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round-up of the Cabinet officer's questions, Ben Gummer. Second | :00:00. | :00:08. | |
reading. Wednesday the 29th of March at 4pm. Thank you, orator. Questions | :00:09. | :00:19. | |
to the Minister for the Cabinet office and the Chancellor of the | :00:20. | :00:31. | |
Duchy of Lancaster. Cyber attacks are growing with more frequent, | :00:32. | :00:35. | |
sophisticated and damaging. The Government will ensure that it | :00:36. | :00:38. | |
protects all its services and products from cybercrime and will | :00:39. | :00:42. | |
ensure that all systems are designed with cyber security and appropriate | :00:43. | :00:47. | |
purposes described in place. I am grateful to the Minister for that | :00:48. | :00:51. | |
answer, but I wonder if he can be assured of it further that the | :00:52. | :00:55. | |
strategy puts more and more of our data online, or a tax is on her | :00:56. | :01:01. | |
health and so on, but none of that data will be at risk of ending up in | :01:02. | :01:08. | |
the wrong hands? I am very grateful to the right honourable gentleman | :01:09. | :01:12. | |
for making the point. It is central to what we are doing to ensure that | :01:13. | :01:16. | |
we are protecting not only the information that Government requires | :01:17. | :01:22. | |
to keep confidential, but as importantly, citizens as well. That | :01:23. | :01:27. | |
is partly why the website has been designed so it protects citizens' | :01:28. | :01:31. | |
data in the enquiry is that the make of Government. Thank you, Mr | :01:32. | :01:37. | |
Speaker. Last night, I had a very pleasant evening with Doctor Helen | :01:38. | :01:45. | |
Stokes Lampard who is chairman of the Royal commerce of general | :01:46. | :01:49. | |
practitioners and is my own personal GP from Lichfield. She was telling | :01:50. | :01:54. | |
me that NHS data on patients will now go to be clouds at the system | :01:55. | :01:59. | |
will work, of course, because there will be individual programmes that | :02:00. | :02:04. | |
will access it, but how secure will be quoted be? Look like my | :02:05. | :02:10. | |
honourable friend has doctors in high places. They would say to him | :02:11. | :02:18. | |
is that for a specific enquiries about NHS digital services, his | :02:19. | :02:21. | |
question should be directed to be secretary of state. I will ensure | :02:22. | :02:25. | |
that you receive a proper reply from him. Our purpose is to make sure | :02:26. | :02:30. | |
that we have the most secure Government information systems | :02:31. | :02:33. | |
anywhere in the world and that is what lies behind the Government | :02:34. | :02:36. | |
transformation strategy and the cyber strategy as well. The | :02:37. | :02:43. | |
Government's strategy on big data is the wrong way around. It | :02:44. | :02:47. | |
concentrates on big organisations with a central repository of data | :02:48. | :02:53. | |
over people, when it should be an empowering state where individuals | :02:54. | :02:56. | |
have control over their own data, not helped by big organisations. | :02:57. | :03:01. | |
Concerning the Government, it is the latter that we are seeking to | :03:02. | :03:04. | |
achieve. That is why it has been built as it has. It is important | :03:05. | :03:10. | |
that citizens have complete faith in needed to help that the Government | :03:11. | :03:13. | |
and if you're able to interrogate it in a way that is helpful to them. | :03:14. | :03:24. | |
Could my honourable friend update the house on what action he is | :03:25. | :03:28. | |
seeking to make sure businesses are aware of their responsibilities, | :03:29. | :03:32. | |
particularly those that to trade with Government on cyber security so | :03:33. | :03:36. | |
that businesses and Government are safe. I am grateful to my honourable | :03:37. | :03:40. | |
friend for a reading important matter. I'd direct business is to | :03:41. | :03:44. | |
look at the cyber essentials Pack which is on the national cyber | :03:45. | :03:47. | |
Security Centre 's website. That gives the essentials of what | :03:48. | :03:52. | |
business is candid protect themselves. It is the purpose of | :03:53. | :03:55. | |
this to make sure that businesses who work with Government are dear to | :03:56. | :03:59. | |
