The Department does not hold information on how many people had Motability vehicles on DLA. Therefore, we are unable to collect information on the number of people who have had to return a Motability vehicle following reassessment from Disability Living Allowance to Personal Independence Payment.

Under terms in the supply license, energy companies must take all reasonable steps to obtain a meter reading for each customer at least once a year.

Customers may submit their own meter readings to energy companies at any time to avoid an estimated bill. If a supplier considers a customer’s reading to be reasonably accurate they must take all reasonable steps to reflect the meter reading in the next bill or statement of account. If a meter reading provided by a customer is considered not to be reasonably accurate, the supplier will ask for another reading or arrange to read the meter themselves.

The installation of smart meters, which is scheduled to be completed by 2020, should enable suppliers to provide more accurate bills, based upon actual readings transmitted by each meter.

Improving Lives - the Work, Health and Disability Green Paper set out Government’s commitment to work with NHS England to identify opportunities for regular collection of data about incidence, prevalence, clinical activity and outcomes of musculoskeletal conditions and services in England. The Government’s Mandate to NHS England reiterated this commitment. This is part of wider work to consider ways to improve health and employment services for people with musculoskeletal conditions.

Private parking companies receive DVLA data on the condition that it will only be used to help follow up alleged parking contraventions. It cannot be further processed for any other purpose. The audit by the Information Commissioner’s Office in March 2016, judged the DVLA’s procedures to offer high assurance that processes to mitigate the risks of non-compliance with the Data Protection Act are in place. My Department has no plans to carry out a review.

The Department of Communities and Local Government has contributed £90,000 towards the True Vision Programme during the period 2014 to 2017.

Polling station staff are recruited, trained and paid on an ad hoc basis by individual Returning Officers (ROs) to work on particular election (or elections if held on the same day).

Returning Officers and their staff act independently of Government and so Guidance for them is provided by the Association of Electoral Administrators (AEA) and by the Electoral Commission.

Polling station staff will be both regular and new appointees. There is little merit, therefore, in establishing a database where the information becomes redundant once an election is over.

The creation and maintenance of a database would add to the workload of independent Returning Officers. It would also require legislation to make it mandatory.

Basic data about the number and locations of each public library in England as at 1 July 2016 was published on gov.uk on 30 March 2017.The Libraries Taskforce is currently conducting a survey until Friday 28 April seeking views from the sector on what a core dataset for public libraries in England should contain, such as information in relation to each library on the number of hours open and the number of staffed hours each week.

After analysing responses to the survey, the Taskforce will set out what the sector should be gathering as part of a core dataset. Further consideration will then be given about how the libraries sector should collect and make available the core data.

Basic data about the number and locations of each public library in England as at 1 July 2016 was published on gov.uk on 30 March 2017.The Libraries Taskforce is currently conducting a survey until Friday 28 April seeking views from the sector on what a core dataset for public libraries in England should contain, such as information in relation to each library on the number of hours open and the number of staffed hours each week.

Basic data about the number and locations of each public library in England as at 1 July 2016 was published on gov.uk on 30 March 2017.The Libraries Taskforce is currently conducting a survey until Friday 28 April seeking views from the sector on what a core dataset for public libraries in England should contain, such as information in relation to each library on the number of hours open and the number of staffed hours each week.

All allegations of bullying in the Armed Forces, including those made at initial Army training establishments, are taken seriously, investigated as appropriate and recorded.

It is the responsibility of individual horse owners to ensure that their horses are identified and registered on the Central Equine Database. Local Authorities are responsible for enforcing these requirements.

Defra launched a consultation on 5 April 2017 to implement requirements relating to the identification and registration of equines and the new Central Equine Database. It is published at:

https://consult.defra.gov.uk/equine-id/revised-eu-rules-on-equine-id-eu-reg-eu-2015-262

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) takes the protection of the data it holds very seriously and has robust measures in place to protect it. Private parking companies must be a member of an accredited trade association before they are able to request DVLA data and must abide by the relevant trade association’s code of practice.

In addition, the Government Internal Audit Agency (GIAA) inspects data users on the DVLA’s behalf to ensure that data requested is only used in accordance with strict contractual terms. The DVLA is alerted to any compliance related issues identified. These can range in severity from minor infringements (which companies are given an opportunity to address) to more serious cases of non-compliance resulting in the parking company being suspended from being able to request vehicle keeper data.

Data on the volume of non-compliance issues identified as a result of GIAA audits carried out in each of the last ten years is not readily available. The number of private parking companies which have had their ability to request DVLA data suspended in the last ten years is shown in the table below:

Companies can be suspended for various reasons, including not complying with the relevant parking industry accredited trade association’s code of practice. It is for the parking company to demonstrate that it is compliant with that code and for the trade association itself to monitor its members’ compliance with the code. Parking companies can also be suspended from requesting DVLA data for breaching the contract the company has with the DVLA for release of data or as a result of issues identified at a GIAA audit.

