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7 Jan 2008 : Column 140W—continued
Mr. Wills: I refer the hon. Member to the statement made by right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 21 November 2007, Official Report, column 1179. The review by the Cabinet Secretary and security experts is looking at procedures within Departments and agencies for the storage and use of data. A statement on Departments' procedures will be made on completion of the review. An interim progress report on the review was published on 17 December by the Cabinet Office through a written ministerial statement, column 98WS.
Like all Government Departments, mine provides training to members of staff. It is included in induction for new staff and ad hoc training events where a specific need exists. The information requested on data protection training at (i) and (ii), and for parts (a) and (b) of this question is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
There are no recorded instances of employees in my Department being investigated for improperly accessing confidential information in the last 12 months.
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what procedures are in place in his Department to ensure that personal information relating to members of the public is (a) stored and (b) transported securely. [168471]
Mr. Wills: I refer my right hon. Friend to the statement made by right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 21 November 2007, Official Report, column 1179. The review by the Cabinet Secretary and security experts is looking at procedures within Departments and agencies for the storage and use of data. A statement on Departments' procedures will be made on completion of the review. An interim progress report on the review was published by the Cabinet Office through a written ministerial statement on 17 December 2007, Official Report, column 98WS.
Our new DISC contract, which covers the main HQ, court and tribunal systems, covers security requirements, referring to HMG standards and ISO 17799 (and updates to both) and includes operating procedures covering the carriage of bulky protectively marked assets.
Paper records, when no longer current, are stored in a secure archive. After no later than 30 years, they are reviewed and either transferred under controlled transport arrangements to the National Archive or destroyed.
Mr. Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether his Department's information technology and data management systems are BS7799 compliant. [168743]
Mr. Wills:
I refer the hon. Member to the statement made by right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 21 November 2007, Official Report, column 1179. The review by the Cabinet Secretary and security experts is looking at procedures within Departments and agencies for the storage and use of data. A statement on Departments' procedures will be made on completion of the review. An interim progress report on the review was published by the Cabinet Office
through a written ministerial statement on 17 December 2007, Official Report, column 98WS.
All Government Departments are required to ensure that their information technology and data management systems meet the Government standard (known as HMG Infosec Standard 2) which is aligned to BS7799. All MoJ systems comply with the government standard, and are therefore BS7799 compliant.
Mr. Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice on how many occasions the Information Commissioner was contacted by his Department to report breaches of data protection security in each of the last five years. [168815]
Mr. Wills: I refer the hon. Member to the statement made by right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 21 November 2007, Official Report, column 1179. The review by the Cabinet Secretary and security experts is looking at procedures within Departments and agencies for the storage and use of data. A statement on Departments’ procedures will be made on completion of the review. An interim progress report on the review was published by the Cabinet Office through a written ministerial statement on 17 December 2007, Official Report, column 98WS.
My Department does not maintain a central record of breaches of data protection security reported to the Information Commissioner. However, in the last year, I can say that my Department has reported three potential breaches to his office.
The Information Commissioner’s office does not keep records of referrals referenced by Department.
The information requested about the last five years is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many breaches of data protection security there were in (a) his Department and (b) his Department’s agencies in each of the last five years; and if he will provide details of each breach. [168839]
Mr. Wills: I refer the hon. Member to the statement made by right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 21 November 2007, Official Report, column 1179. The review by the Cabinet Secretary and security experts is looking at procedures within Departments and agencies for the storage and use of data. A statement on Departments’ procedures will be made on completion of the review. An interim progress report on the review was published by the Cabinet Office through a written ministerial statement on 17 December 2007, Official Report, column 98WS.
Depending on their nature, breaches by my Department of the Data Protection Act 1998 can be dealt with by the Information Commissioner, the courts or by my Department at an informal local level. The information requested about the last five years is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
However, in the last year, I can say that my Department has reported three potential breaches to the Information Commissioner’s office.
Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether he proposes to review how his Department transports data; and whether his Department uses TNT to transport data. [169219]
Mr. Wills: I refer the hon. Member to the statement made by right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 21 November 2007, Official Report, column 1179. The review by the Cabinet Secretary and security experts is looking at procedures within Departments and agencies for the storage and use of data. A statement on Departments' procedures will be made on completion of the review. An interim progress report on the review was published by the Cabinet Office through a written ministerial statement on 17 December 2007, Official Report, column 98WS.
