FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT Previously released information / disclosure log FY 2015–2016 NOTES Logs are updated at the end of each quarter Questions are produced in their original format TOPIC PAGE 1ST QUARTER 1) Abduction 4 2) Various questions relating to recruitment 6 3) Bribery 7 4) International sale of goods 7 5) Scandalising the court 8 6) Various questions relating to IT provision 8 7) Electoral law 10 8) Interpreting and drafting laws 11 9) Execution of deeds and documents 11 10) Criminal code 12 1 2ND QUARTER 11) Artworks 13 12) Various questions relating to ICT provision 14 13) Payments to the Confederation of British Industry 15 14) Outraging public decency 15 15) Report on Consent in Sex Offences 18 16) Firearms scoping consultation paper 18 17) Firearms law 19 18) Procedure for repealing Acts of Parliament 20 19) Crimes committed with antique firearms 21 3RD QUARTER 20) Firearms 24 21) Abusive conduct by UK courts (1) 26 22) Abusive conduct by UK courts (2) 29 23) High Court's Jurisdiction in Relation to Criminal Proceedings 29 24) Statutory Obligations of the Law Commission 30 25) Mobile Device Usage and Hardware (Mobile Telephones/Smartphones and Touch Screen Tablets) 32 26) Community Service Orders 35 27) Firearms 36 28) Statutory Obligations of the Law Commission 37 29) Life insurance 40 30) Various statutes and judicial decisions 40 31) Statutory Obligations of the Law Commission 44 32) Taxis project 47 33) ICT/Digital/Business Change Programmes and Strategy 48 2 4TH QUARTER 34) Consent in criminal law 49 35) Procurement and contracts 49 36) Public Records Act 1958 and other Acts (outcome of internal review) 50 37) Rule of law 58 38) Improvement of legislation 59 39) Changes to various Acts 60 40) Sentencing law 62 41) Newspaper and copyright licensing 64 3 1ST QUARTER Topic 1) Abduction Date of Response 02/04/15 Details of Request I am writing to make a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act. I think it is important to examine the data that supports this new legislation in order to properly understand the issue of ‘abduction’ within the UK. In your document: Simplification of Criminal Law: Kidnapping and Related Offences IA No: LAWCOM0040 it outlines some data that we would like broken down. Firstly we would like clarification as to whether the new law will have the ability to affect: UK mum/dads who are abducting IN to the UK? (ie they are UK Expat parents wanting to return home to UK from other countries) Or Foreign parents living in the UK (like Poles / Romanians etc) living in the UK abducting OUT of the UK to go home. Or whether it has the scope to affect both cases In the document it says: The 220 wrongful retentions in 2013 involved 305 children, 145 of which were in a jurisdiction which is a member of the Hague Convention, while 75 were to non-Hague Convention jurisdictions. Are these 145 cases regarding retentions IN the UK or in a foreign country outside of the UK? Are the retentions by primary carers? Are there any allegations of abuse (domestic violence, emotional abuse, financial abuse etc)? In addition it also says: According to this data there were 220 wrongful retentions in 2013 which would suggest that there were around 550 occurrences of child abduction in 2013 in total. On average, around 19% of children are returned voluntarily following international abduction. Again - Are these 550 cases regarding retentions IN the UK (so children are habitually resident elsewhere) or outside the UK in a foreign country? Or both? Are the retentions by primary carers? Are the ‘abductors’ nationals of the country they have abducted to? Are the retentions by mothers or fathers? Are there any allegations of abuse (domestic violence, emotional abuse, financial abuse etc)? We think that it is vital to know who this new law has the potential to affect as it could have devastating consequences for the affected families. If you could provide the answer to our FOI ASAP we would really appreciate it, 4 Answer Our final recommendations on kidnapping and related offences were published in our report, Simplification of the Criminal Law: Kidnapping and Related Offences (the Report), on 19 November 2014. This report marked the end of our work on this project. We are now awaiting the Government's response on implementation. As a point of clarification, the Report does not make any recommendation to change the application of the Hague Convention. This was not within the remit of our project which was limited to the domestic criminal offences of kidnapping, false imprisonment and child abduction. Further, the Law Commission recommendations relating to child abduction are not to replace common law with statute but simply amending already existing statute, namely, the Child