Some information is already kept on servers located in other countries under “cloud” arrangements. The sensitivity of the information is assessed as a part of a rigorous bi-cameral accreditation process prior to entering into a contract with a cloud supplier. The sensitivity of the information is a key element in determining where it might ultimately be stored. Decisions about information security are overseen by the Senior Information Risk Owners in both Houses (currently the Reading Clerk in the House of Lords), the Director of Parliamentary ICT and the Parliamentary Security Director.

Over the next year, Parliament will be upgrading its office applications to Microsoft Office 365, for use by Members and staff. As a result, more information – including Members’ emails and files – will be hosted by Microsoft on servers in other countries within the European Union. The use of Microsoft Office 365 has been accredited by government as part of its G-Cloud framework. Information held in Parliament’s applications will not be transferred to servers outside the European Union.

The use of “cloud” arrangements, and the upgrade to Microsoft Office 365, is part of Parliament’s ICT Strategy. The Information Committee endorsed the Strategy in its Annual Report 2010-11 (HL Paper 190) and receive regular updates on the implementation of the Strategy.

Members have not been consulted specifically about the use of servers abroad. However, articles about the ICT Strategy, the “cloud” arrangements and Microsoft Office 365 have been published in Red Benches in October 2011 (No. 27), February 2012 (No. 29) and October/November 2013 (No. 39). These articles invited feedback from Members and encouraged Members to attend the PICT stand at the Members’ Open Day on 6 November, where PICT staff briefed Members on the upgrade to Microsoft Office 365.

All Members will be written to individually before their data is moved to Microsoft Office 365.

The Department does not stipulate how long e-mails should be retained and expects officials to use their judgment based on the content of the e-mail. The Department has no central facility for searching every e-mail, though all officials have the facility to search their own e-mails at any time.

The Department has policies and guidance for the retention of information, including e-mails, relating to the work of the Department, that should be retained as a formal record. These retention policies are based on guidance from the National Archives and apply to all records regardless of medium or format. The management of information and records is the responsibility of all individual staff members. Guidance is published on the intranet and available to all staff. Records within the Electronic Document and Records Management system can be searched and retrieved centrally.

The Government publishes Destination Measures showing the percentage of students progressing from school or college to further or higher education, employment or training. These show how effective schools are in supporting pupils to move successfully into the next phase of their education or into sustainable work, including through the provision of independent careers guidance.

The Government responded to Ofsted's report on 10 September, publishing a vision statement for careers inspiration and an action plan outlining how we intend to take forward their recommendations. Both documents have been placed in the House of Commons Library.

[holding answer 22 October 2013]: Between 1 May 2010 and 30 September 2013, the Home Office received 186,220 e-mails to its Employer Checking Service (ECS) from employers seeking to establish a statutory excuse against a civil penalty. During this period there were 654,810 calls made to the Sponsorship and Employer Helpline. This helpline received inquiries regarding the prevention of illegal working as well as sponsorship queries. The figures for illegal working calls only is not available and could be obtained only at a disproportionate cost.

Note:

The figures quoted are not National Statistics but are based on provisional management information and may be subject to change.

The Department understands that this parliamentary question relates to the release of emails sent or received by the then chief executive of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) during the month of January 2010. These emails were released by the CQC in response to a Freedom of Information (FoI) request.

Internal processes were not properly observed on this occasion by the Department and the CQC. Internal investigations have revealed that this was a genuine oversight on behalf of officials, but nonetheless unacceptable.

The Permanent Secretary has taken immediate steps within the Department to ensure that officials who might deal with FoI requests are aware of, and act in accordance with, established processes. The Permanent Secretary has written to the chief executives of all departmental agencies and non-departmental public bodies to raise awareness of processes.

Some public key certificates issued by the Government can be expected to be held overseas. For example, certificates relating to verifications of passports need to be held overseas in order to check the authenticity of UK passports. Certificates issued to departments or their agencies contain no reference to individuals or their personal information. There is no requirement for these certificates to be treated confidentially. Some certificates are issued to individuals and could contain personal information. In such instances, the handling of these certificates would need to comply with the relevant data protection principles. In line with the practice for previous administrations, details of such discussions are not normally disclosed.