The review will include data transport arrangements.
We use TNT as the provider of an archive service for paper records. This is an MoD contract that provides a secure storage facility and is used by MoJ Headquarters, the courts, some tribunals and the prison service. After no later than 30 years, records are reviewed and either transferred under controlled arrangements to the National Archive or destroyed.
Business units select a delivery firm to take records to the Archive and there is a tight security control to ensure all records are accounted for. TNT are only involved in transport if business units have requested old records back or when they are being returned to our Records Management Service for review.
Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many confirmed security breaches of databases controlled by his Department occurred in each of the last five years; whether the breach resulted from internal or external action in each case; how many records were compromised on each occasion; and what estimate was made of the total number of records accessible to the individuals concerned. [173710]
Mr. Wills: A small number of incidents have been investigated and no security breach involving loss of information from the Department was found to have occurred.
Departmental Employment Agencies
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many staff aged between 16 and 18 were employed by his Department and its predecessor (a) directly and (b) through an employment agency in each of the last 10 years; what proportion of these were given time off work to undertake some form of training; and what proportion were provided with some form of training (i) wholly and (ii) partially funded by his Department. [171270]
Maria Eagle: There are no central figures available based on the age of staff undertaking training and figures could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. The Ministry of Justice promotes a range of further education and skills development for all our staff, irrespective of age, and is committed to equality of opportunity for all.
Departmental Parliamentary Questions
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many staff work in his Department's parliamentary branch; and what proportion of their time is spent on dealing with (a) parliamentary questions and (b) correspondence from hon. Members and peers. [174956]
Maria Eagle: Within the Ministry of Justice there are eight members of staff in the parliamentary branch of which four work solely on parliamentary questions. The correspondence from hon. Members and peers is dealt with by the Ministerial Correspondence Unit of which five work solely on their correspondence.
Departmental Postal Services
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many items of post sent by his Department and its predecessor were reported missing by the intended recipient in each year since 1997. [171285]
Mr. Wills: I refer the hon. Member to the statement made by right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 21 November 2007, Official Report, column 1179. The review by the Cabinet Secretary and security experts is looking at procedures within Departments and agencies for the storage and use of data. A statement on Departments' procedures will be made on completion of the review. An interim progress report on the review was published on 17 December by the Cabinet Office through a written ministerial statement, column 98WS.
The Ministry of Justice and its predecessor have no record of any items of post having been reported missing since 1997.
Departmental Telephone Services
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice which telephone contact centres are the responsibility of his Department; what mechanisms are in place to monitor their effectiveness; and how many people have been employed in each of those centres in each year since they were established. [166525]
Maria Eagle: The Ministry of Justice funds the following helpline and telephone contact centres, listed in the table, with staffing figures for the last two years:
In addition to these, the Department will be funding the Prisoners’ Families Helpline for 2008-09 and also plans to launch the Mubarak Trust Helpline as a pilot scheme in Feltham next year.
There are a variety of mechanisms in place across the Department with which Ministers monitor the telephone contact centres’ effectiveness. For example, CLA is operated by the Legal Services Commission which is established by the Access to Justice Act 1999. Others are operated by their policy teams under service level agreements.
We are currently surveying high level information on helplines funded by all Government Departments (as a distinct subset of contact centres), for the purpose of exploring the scope for greater co-ordination. We intend to publish aggregate information on the data collated and analysed in spring 2008.
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what information his Department collects and monitors in relation to the telephone contact centres for which his Department is responsible. [166526]
Maria Eagle: At present, my Department collects a wide variety of information on the telephone contact centres it funds for the purpose of monitoring performance. Further information is given in answer to another question from the hon. Member.
The Ministry of Justice has recently launched an online survey for all publicly funded helplines across Government. This collects high level information such as annual cost, funding, staff numbers and pay, opening hours and co-ordination with other helplines. All helplines funded by the Department have completed the survey.
The Contact Council is also collecting more detailed information from all contact centres, measuring their performance and effectiveness against 26 set indicators.
These initiatives will result in increased standardisation in the information collected to monitor performance of telephone contact centres.
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much each telephone contact centre for which his Department is responsible has (a) cost and (b) generated in income in each financial year since their establishment. [166527]
Maria Eagle: The following table shows the cost of each helpline and telephone contact centre that the Ministry of Justice funds for the latest available years in each case:
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