the same standards of cyber security that the Government expects of | :04:00. | :04:07. | |
itself. I shall, with your permission, Mr Speaker, answer this | :04:08. | :04:11. | |
question and the next few questions together. I published a policy Simon | :04:12. | :04:16. | |
on the 3rd of March seeking feedback from interested parties by the 26th | :04:17. | :04:21. | |
of May. I want to reflect the experiences of domestic abuse | :04:22. | :04:24. | |
survivors of it are more easily exercise the right of old. This will | :04:25. | :04:29. | |
help ensure we have a democracy that works for everyone. -- right to | :04:30. | :04:38. | |
vote. We want to make it better for men and women who have suffered | :04:39. | :04:43. | |
domestic abuse. Those men and women registering anonymously will not be | :04:44. | :04:49. | |
on the electoral register? Names and addresses do not appear on the | :04:50. | :04:51. | |
electoral register as a result of the application to register | :04:52. | :04:56. | |
anonymously. The Government is opposing to make it easier for an | :04:57. | :04:59. | |
applicant to demonstrate the safety by expanding the type of documentary | :05:00. | :05:04. | |
evidence that is required. As part of the consultation process, we are | :05:05. | :05:07. | |
looking at every point of contact that survivors of domestic abuse, | :05:08. | :05:10. | |
cross to make sure that the exercise their right to vote. I warmly | :05:11. | :05:16. | |
welcome the efforts to make it easier for victims of domestic abuse | :05:17. | :05:21. | |
to register to vote, I have the all-important right to be hard. This | :05:22. | :05:26. | |
has been raised in my surgeries of victims who have survived domestic | :05:27. | :05:30. | |
abuse. One part of the plan is to reduce the number of testers by | :05:31. | :05:35. | |
lowering the scenery team of police and social services and possibly | :05:36. | :05:38. | |
expanding the number, will be Cheney are guidelines provided to help the | :05:39. | :05:43. | |
money are called on to adjudicate in a specific case? I would like to | :05:44. | :05:49. | |
thank the honourable friend for her question. The Cabinet will be | :05:50. | :05:54. | |
working with any relevant bodies to provide the relevant guidance | :05:55. | :05:57. | |
required. I commend the work the Government has done with women's's | :05:58. | :06:06. | |
aid and other organisations. Others continue to ensure all types of | :06:07. | :06:13. | |
abuse are heard at the ballot box? I've worked closely with these | :06:14. | :06:17. | |
organisations over the past few months to explore what can be done | :06:18. | :06:20. | |
to improve the anonymous registration process. To look | :06:21. | :06:25. | |
forward to continuing this work with them and other domestic abuse | :06:26. | :06:29. | |
charities going forward. In a 26 years before I was a Member of | :06:30. | :06:33. | |
Parliament, I worked in the field of domestic abuse and I wanted as the | :06:34. | :06:35. | |
Minister if you would make sure that he considers the scent of which | :06:36. | :06:39. | |
domestic abuse perpetrators will go in their efforts to track down their | :06:40. | :06:43. | |
victims, often for many months and years after the religion offended? | :06:44. | :06:47. | |
Thank you for your contribution and her contribution any field of | :06:48. | :06:51. | |
domestic violence work. Absolutely right, that will mimic at this | :06:52. | :06:58. | |
particular issue of domestic abuse survivors, not just for five years, | :06:59. | :07:01. | |
but for the rest of their life, we must ensure that when they have the | :07:02. | :07:04. | |
right to vote, they are protected. We will carry that work forward as | :07:05. | :07:09. | |
part of the consultation process and I would welcome any contribution, | :07:10. | :07:12. | |
given her expertise, that she would like to make. It is great that the | :07:13. | :07:18. | |
Government is showing bureaucratic flexibility to help domestic abuse | :07:19. | :07:20. | |
victims doubled, but this flexibility should be brought into | :07:21. | :07:26. | |
order. Will the Government build register to vote links into all its | :07:27. | :07:36. | |
online service applications pages? With a of years, we have introduced | :07:37. | :07:40. | |
