the following calendar year and are subject to a debate in the House of Commons. The department also sends local authorities a copy of their allocations along with the Grant Determination for the Social Care Grant at the start of the financial year.
Asked by: Robert Buckland (Conservative - South Swindon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, whether he is taking steps to help his Pakistani counterparts tackle economic pressures in Kashmir.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
The UK is closely monitoring the situation in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. We are working with the US, EU and other key partners, to encourage Pakistan to conduct the economic reforms necessary to ensure long-term, sustainable, growth ahead of any future IMF programme. This includes providing direct technical expertise through our £39 million Revenue Mobilisation Investment and Trade programme, £37.5 million Sustainable Energy and Economic Development programme, and £37.5 million Sub-National Governance programme in Pakistan. The Deputy Foreign Secretary met with Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Ishaq Dar, on 22 March to underline the importance of economic stability and offer the UK's full support on economic reform.
Asked by: Robert Buckland (Conservative - South Swindon)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps the Counter disinformation unit has taken to help X tackle QAon disinformation on its platform.
Answered by Saqib Bhatti
In October 2023 the Counter Disinformation Unit became the National Security and Online Information Team (the NSOIT). The name more accurately reflects the team’s revised remit and function, which is to tackle the greatest national security risks facing the UK from mis and disinformation, specifically looking at threats posed by foreign states, risks to elections and from the use of AI and deepfakes. This revised remit is kept under regular review.
NSOIT’s remit does not include working with individual platforms to tackle mis or disinformation from certain individuals or groups. In specific circumstances, the NSOIT may share online material with platforms where it is in line with ministerial steers, is on an issue within the team’s remit, and where the content appears to be in breach of the platform’s terms of service. Social media platforms decide whether or not content is a breach of their terms of service and, if so, what action to take.
Asked by: Robert Buckland (Conservative - South Swindon)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of malign actors imitating the interfaces of reputable sources on public trust in digital content.
Answered by Saqib Bhatti
It is a key priority of this government to preserve the integrity of our democratic processes and safeguard the public from interference by malign state and non-state actors, including through AI-enabled threats and manipulated media.
The Online Safety Act will tackle illegal disinformation and misinformation including state-sponsored disinformation via the Foreign Interference Offence, including deepfakes and other forms of manipulated media. This means that companies will have a legal duty to take preventative action to identify and minimise their users’ exposure to state-linked interference with UK society. Such content will need to be swiftly removed, requiring tangible action against state-backed attempts to undermine our democratic, political and legal processes.
In addition to our regulatory approach, the DSIT National Security Online Information Team (NSOIT) analyses attempts by foreign states to artificially manipulate the online information environment. The NSOIT works with social media platforms to support and encourage them to put in place policies that are fit for purpose, consistently enforced, and which respect freedom of expression.
Asked by: Robert Buckland (Conservative - South Swindon)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether she has had recent discussions with her Australian counterpart on the proposed Misinformation and Disinformation Bill in that country.
Answered by Saqib Bhatti
Ministers and officials from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology meet regularly with counterparts from other countries to share our experience and expertise and to develop common approaches to online safety. We work closely with the Government of Australia and recently signed a memorandum of understanding setting out our intention to promote regulatory coordination and jointly deliver online safety and security policy to support our citizens.
The UK government has already delivered world-leading legislation via the Online Safety Act, which captures misinformation and disinformation where it constitutes illegal content or content which is harmful to children, and which forces the largest platforms to remove misinformation and disinformation prohibited under their Terms of Service.