Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what human rights assessment was made before the approval of an export licence for telecommunications interception equipment to Hong Kong.
Answered by Graham Stuart
All export licence applications, including for Hong Kong, are assessed on a case-by-case basis against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria taking into account all relevant factors at the time of the application, including how the goods will be used. There was one licence issued to Hong Kong for telecommunications equipment in the first quarter of 2019, for use in counter terrorism, counter narcotics, counter trafficking and search and rescue operations. We draw on a range of sources in making our assessments, including our overseas network. Risks around human rights violations or abuses are a key part of our assessment. We do not license equipment where we assess there is a clear risk that it might be used for internal repression.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what criteria are used to assess whether to grant export licences to foreign governments for surveillance technology.
Answered by Graham Stuart
All export licence applications, including for Hong Kong, are assessed on a case-by-case basis against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria taking into account all relevant factors at the time of the application, including how the goods will be used. There was one licence issued to Hong Kong for telecommunications equipment in the first quarter of 2019, for use in counter terrorism, counter narcotics, counter trafficking and search and rescue operations. We draw on a range of sources in making our assessments, including our overseas network. Risks around human rights violations or abuses are a key part of our assessment. We do not license equipment where we assess there is a clear risk that it might be used for internal repression.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment he has made of the use in Hong Kong of telecommunications interception equipment purchased from the UK; and will he make a statement.
Answered by Graham Stuart
All export licence applications, including for Hong Kong, are assessed on a case-by-case basis against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria taking into account all relevant factors at the time of the application, including how the goods will be used. There was one licence issued to Hong Kong for telecommunications equipment in the first quarter of 2019, for use in counter terrorism, counter narcotics, counter trafficking and search and rescue operations. We draw on a range of sources in making our assessments, including our overseas network. Risks around human rights violations or abuses are a key part of our assessment. We do not license equipment where we assess there is a clear risk that it might be used for internal repression.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Haltemprice and Howden)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department’s policies in relation to the definition of applicable crime in Part 3 of the Investigatory Powers Act 2016 of the finding of the Court of Justice of the European Union in Secretary of State for the Home Department v Watson & Others that surveillance data retained for the purposes of fighting crime should be restricted solely to serious crime.
Answered by Ben Wallace
The retention of, and ability to access, communications data is an essential tool for intelligence and law enforcement agencies. The Government is committed to ensuring that our investigatory powers legislation is compliant with EU law.
The Government gave careful consideration to judgments by the European Court of Justice and the domestic Courts, implementing changes to UK law to ensure our communications data regime was compliant, while still ensuring our intelligence and law enforcement agencies have the powers they need to solve crimes, catch child sexual offenders and protect the public.
After consulting widely on our proposed changes and following scrutiny by both Houses of Parliament, the Government passed the Data Retention and Acquisition Regulations in October 2018 which introduced a serious crime threshold for acquiring events communications data.
In deciding on the definition of serious crime in the context of communications data, the Government fully considered the intrusiveness of the power.
This approach is consistent with EU case law, which states that the offence must be serious to justify a serious level of intrusion involved in accessing communications data. The Government’s approach reflects this level of intrusion. Events data is more intrusive than entity data and therefore a higher threshold must apply, but it is not as intrusive as interception powers, which can only be acquired if the definition of seriousness set out at section 263 of the Investigatory Powers Act is met.
The approach taken by the Regulations seeks to reflect the fact the level of intrusion will vary depending on the data sought and the circumstances of the case while also establishing a clear bar below which the acquisition of the more intrusive communications data is prohibited.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what (a) electronic surveillance and (b) other supervision is available for people convicted of sexual offences against children on release.
Answered by Robert Buckland
An adult offender who is sentenced to a custodial term for sexual offences against children will be subject to licensed supervision on release from custody. It falls to the National Probation Service (NPS) to supervise the offender upon release. The NPS will work with the Police and other agencies to manage the offender’s risk upon release, under the statutory Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA).
Where an offender is serving a life, indeterminate or extended determinate sentence for sexual offences against children and becomes eligible for release on parole, it falls to the Parole Board to set the licence conditions for the offender upon release. Since 30 November 2018 it has been open to the Parole Board to include a condition in relation to GPS monitoring in the offender’s licence, where it is necessary and proportionate to manage the risks and issues posed by the offender.