the ability to ability to register to vote online, that has been highly | :07:41. | :07:44. | |
successful would 24 million people taking that opportunity. As part of | :07:45. | :07:48. | |
our engagement strategy published in the summer, I'm keen to look at the | :07:49. | :07:53. | |
issue of Digital democracy, where it can work, and what to do with other | :07:54. | :07:56. | |
departments to ensure that we have these points of contact and remove | :07:57. | :08:00. | |
the get the user, we based the registration I read the user | :08:01. | :08:04. | |
themselves. I will be going forward doing exactly that. Will the | :08:05. | :08:07. | |
Minister ensure that where victims of the domestic abuse who are | :08:08. | :08:15. | |
severely traumatised and have had difficulty applying for proxy or | :08:16. | :08:21. | |
postal votes, the utmost secrecy is applied in future? The honourable | :08:22. | :08:26. | |
gentleman is absolutely right. We need to ensure that we learn from | :08:27. | :08:29. | |
the experiences of domestic abuse survivors and that that particular | :08:30. | :08:32. | |
journey and ensure that women have the registration process, it works | :08:33. | :08:37. | |
for these women and when we look at the point of contact, we provide the | :08:38. | :08:44. | |
support they need going forwards. Obviously welcome that the | :08:45. | :08:47. | |
Government seeks to protect the voting rights of domestic violence | :08:48. | :08:50. | |
survivors by making anonymity easier. As with the announcement of | :08:51. | :08:55. | |
a one off cash injection for specialist refugees, though much | :08:56. | :08:59. | |
more than that is needed. You cannot usually vote if you have no fixed | :09:00. | :09:04. | |
abode and the truth is, Women's Aid are estimating that one in six of | :09:05. | :09:10. | |
all specialist refugees closed since 2010. And children and 150 women | :09:11. | :09:18. | |
today are unable to find a specialist refugee. With the ensure | :09:19. | :09:22. | |
that the inter-ministerial group no addresses between the central | :09:23. | :09:25. | |
questions of providing sustainable funding for refugees and ensuring | :09:26. | :09:33. | |
it, but is comprehensive plan for every refugee in the country? We | :09:34. | :09:38. | |
have increased funding when it comes to looking at women's refuges. But | :09:39. | :09:45. | |
by Minister has said that she will make women's issues one priority. | :09:46. | :09:47. | |
When it comes to the issue of registration, let me be clear, this | :09:48. | :09:51. | |
issue came to me through Women's Aid, through a Lady who herself was | :09:52. | :09:55. | |
a survivor of domestic abuse. She fought bravely and put her name out | :09:56. | :10:00. | |
there any public domain to campaign for other women. There are | :10:01. | :10:03. | |
potentially 12,000 other women who cannot by virtue of the | :10:04. | :10:06. | |
circumstances take that step to vote and we are determined to make sure | :10:07. | :10:09. | |
we give them their boat and voice to heard. With your permission, Mr | :10:10. | :10:16. | |
Speaker, I would like to answer this question and question of four | :10:17. | :10:21. | |
together. This matter, Weller falls within the response ability of HM | :10:22. | :10:25. | |
RIC, I am pleased to confirm that the Cabinet office and HMR is the | :10:26. | :10:31. | |
officials are working together to deal with the issue of national | :10:32. | :10:35. | |
insurance others, including notification letters. Any steps to | :10:36. | :10:39. | |
improve voter registration have to be welcomed. With the Minister not | :10:40. | :10:44. | |
agree that a cost-effective method of improving border registration | :10:45. | :10:50. | |
would be better with automatic vote registration? The Government has | :10:51. | :10:53. | |
been very clear in its determination to ensure that we have individual | :10:54. | :10:57. | |
electoral registration. Voting is not just the right, it is a | :10:58. | :11:01. | |
responsibility. I am delighted that when it comes looking at | :11:02. | :11:06. | |
16-year-olds registering to vote, it has increased by 17.7%. | :11:07. | :11:19. | |
The national insurance registration process is one way of doing that, | :11:20. | :11:31. | |
