UK Politics

The Cabinet Office has been accused of “complacency” and fined £500,000 for accidentally disclosing the personal details of prominent recipients of the 2020 New Year Honours online.Concluding a probe, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said the government had breached data protection law by publishing a file containing the names and redacted addresses of more than 1,000 people on the honours list.The list included celebrities such as Sir Elton John, TV chef Nadiya Hussain, cricketer Ben Stokes, alongside the former Conservative Party leader, Iain Duncan Smith, who branded the breach in December 2019 a “complete disaster”.The ICO said the Cabinet Office, which issued an apology at the time, had “failed to put appropriate technical and organisational measures in place to prevent the unauthorises disclosure of people’s information”.It said a IT system acquired by the Honours and Appointments Secretariat for processing nominations had been set up incorrectly, which resulted in it generating a file with the addresses of the recipients which was then published on the gov.uk website.While the Whitehall department removed the weblink to the file after noticing the error, it was still cached and accessed online 3,872 times over a period of two hours and 21 minutes.Director of Investigations at the ICO, Steve Eckersley, said: “When data breaches happen, they have real life consequences. In this case, more than 1,000 people were affected“At a time when they should have been enjoying the announcement of their honour, they were faced with the distress of their personal details being exposed.“The Cabinet Office’s complacency and failure to mitigate the risk of a data breach meant that hundreds of people were potentially exposed to the risk of identity fraud and threats to their personal safety.“The fine issued today sends a message to other organisations that looking after people’s information safely, as well as regularly checking that appropriate measures are in place, must be at the top of their agenda.”The ICO added it had received complaints from three of the individuals affected who raised personal safety concerns, while 27 contacted the Cabinet Office with similar issues.However, the ICO also acknowledged the Whitehall department “acted promptly” when made aware of the breach, undertook a full incident review and has since instigated “instigated a number of operational and technical measures to improve the security of its systems”.A Cabinet Office spokesperson told The Independent: “The Cabinet Office would like to reiterate our apology for this incident. We took action to mitigate any potential harm by immediately informing the Information Commissioner and everyone affected by the breach.“We take the findings of the Information Commissioner very seriously, and have completed an internal review as well as implemented a number of measures to ensure this does not happen again. “This includes a review of the overall security of the system, information management training and improving internal processes for how data is handled by the honours team.” More

Matt Hancock has admitted he had “blown up every part” of his life when he resigned from the cabinet after CCTV footage showed him breaching social distancing rules with an aide in his Whitehall office.The former health secretary also defended his decision not to resign immediately after images — showing him embracing and kissing his aide, Gina Coladangelo — emerged in June, saying he first concentrated on his “personal life”.At the time, Mr Hancock, who quit his post more than 24 hours after the CCTV images were published by The Sun newspaper, had repeatedly urged the public not to hug those they did not share a household with to control the spread of Covid-19.Asked on ITV’s Peston programme why he didn’t “resign on the spot”, the former cabinet minister said “the first thing I had to, that I focused on was my personal life”.“When I focused on my professional responsibilities, I decided that I had to resign and that’s what I did,” he insisted.Quizzed again, the former cabinet minister said: “Well, I had, I’d blown up every part of my life and I concentrated on my personal life as you can probably imagine”.Mr Hancock, however, declined to elaborate on “conversations” over the resignation with Boris Johnson, who faced criticism at the time for the decision to stand by the under fire health secretary when demands were made for his resignation.He added: “Well, I made the decision, it was clearly the right decision and I just say sorry again for the failure of, I let a lot of people down and sorry to the people who I hurt.”The Conservative MP — a key face the government’s response to the initial waves of the Covid pandemic — claimed he was “in no hurry” to get back into government.