There are other licence conditions available to manage the risks presented by offenders convicted of sexual offences against children. These may include a ban from having contact with children, from entering certain areas, or carrying out certain types of work and a ban from contacting their victim(s). Furthermore, rehabilitative measures are available, including accredited programmes, drug treatment or mental health support. An offender manager has the power to recall an offender to prison, where the offender fails to comply with their licence conditions in a way which indicates heightened risk to the public. A full list of the available measures available on licence are listed in Annex A and B of Probation Instruction 09/2015 “Licence Conditions and Temporary Travel Aboard”. This is available online here:
https://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/offenders/probation-instructions/pi-09-2015-licence-conditions-and-temporary-travel-abroad.doc
In addition to the oversight of MAPPA, and to supplement licence conditions, an adult offender sentenced to imprisonment for sexual offences against children is subject to the sexual offenders’ notification requirements (commonly referred to as ‘being on the sex offenders register’). Thereby, the offender must notify the Police of various personal details, including: name(s), address, date of birth, passport and national insurance number. This takes place annually and whenever such details change. The offender may also expect to receive unscheduled visits from Police officers. The Police also have a range of legislative measures available to them in order to manage offenders both during and outside the licence period.
Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for what reason trainer aircraft were included in the Combat Air Strategy.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Combat Air Strategy does not include trainer aircraft.
Combat Air is defined in the Strategy as "an aircraft, manned or unmanned, whose prime function is to conduct air-to-air and/or air-to-surface combat operations in a hostile and/or contested environment, whilst having the ability to concurrently conduct surveillance, reconnaissance, electronic warfare and command and control tasks." Training aircraft therefore do not meet this definition.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Government has plans to introduce legislative proposals to enable the use of artificial intelligence and recognition technology to monitor people in the UK.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Government has no plans to introduce legislation in this area. Like other organisations the police are already subject to data protection and human rights legislation, and their use of image technology is also governed by the Surveillance Camera Code of Practice.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Big Brother Watch and Others v United Kingdom (no. 58170/13), what assessment he has made of the compatibility of the selection and search processes involved in bulk surveillance arising from the Investigatory Powers Act 2016 with Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Ben Wallace
The government continues to give careful consideration to the Court’s findings.
The Investigatory Powers Act 2016 replaced large parts of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) which was the subject of this challenge. This includes the introduction of a ‘double lock’ which requires warrants for the use of these powers to be authorised by a Secretary of State and approved by a senior judge. An Investigatory Powers Commissioner has also been created to ensure robust independent oversight of how these powers are used.
In addition the Government has already laid regulations which will introduce independent authorisation and a serious crime threshold to the communications data regime in accordance with the requirements of European Law.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to paragraphs 493 and 499 of Big Brother Watch & Others v United Kingdom, if he will bring forward legislative proposals under the Investigatory Powers Act to further protect (a) journalistic data from surveillance and (b) freedom of expression.
Answered by Ben Wallace
The government continues to give careful consideration to the Court’s findings.
The Investigatory Powers Act 2016 replaced large parts of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) which was the subject of this challenge. This includes the introduction of a ‘double lock’ which requires warrants for the use of these powers to be authorised by a Secretary of State and approved by a senior judge. An Investigatory Powers Commissioner has also been created to ensure robust independent oversight of how these powers are used.
In addition the Government has already laid regulations which will introduce independent authorisation and a serious crime threshold to the communications data regime in accordance with the requirements of European Law.
Asked by: Paul Girvan (Democratic Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the merits of prohibiting domestic abusers from using spyware and domestic surveillance to monitor their victim's movements.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
This Government is committed to transforming the response to domestic abuse, including technology-enabled abuse. .
On 8 March the Government launched the Government’s consultation, seeking views on a range of legislative and non-legislative options to ensure victims are afforded the greatest possible protection. This consultation includes questions on online abuse and technology-enabled abuse, in order to build our understanding of this issue and respond effectively.
We have also supported victims who have experienced technology-enabled domestic abuse by providing £250,000 through the Tampon Tax Fund to Refuge to develop and deliver a three-year Technological Empowerment Programme for women to tackle gender-based violence.