Abduction Act 1984. Our recommendation is “the offence under section 1 of the Child Abduction Act 1984 should be amended to include the case where the connected person, having taken or sent the child out of the UK with appropriate consent, keeps or retains that child outside the UK without the appropriate consent or in breach of the conditions of the consent given." We therefore make this recommendation in relation to connected persons taking from the UK and retaining them outside the UK, rather than in relation to connected persons bringing their child into the UK. In a case concerning a non-UK parent living in the UK removing a child from the UK to go to their country of origin, the application of our recommendation would depend on the facts of each case, particularly the connection of the parties to the UK. In relation to the data included in our impact assessment: The figure of 145 can be broken down as follows: 96 cases (66%) were retentions out of the UK (ie children were retained in a foreign country); 43 cases (30%) were children retained in the UK (ie children were habitually resident elsewhere); and 6 cases (4%) had no UK jurisdiction. We will be amending the impact assessment to reflect this breakdown. Please note that this data does not reflect every single case as the figures are supplied by Reunite International who can only account for those cases that are reported to their advice line. The figure of 550 was calculated on the basis of “40% of total child abductions” involve retention abroad. The figure of 40% was provided by Reunite International. Any further breakdown of these figures will need to be sought from Reunite International directly as we do not have that information. The Law Commission relies on this information as illustrative of the number of occurrences of child retention in Hague Convention terms in order to give an indication of the potential impact of our recommended new offence. As you will see in the impact assessment, these figures were not used in our cost/benefit analysis of the new offence. The data “on average, around 19% of children are returned voluntarily following international abduction” was obtained from the following text: Rhona Shuz The Hague Child Abduction Convention: A Critical Analysis (2013), page 37. We hope that this provides you with the assistance you seek. 5 Topic 2) Various questions relating to recruitment Date of Response 02/04/15 Details of Request Freedom Of Information Enquiry Q1. In last 2 years has your organisation used external recruitment agencies to hire for permanent or contract roles? Q2. In list format what are the five highest paid external recruitment agencies with the total amount paid in the last 2 years? Q3. What is the fee structure charged for the five highest paid vacancies by the above five external recruitment agencies and the roles that were hired for? Example: Office Manager - Salary £20,000 Fees paid 15% of salary = Total recruitment fees paid £3000. Q4. For the coming year what live vacancies does the organisation currently have for permanent or contract roles, please list these vacancies with the following; Current or future positions and an exact salary figure What type of positions are they? (Contract or Permanent) Who is the hiring manager, please provide their full details: Full name, Telephone number, Email, Job Title and Department Q5. On which websites are these jobs advertised? Please clearly provide a link/list to where these jobs are advertised. Q6. What is the process to selecting new recruitment agencies? Please provide the procurement process for selecting new recruitment agencies and what date is this conducted and by whom? Please provide full contact details. Q7. Is there a purchase threshold below which allows the organisation to use external recruitment agencies which are not on any preferred supplier arrangements or contracts without going through a formal tender process? Answer Your Freedom of Information Enquiry about our recruitment services was passed to me to answer. I have had to pass some of this on to our procurement team, as some of the questions may have Commercially Sensitive material. As soon as I get an answer back from them I will respond to you. I do apologise for any delay. 6 Topic 3) Bribery Date of Response 13/04/15 Details of Request I am currently completing my BSC (Honours) in Quantity Surveying Consultancy in the School of Civil Engineering & Construction, at Kingston University. I am currently conducting a research of my dissertation entitled: “The Impact of the Bribery Act 2010 in the construction Industry.” I would be most grateful, given your position and expertise, if you could kindly complete the short questionnaire. I have attached it below. It should take no longer than 5 minutes to complete.