Where parking companies use third parties to pursue unpaid private parking charges, the parking company should have a formal contract in place to provide assurance over the use and security of DVLA data. The parking company retains overall responsibility for the use of the data by its sub-contractors.

Following its most recent audit of the DVLA’s procedures for releasing data to private parking companies, the Information Commissioner’s Office found that there was a high level of assurance that processes were in place to mitigate the risks of non-compliance with data protection requirements. The audit was published on 1 June 2016 and can be found at https://ico.org.uk/action-weve-taken/audits-advisory-visits-and-overview-reports/driver-and-vehicle-licensing-agency-dvla/.

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) takes the protection of the data it holds very seriously and has robust measures in place to protect it. Private parking companies must be a member of an accredited trade association before they are able to request DVLA data and must abide by the relevant trade association’s code of practice.

In addition, the Government Internal Audit Agency (GIAA) inspects data users on the DVLA’s behalf to ensure that data requested is only used in accordance with strict contractual terms. The DVLA is alerted to any compliance related issues identified. These can range in severity from minor infringements (which companies are given an opportunity to address) to more serious cases of non-compliance resulting in the parking company being suspended from being able to request vehicle keeper data.

Data on the volume of non-compliance issues identified as a result of GIAA audits carried out in each of the last ten years is not readily available. The number of private parking companies which have had their ability to request DVLA data suspended in the last ten years is shown in the table below:

Companies can be suspended for various reasons, including not complying with the relevant parking industry accredited trade association’s code of practice. It is for the parking company to demonstrate that it is compliant with that code and for the trade association itself to monitor its members’ compliance with the code. Parking companies can also be suspended from requesting DVLA data for breaching the contract the company has with the DVLA for release of data or as a result of issues identified at a GIAA audit.

Where parking companies use third parties to pursue unpaid private parking charges, the parking company should have a formal contract in place to provide assurance over the use and security of DVLA data. The parking company retains overall responsibility for the use of the data by its sub-contractors.

Following its most recent audit of the DVLA’s procedures for releasing data to private parking companies, the Information Commissioner’s Office found that there was a high level of assurance that processes were in place to mitigate the risks of non-compliance with data protection requirements. The audit was published on 1 June 2016 and can be found at https://ico.org.uk/action-weve-taken/audits-advisory-visits-and-overview-reports/driver-and-vehicle-licensing-agency-dvla/.

Large amounts of data are exchanged between the UK and other EU countries. However, it is currently not possible to measure by entity the exact volume or the origin/destination of the data.

Open data is already delivering enormous value across the economy and society. The UK is a world leader in open data and we have released over 41,000 non-personal datasets, powering over 400 apps and enabling transformational change in sectors as diverse as transport, agriculture and housing. The UK is committed to being the world’s most open and transparent government and the UK’s third Open Government National Action plan sets out an ambitious agenda to achieve this.

We have had various discussions with multinational companies operating within the UK, which among other things, have included discussions on future data flows between the UK and EU.

The European Commission has made clear that there should be no formal discussions or negotiations on our future relationship with the EU until after Article 50 is triggered by the UK Government. This includes Europol as an agency of the EU. Therefore no such discussions have taken place.

We are exploring options for cooperation arrangements once the UK has left the EU but it would be wrong to set out unilateral positions on specific measures in advance of negotiations.

The General Data Protection Regulation will apply to EU member states from 25 May 2018. We expect still to be in the EU at that point, and so the General Data Protection Regulation will apply in the UK from then.

As part of plans for the UK’s exit from the EU, the Government will be seeking to ensure that data flows between the UK and the EU are uninterrupted, and will be considering all the available options during exit negotiations that will provide legal certainty for businesses and citizens alike.

The Department and National Health Service organisations have been working closely with the Information Commissioner’s Office and the British Medical Association to support TPP to take appropriate action to respond to the TPP SystmOne data sharing issue. This work should be fully implemented by the summer. There is no evidence that records have been lost, mislaid or misused. However, there are already a number of mitigations in place to prevent potential misuse of information:

- Users’ access to records is role based and requires a smart card or password to access the system;

- All record accesses and all registrations are audited and visible to the general practitioner; and

- Patients (via SystmOnline) can now have visibility of when and where their records have been accessed.

The Information Commissioner published a statement regarding this matter on the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) website on 21 March. There is no evidence that records have been lost, mislaid or misused.

National Health Service organisations have been working closely with the ICO and the British Medical Association to support TPP to take appropriate mitigations to respond to the concerns raised. A number of measures are already being implemented and a full plan is expected to be in place by summer 2017.

This software is in use in around one third of general practitioner (GP) practices in England. However, not all GP practices or their patients will be affected.