“I actually think that being on the backbenches is perfectly, I’m enjoying it but also it’s a very important job and I think contributions from people who’ve been there in the heat of the battle where Mark [Harper] as chief whip or Theresa May, the contributions she makes as former prime minister, and if I can make that sort of contribution in the House of Commons then I’ll enjoy doing it,” he said.As concerns grow over the omicron variant, the former health secretary also urged people to “test the hell out of ourselves” to “keep things open” over the Christmas period, as he stressed it was “really important” rapid lateral flow remain free at the point of order.Questioned on whether Jenny Harries, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) chief, was right to warn against unnecessary social interactions, Mr Hancock said: “Saying things like we may need to go further on working from home is perfectly reasonable, but I don’t think we’re there yet.”He added: “What I tell Christmas, we should test the hell out of ourselves. Right the best way to keep yourself safe if you’re seeing people knowing I was coming to see you I took a test this morning.“We should test the hell out of ourselves and that is the way, the best way to just be really cautious and careful and just get those tests. They’re available free and take them and that will help to keep things open.” More

Sir Keir Starmer has accused the government of undermining the country’s energy security by failing to secure domestic gas storage capacity, as he warned of a “winter cost of living crisis”.Highlighting the decision to permanently close the UK’s largest gas storage facility in 2017, the Labour leader will also criticise Boris Johnson for failing to “get a grip” of the situation.It comes as rising global prices of gas place severe pressure on energy companies, who issued the alarm over greater volatility in costs at the time of the announced closure of the Rough storage site off the Yorkshire coast.Experts warned earlier this week that Europe may have to tap into emergency supplies normally considered off limits, due to historically low stocks this winter, with further spikes in wholesale prices expected as temperatures drop.Sir Keir is expected to visit the Rough site, which will be decommissioned from 2023, on Thursday and warn the country is facing a “winter cost of living crisis, and gas prices for every household are going up”.He will also highlight data from the European Gas Storage Inventory showing the UK had the second lowest amount of gas in store per capital last month.“The government’s failure to secure our gas storage has undermined our energy security and has left us exposed to global prices,” Sir Keir said. “This is another example of broken promises from this prime minister, being felt in the pockets of working people.”He added: “His failure to get a grip is not only costing people now, but it’s hindering the strength of our future economy.“The Conservative government’s limited commitment to hydrogen, a pivotal pillar in our transition to net zero, is no more than a drop in the ocean when compared to our neighbours. Their dither and delay is costing us jobs.”The GMB union also insisted that the failure to replace the Rough gas storage facility was “utter foolishness” and that further investment in hydrogen technology could save 100,000 jobs across the country.The organisation’s general secretary, Gary Smith, added: “In light of Storm Arwen and the electricity power outages facing many parts of the UK — ensure communities can continue to weather the elements without the heating going off with the lights”.“Failing to replace the Rough storage facility when it closed was utter foolishness – as GMB was at pains to point out at the time. Unfortunately, and predictably, our warnings fell on deaf ears.“We must not play fast and loose with our energy security again – but keeping our homes warm and hitting our net zero targets can go hand in hand.”A government spokesperson said: “The current energy situation is not an issue of supply, but high global gas prices. As recent market activity has shown, domestic gas storage capacity has had little bearing on the price of gas.“While some countries have to store gas to ensure their own security of supply, the UK benefits from access to our own gas reserves in British territorial waters and secure sources from reliable import partners, such as Norway.” More

Refugee children who arrive in the UK without their parents lag three years behind their peers at school, says new research accusing the government of neglect.The attainment gap – at GCSE level – is similar to that of children with special educational needs and with the most severe disabilities, an education think-tank is warning.Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are also more likely to miss lessons or to be excluded from school than students who are not migrants, the Education Policy Institute (EPI) has found.In contrast, asylum-seeking children living with family members, and resettled refugee children, are less likely to be excluded – and their attainment gap is less than half as big.Jo Hutchinson, the report’s author, called on ministers to beef up help for children who are too often “invisible to the system when it comes to education”.