but there are other methods. Online voting, as one of them. When I | :11:32. | :11:36. | |
pressed the Cabinet Office on this, I was told there would be a plan by | :11:37. | :11:43. | |
the spring. It is no spring. We've is the plan? Spring is indeed | :11:44. | :11:49. | |
sprung. We will be publishing the plan shortly. We are committed to | :11:50. | :11:53. | |
ensuring we have a democracy that works for everybody. We welcome the | :11:54. | :12:06. | |
government commitment look at voting registration through national | :12:07. | :12:12. | |
insurance numbers. Will the government commit to supporting an | :12:13. | :12:21. | |
amendment from the other place on the higher education will to | :12:22. | :12:26. | |
register all students on campus? Yesterday, I met with the Baroness | :12:27. | :12:31. | |
to discuss this. I have been working with universities for several | :12:32. | :12:38. | |
months. We are looking at other universities beginning to introduce | :12:39. | :12:44. | |
it. It is rate we make it easier for electoral registration to work with | :12:45. | :12:48. | |
universities which is why we are looking closely at this process. | :12:49. | :12:57. | |
Number seven. The government is conducting an efficiency review. The | :12:58. | :13:02. | |
Chief Secretary and I are leading the review. The Cabinet Office | :13:03. | :13:09. | |
function will support and offer expertise to cut waste and | :13:10. | :13:14. | |
inefficiency. What progress has been made with the civil departmental | :13:15. | :13:21. | |
delivery plan across every part of government and how these cost | :13:22. | :13:30. | |
savings and government initiatives can help deliver what we promised in | :13:31. | :13:34. | |
the manifesto? This is only the first time in the history of | :13:35. | :13:41. | |
government plans we have done this. It is exciting. We are a leading the | :13:42. | :13:46. | |
plans for an efficiency review. We are going to play in government with | :13:47. | :13:54. | |
money at the same time, as well. The overspend in Swansea has been ?1.2 | :13:55. | :14:00. | |
billion. There are so many and infrastructure projects | :14:01. | :14:07. | |
overspending. What is a government going to do to ensure that these | :14:08. | :14:13. | |
major projects are not going over budget? The rich rigorously look at | :14:14. | :14:22. | |
the spend on these, which is why many of the over budget projects | :14:23. | :14:30. | |
have been reduced. I hope the bigger projects coming all will be better | :14:31. | :14:34. | |
frame than they have been in previous years. The United Kingdom | :14:35. | :14:45. | |
is recognised as a world leader in transparency. We have published an | :14:46. | :14:53. | |
unprecedented amount of data, including about the workings of | :14:54. | :14:57. | |
government. We intend to do a lot more. Would motivate honourable | :14:58. | :15:05. | |
friend outline how the government is supporting best practice to be the | :15:06. | :15:10. | |
best and most transparent government in the world. We must learn from | :15:11. | :15:16. | |
each other. That is why we are part of the open government community. We | :15:17. | :15:23. | |
will continue to learn from each other, including from others within | :15:24. | :15:32. | |
the G20. Should transparency beginner or warm and if so, breeders | :15:33. | :15:43. | |
and their response to my letter in his department from the 19th of | :15:44. | :15:47. | |
December, because I am yet to receive a response? I apologise if | :15:48. | :15:54. | |
we have not responded. It is important to me that we respond | :15:55. | :15:59. | |
quickly and courteously to all members. I will make sure she gets a | :16:00. | :16:06. | |
response. I look forward to the final stages of my own Private | :16:07. | :16:12. | |
members Bill which is pushing for public access to local audit | :16:13. | :16:19. | |
information. But will reappear transparency at all levels of | :16:20. | :16:22. | |
government and do the agree it is a crucial step to increasing trust? It | :16:23. | :16:31. | |
was Margaret Thatcher who made it possible for local councils to | :16:32. | :16:35. | |
conduct their dealings in public, something which we know take for | :16:36. | :16:40. | |
granted. We need to improve if we're going to improve the trust between | :16:41. | :16:47. | |