The Secretary of State for Education, my right hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove), ensures that e-mails generated in the

course of conducting Government business are copied to government secure intranet accounts. They could be sent to a number of relevant departmental accounts rather than his own.

Briefing notes accompanying parliamentary questions are confidential to the Ministers of the day and will not be placed in the Library.

All academy brokers are issued with a departmental e-mail account, which they are required to use when conducting their departmental business.

In the last 12 months, 41,875 scam emails have been reported to Action Fraud.

I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General, my right hon. Friend the Member for Horsham (Mr Maude), on 25 April 2013, Official Report, column 1095W.

The Secretary of State for Education, my right hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove), uses equipment and systems provided by the Department and his own IT equipment as appropriate, depending on his location and circumstances. Where information is generated in the course of conducting Government business, it is stored on departmental systems and renders searches of non-departmental e-mails unnecessary. This complies with the Information Commissioner's recommendations.

In compliance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 the Department carries out reasonable searches in response for any request for information.

The Secretary of State for Education, my right hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove), uses equipment and systems provided by the Department and his own IT equipment as appropriate, depending on his location and circumstances. Where information is generated in the course of conducting Government business, it is stored on departmental systems and renders searches of non-departmental e-mails unnecessary. This complies with the Information Commissioner's recommendations.

In compliance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 the Department carries out reasonable searches in response for any request for information.

No relevant records are held centrally by the Department for Education. An attempt to identify, from the full range of records held by the Department, on how many occasions a certain step was taken over a past 12-month period could be undertaken only at disproportionate cost and could not provide a conclusive answer.

[holding answer 14 January 2013]: The Guidance will be published in due course and when it is ready I will write to the hon. Member.

HMRC has over 100 electronic contact services available to customers that offer a structured and secure means of communicating with HMRC through its website and we are looking at doing even more.

In the autumn statement HMRC announced it will allow small business customers to access their tax accounts, transact and interact with HMRC using secure digital channels. HMRC is designing the service in such a way that the majority of customers’ needs can be met easily, quickly and simply without recourse to costly communication channels. As such HMRC has completed a ‘use of email’ pilot with Large and Complex customers (ie those with £30 million+ turnover or 250+ staff) using existing HMRC technology and capability which proved very successful. Email is now being used in our day to day processes with these types of customers and the fully redesigned service will go live in April 14.

HMRC is also developing an eMail Strategy and it is anticipated that this will be delivered during 2013-14 with a supporting implementation plan to integrate eMail use into HMRC for its customers.

The Government takes cyber security extremely seriously which is why we are investing £650 million over four years to respond to threats from cyberspace and bolster the UK's cyber defences.

We do not keep statistics centrally of how many phishing messages purport to come from Government sites. Millions are sent via the Internet every month. HMRC recently published an assessment of the number of new phishing websites set up at:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/budget2013/level-tax-playing-field.pdf

Action Fraud, the UK's national fraud and internet crime reporting centre, has been' enhanced to provide. a reporting mechanism for online fraud including phishing. In addition, the Government supports initiatives such as Get safe Online:

www.getsafeonline.org

to provide information and advice to people on how to avoid becoming a victim of phishing attacks.

[holding answer 22 April 2013]: HMRC has received over 75,000 customer referrals to our phishing@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk e-mail address in the last 12 months. All referrals are investigated, and where necessary measures are taken to actively shut down websites that are set up to abuse our brand and defraud our customers.

The Information Commissioner’s guidance relating to information held in private e-mail accounts applies to the Cabinet Office. General guidance on e-mailing official information is set out in the departmental staff handbook.

The Cabinet Office will publish shortly guidance on FOI and the handling of private e-mails. I will arrange for the noble Lord to be sent a copy.