“It is deeply concerning that the government does not follow the progress of these pupils and that they receive very little support compared to other highly vulnerable groups,” she said.“We need to see the government do far more to prioritise the needs of refugee and asylum-seeking pupils.”The study is believed to be the first to examine the educational outcomes of the majority of asylum-seeking and refugee pupils in England.It comes as the Nationality and Borders Bill returns to the Commons – introducing another crackdown on asylum-seekers – and amid clashes with France on how to stop refugee boats.EPI researchers drew together information from national statistics data obtained through freedom of information requests to the Home Office.They established that:* Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children were, in 2016-17, on average 37.4 months behind non-migrant children across all GCSE subjects.* The attainment gap for refugee children who have been resettled, or are receiving family support, is still large but much smaller – at 17.3 months.* Absence rates for Year 11 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children were 6.8 per cent – compared with 6.6 per cent for non-migrant children and only 5 per cent for supported and resettled pupils.* Exclusions (7.1 per cent) were also higher than for non-migrant children (5.2 per cent) than supported and resettled pupils (4.4 per cent).* However, there are “near zero” permanent exclusions of unaccompanied asylum-seeking pupils, which are lower than the 0.11 per cent for non-migrant children.In response, the Department for Education pointed to the “significant investment to support pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds” – rather than addressing refugee children separated from their parents.“Councils receive additional funding to help meet the educational needs of children in care, including unaccompanied minors, who also benefit from the support of a virtual school head,” a spokesperson said. The Borders Bill has sparked an outcry because it will tear up refugee law, denying asylum rights to people arriving via unauthorised routes – who will be criminalised and face removal.Border Force officials whose actions could result in deaths at sea will be granted immunity, while people who help asylum seekers enter the UK, even for altruistic reasons, could be prosecuted. More

Former health secretary Matt Hancock has faced further questions over the involvement of the former landlord of his local pub in a multimillion-pound coronavirus contract.Mr Hancock, who quit the front bench after breaching social distancing guidance by kissing a colleague, protested his innocence on Wednesday when pressed on the matter by Labour.The Conservative MP told the opposition “no matter how hard they look or how deep they dig” they will only find “a lot of people working hard to save lives”.His defence came after the Labour Party chairwoman, Anneliese Dodds, had insisted Mr Hancock should “set the record straight” and withdraw his remark that it was a “fabrication” to suggest his friend and West Suffolk constituent Alex Bourne applied for or received a contract from the government or NHS.Questions have been repeatedly raised about Mr Hancock’s involvement in helping Mr Bourne obtain a lucrative contract to supply test tubes for NHS Covid-19 testing.The Mail on Sunday, following a contested Freedom of Information request, obtained messages between Mr Hancock and Mr Bourne in which the MP personally referred a plea for business to Jonathan Marron, at the time the director-general of community and social care at the Department of Health.A message from Mr Bourne, who runs a food packaging company, initially raised the possibility of making personal protective equipment (PPE) such as surgical face masks, before later exchanges reveal a switch to producing items involved in coronavirus testing.Mr Bourne at one time owned The Cock Inn in Thurlow, near Cambridge, and reportedly got to know Mr Hancock when the MP lived close by.Ms Dodds told the Commons: “The Good Law Project has published evidence indicating that a company, Alpha Laboratories, won a contract worth over £40m from the Department of Health and Social Care in December 2020, and that this company appears to have sub-contracted all of the manufacturing of goods to another company, Hinpack Limited, which appears to be run by (Mr Hancock’s) constituent.”Mr Hancock replied: “This point of order and the point made in it demonstrates very clearly that there was no contract between the firm being discussed and the department or the NHS.”Of course, the Department of Health and the NHS does not have a say in sub-contracting arrangements.“So what this has done is demonstrated finally and for the record that there was no such contract between my constituent and the department or NHS.”All of this has been looked at by the National Audit Office, who found all to have been done in an orderly way.“Finally, no matter how hard they look or how deep they dig all that will be discovered is a lot of people working hard to save lives. That’s what was going on.”On Tuesday, Mr Hancock had told Ms Dodds: “I have heard this point about this pub landlord and I just want to tell her and the House, and put it formally on the record, and after this I hope the Labour Party will also stop this slur, that the man in question never got nor applied for a contract from the Government or the NHS at all.”It is a fabrication pushed by the Labour Party. It’s a load of rubbish.“Additional reporting by PA More