the people and the public bodies. I asked the Secretary of State for | :16:48. | :16:51. | |
Scotland for how many meetings they have had with the Chancellor of the | :16:52. | :16:57. | |
Exchequer. His answer was that he has lots of meetings. But the | :16:58. | :17:02. | |
details were not disclosed. With the minister agree that the lack of | :17:03. | :17:07. | |
transparency in that answer is a disgrace? The Secretary of State is | :17:08. | :17:14. | |
on the bench. You could discuss it further with them. I know he has | :17:15. | :17:18. | |
almost discussions every day with the Chancellor with regard to | :17:19. | :17:23. | |
Scotland. That is why there was an additional ?350 million for Scotland | :17:24. | :17:27. | |
within the budget, showing the advantages of Scotland's theme | :17:28. | :17:31. | |
within the United Kingdom. Number nine. The Cabinet will help fund the | :17:32. | :17:47. | |
registration of the electoral process. On behalf of the electoral | :17:48. | :18:01. | |
commission, Edwards said that the levels of funding seeing that half | :18:02. | :18:06. | |
of the local authorities say they have insufficient funds to maintain | :18:07. | :18:10. | |
the electoral register. As the Minister not worried by that | :18:11. | :18:14. | |
statistic and, if so, what other government going to do about it? We | :18:15. | :18:18. | |
are committed to helping local authorities covering the cost of | :18:19. | :18:27. | |
upkeep in the electoral register. Newcastle received ?145,000 in | :18:28. | :18:41. | |
funding for that very matter. With an applicant 's identity cannot be | :18:42. | :18:48. | |
identified in the first place, there are a number of ways we would | :18:49. | :18:59. | |
support the application. Last year, it was reported that more than 25% | :19:00. | :19:06. | |
of people knew the national insurance number. What assessment | :19:07. | :19:13. | |
has been made with regard to registration? When it comes to the | :19:14. | :19:18. | |
registration process, the electoral commission reported that we have a | :19:19. | :19:24. | |
record 47.3 million people on the electoral register. 24 million | :19:25. | :19:29. | |
people have used the application online using the national insurance | :19:30. | :19:35. | |
number. There are alternatives. It works very effectively. Topical | :19:36. | :19:45. | |
questions for the Cabinet Office and the Duchy of Lancaster. The Cabinet | :19:46. | :19:54. | |
Office is the centre of government and responsible for the constitution | :19:55. | :19:57. | |
and helping the government deliver public services. The House of Lords | :19:58. | :20:15. | |
as amended the higher education Bill. What is the Minister going to | :20:16. | :20:20. | |
do to assist the process of electoral registration within | :20:21. | :20:31. | |
universities? As I stated earlier, i-mate to discuss the amendment and | :20:32. | :20:35. | |
I'm committed to ensuring that more students can register more easily. | :20:36. | :20:41. | |
The Cabinet Office funded the pilot in Sheffield in the first place and | :20:42. | :20:44. | |
we are determined to carry on the work. What steps are the Cabinet | :20:45. | :20:58. | |
Office taking to eliminate fraud and put in place standards? They were | :20:59. | :21:09. | |
savings of ?730 million in the years 2015-16. The ministerial code | :21:10. | :21:19. | |
clearly states that former ministers should report before any appointment | :21:20. | :21:26. | |
and should not be able to report retrospectively. Can the minister | :21:27. | :21:29. | |
explained why he gave different advice to the house during his | :21:30. | :21:34. | |
response to the urgent question on Monday? Was that a mistake or a | :21:35. | :21:39. | |
convenient change of heart within the space of a week? I think the | :21:40. | :21:43. | |
honourable gentleman has made this point clear. They will consider all | :21:44. | :21:50. | |
the evidence. It is important they do so without me prejudicing the | :21:51. | :21:59. | |
decision by commenting on it. There is excessive noise. It is very | :22:00. | :22:06. | |
discordant. Does my right honourable friend agree that we should strive | :22:07. | :22:12. | |
to be as efficient as possible and, to that end, should we prioritise | :22:13. | :22:25. | |