Fresh evidence has emerged of the depths to which the UK’s relationship with France has sunk, as French media reported that Emmanuel Macron referred to Boris Johnson in private as “un clown”.Amid a continuing stand-off over France’s handling of migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats, a former French ambassador to London, Sylvie Bermann, said that cross-Channel relations had “never been so bad since Waterloo”.The magazine Le Canard Enchaîné quoted the French president describing the Johnson administration to advisers as a “circus” and accusing the prime minister of trying to portray himself as a victim in order to avoid blame for the “catastrophic” outcome of Brexit.Home secretary Priti Patel was on Thursday visiting Italy to discuss illegal immigration, on the first leg of a drive to win support from capitals across the EU for the UK’s demands for tougher action in the Channel in the wake of last week’s tragic death of 27 people whose inflatable boat sank during an attempted crossing.Mr Macron withdrew Ms Patel’s invitation to an emergency summit hosted by Paris on Sunday after Mr Johnson published a six-page letter to the president in which he demanded that France take back migrants who reach British shores but are deemed to be illegal.Paris is instead offering to allow UK officials to process asylum claims on French soil, in a proposal dismissed by London as merely another “pull factor” to encourage migrants to come to the Channel coast.According to Le Canard Enchaîné – a satirical and investigative publication similar to Private Eye – Mr Macron complained of Mr Johnson’s behaviour following a phone conversation shortly after last Wednesday’s tragedy.Describing Mr Johnson as having “the attitude of a vulgarian”, the president reportedly added: “BoJo talks to me at full speed, everything is going fine, we have discussions like big people, and then he gives us a hard time before or afterwards in an inelegant way.“It’s always the same circus.”Three days later on Saturday, following the publication of Mr Johnson’s letter, Mr Macron is reported to have said: “It is sad to see a major country with which we could do huge numbers of things being led by a clown.”The French president is reported to have blamed the PM’s attitude on the failure of Brexit.“Brexit is the starting point of the Johnson circus,” he is reported to have said.“The deal was signed on 24 December 2020. Very quickly he realised that the situation was catastrophic for the British. There was no petrol in the pumps, there were shortages of a whole pile of products.“He is positioning himself as the victim and making France the scapegoat. He tries to turn simple situations into complex problems.“We’ve been in this position since March. He’s done it over the ‘sausage war’ over fishing, over the submarine affair.“In private he says he’s sorry to behave like this, but he says that he has to consider public opinion over everything else.”Mr Johnson’s official spokesperson said he had not seen the report.But he added: “The important thing that the public on both sides of the Channel want us to do is to focus on how we avoid further loss of life.”There was no immediate response from the Elysée Palace to a request from The Independent for comment.There was some progress in another issue bedevilled cross-Channel relations, with the announcement that Guernsey has approved all 43 of the licences which France was demanding for its fishing boats under the terms of Britain’s post-Brexit trade agreement.However, Paris said that France is still awaiting 59 licences from Jersey and 52 licences to fish in the territorial waters 6-12 miles off Britain’s shores.Speaking ahead of her meeting with Italian interior minister Luciana Lamorgese in Rome, Ms Patel said: “The appalling and tragic events in the Channel last week served as a reminder of how people are put at peril when in the hands of criminal gangs.“It is not just in the Channel that we are seeing this appalling trade in human cargo or the weaponisation of people. From the thousands of people being smuggled in boats into Europe from Africa or the ongoing scenes at the Poland/Belarus border, this crisis is truly a global one that requires global solutions.