the interests of the people rather than vanity projects? The Liberal | :22:26. | :22:32. | |
Democrats in Cornwall are not trying to use the money state programme to | :22:33. | :22:39. | |
set up, which is what was set up to save money so it would help front | :22:40. | :22:49. | |
line services. The honourable gentleman is right not responsible | :22:50. | :22:56. | |
for what happens with an Cornwall. The response of a British attitude | :22:57. | :23:02. | |
survey shows that only one quarter of people trust the government use | :23:03. | :23:08. | |
of statistics. I was concerned that he would be by that. We need to make | :23:09. | :23:13. | |
sure the independence of our statistics machine, which other | :23:14. | :23:19. | |
countries look to us for advice, is shown to the public to be the best | :23:20. | :23:25. | |
in the world, which I believe it is. Can my right honourable friend | :23:26. | :23:29. | |
update the house on the progress being made on the race disparity | :23:30. | :23:37. | |
audit? We have made considerable progress. We will be able to release | :23:38. | :23:45. | |
the results later this year. It will be a moment of reckoning for this | :23:46. | :23:49. | |
country as we face up to the very serious challenges we have ahead of | :23:50. | :23:53. | |
us in making sure everyone has an equal opportunity over regardless of | :23:54. | :24:01. | |
the background. ?200,000 of electoral spending was omitted from | :24:02. | :24:12. | |
returns. An unwillingness to cooperate with the electoral | :24:13. | :24:16. | |
commission. But the Conservatives can just shrug this off. Does the | :24:17. | :24:19. | |
Minister agree there should have been a bigger punishment for the | :24:20. | :24:24. | |
Conservatives breaking election spending rules? On this rule, the | :24:25. | :24:32. | |
electoral commission have taken action against all parties across | :24:33. | :24:39. | |
the political divide. Going forward, but it looks party funding, we have | :24:40. | :24:45. | |
to make sure we keep control of them. We have to make sure this is | :24:46. | :24:55. | |
transparent. There's far too much noise taking place. What steps as is | :24:56. | :25:05. | |
a department seeking to maximise opportunities for United Kingdom | :25:06. | :25:11. | |
industry? Does he have any get idea of how procurement guidelines are | :25:12. | :25:19. | |
bidding down? We have brought in new guidelines to make sure we can | :25:20. | :25:22. | |
support the United Kingdom steel industry. I will give the results | :25:23. | :25:29. | |
quite shortly of how we have progressed so far. Thank you. With | :25:30. | :25:45. | |
the Minister say that his views on digital culture should not be | :25:46. | :25:48. | |
listened to, given his close relationship with a new editor of | :25:49. | :25:57. | |
the London standout? My friend will make his own decisions about his | :25:58. | :26:02. | |
ministerial future and I believe it is wrong to use the hose to make | :26:03. | :26:09. | |
that sort of comment. How does he intend to expand the one public | :26:10. | :26:14. | |
state initiative? It is an opportunity to create better | :26:15. | :26:21. | |
services for our residents. This will not only allow us to save costs | :26:22. | :26:26. | |
which can be used on the front line, but it means public services will be | :26:27. | :26:30. | |
simpler for the citizens to be dealt with because they are situated on | :26:31. | :26:36. | |
one place. Questions to the Prime Minister. | :26:37. | :26:55. | |
I would like to express my condolences to the family and | :26:56. | :26:58. | |
colleagues of the former First Minister of Northern Ireland, Martin | :26:59. | :27:00. | |
We do not condone the path he took in the first period of his life. | :27:01. | :27:07. | |
However, he played an indispensable role in bringing the republican | :27:08. | :27:10. | |
movement away from violence to peaceful and democratic means and to | :27:11. | :27:15. | |
building a better Northern Ireland. This morning I had meetings with | :27:16. | :27:18. | |
ministerial colleagues and others and in addition to my duties in this | :27:19. | :27:21. | |
has, I shall have further such meetings later today. The Prime | :27:22. | :27:26. | |
Minister says that | :27:27. | :27:27. |