“That is why countries across Europe must come together to respond and strengthen both our resolve and borders to disrupt this trade, and that is exactly why I am in Italy today.”The Home Office’s clandestine Channel threat commander denied on Wednesday that UK authorities had ignored calls for help from the victims of last week’s inflatable boat sinking.Daniel O’Mahoney told the parliamentary human rights committee that there were “multiple migrant boats” in the water at the time and the coastguard responded to “every single one of them”.He added: “I can’t tell you with any certainty whether we definitely received a call from that boat or not… if the people from that boat had called the UK authorities, I can tell you that we definitely responded to that call.”The committee said that the government should scrap plans to turn back migrant boats at sea because they “endanger lives” and are likely to breach human rights laws.In a report, it warned pushbacks are “not the solution” to curbing Channel crossings and would “do the opposite of what is required to save lives”.But immigration minister Tom Pursglove told them: “The maritime tactics to which you refer have been signed off by ministers. We consider that they are safe and legal.“I am clear that we will always act in accordance with international maritime law.” More

Guernsey has issued all the post-Brexit fishing licences France says its fishermen are entitled to for fishing in waters around the UK. The Channel island announced on Twitter that it has granted 43 licences for fishing vessels registered in Brittany and Normandy.The licences were issued under Article 502 of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement, which stipulates that fishermen can fish in British waters if they apply for a licence and can prove they operated there in the past.The 43 licences mean that the fishermen can continue to fish in the English Channel from February next year.Guernsey official Jonathan Le Tocq said: “We have reached a significant milestone in our licensing roadmap announced back in September.“We value our good relationships with Normandy, Brittany and La Manche, and I hope that today’s announcement provides welcome certainty and stability in this new era.”France’s seas minister Annick Girardin said the new licences is “excellent news” but that French fishermen are still waiting for dozens more from Britain and Jersey.France has said that Britain is failing to respect their agreed licensing system, an accusation that the latter denies.Guernsey’s authorities had so far renewed licences on an interim monthly basis while it had considered the applications.The other vessels on the interim list will be able to fish until 31 January next year. After that, they can only fish in British waters if they can provide evidence that they fished there in the past.The long-standing fishing dispute is one issue that has caused immense friction between the UK and France.French president Emmanuel Macron, who faces an election next year, has said his government will not rest until his fishermen have all the licences they are owed.The EU has given Britain until 10 December to take action to help resolve the issue.French fishermen protested last week by temporarily blockading the port of Calais and Channel Tunnel rail link in efforts to disrupt trade between Britain and the continent.The action was taken days after 27 migrants died in the Channel after the dinghy carrying them deflated and capsized. More

Three Conservative MPs have ditched advisory positions in the wake of last month’s furore over Westminster second jobs.Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith gave up a £20,000 post with a health group, while ex-Northern Ireland secretary Julian Smith quit jobs worth £144,000 a year and former health minister Steve Brine dropped work worth £20,000 a year with a pharmaceutical firm.All of the posts came to an end within days of Boris Johnson’s 16 November call for a ban on parliamentary consultancy, strategy and advice work, as he struggled to get back on the front foot on sleaze following his botched attempt to save Brexit comrade Owen Paterson from punishment for paid lobbying.There is no suggestion that any of the MPs doing advisory work had breached rules in the way that Mr Paterson did.But Mr Johnson’s plans, approved by the Commons in a vote the day after they were proposed and backed by an interim report of the House’s standards committee earlier this week, would also ban wider advisory work involving MPs drawing on their experience and knowledge of parliament.At least 30 MPs have recorded earnings from consultancy work, according to the register of MPs’ interests.But the latest edition of the register includes amendments apparently triggered by the impending change in the rules, which are due for implementation following the publication of the standards committee’s final report in January.Chingford and Wood Green MP Sir Iain recorded that his membership of the international advisory board of Tunstall Health Group, involving up to 30 hours’ work a year for £20,000, came to an end on 30 November after three and a half years.Mr Smith, MP for Winchester, gave up his positions as external adviser with Hygen Energy Ltd, Simply Blue Management (UK) Ltd and MJM Marine Ltd on 16 November.And Skipton and Ripon MP Mr Brine’s post as a strategic adviser to Sigma (Pharmaceuticals) came to an end on 18 November. More