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1490600

registered interest
date	19/07/2022
answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept id	10
answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	Broadband: Misrepresentation
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of potential risks to the consumer of fibre to the cabinet products being sold as fibre products.
tabling member constituency	Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey
tabling member printed	Drew Hendry
uin	39900
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/07/2022 answer text <p>The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is the UK’s independent regulator of advertising across all media.</p><p>In 2017, the ASA considered the case of whether fibre to the cabinet products could be marketed as fibre. Their <a href="https://www.asa.org.uk/news/asa-concludes-review-of-fibre-broadband.html" target="_blank">conclusion</a> was that 'the word ‘fibre’ is unlikely to mislead consumers as it is currently used in the advertising of part-fibre broadband services.'</p><p>The Government understands the significant benefits full-fibre broadband brings over fibre to the cabinet technologies, and that is why we are investing £5 billion in Project Gigabit to ensure at least 85% of the UK will have gigabit-capable connectivity by 2025.</p> answering member constituency Boston and Skegness answering member printed Matt Warman question first answered 25/07/2022 14:15:42 answering member 4361 label Biography information for Matt Warman
tabling member	4467 label Biography information for Drew Hendry

1490658

registered interest
date	19/07/2022
answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept id	10
answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	Mobile Phones: Fraud
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has received representations on unauthorised text messages causing charges for consumers.
tabling member constituency	Erith and Thamesmead
tabling member printed	Abena Oppong-Asare
uin	40015
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/07/2022 answer text <p>DCMS regularly engages with industry, regulators and other government departments on the issue of nuisance communications, including unsolicited marketing communications.</p><p>Services which charge consumers for receiving text messages (premium SMS) are regulated by the Phone-paid Services Authority (PSA). In 2019, the PSA took enforcement action against companies for misleading and charging consumers for services without their consent, and introduced new rules to require a two-stage approval process before taking out a new subscription service. The PSA also extended these requirements to one-off purchases in their <a href="https://psauthority.org.uk/-/media/Files/PSA/00NEW-website/For-business/Code-guidance-and-compliance/Code-of-Practice/PSA_Code_of_Practice_15th_18-05-2022.ashx" target="_blank">2021 Code of Practice.</a></p><p>Under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (PECR), organisations must not send unauthorised marketing text messages to individuals without their prior consent, and consumers must be able to opt-out of future messaging, free of charge except for the cost of the initial transmission of refusal.</p><p>If consumers are concerned about receiving unauthorised marketing texts, they can report these to the <a href="https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/nuisance-calls-and-messages/" target="_blank">Information Commissioner’s Office</a>. In relation to SMS charging, we would encourage people to contact the <a href="https://psauthority.org.uk/For-Consumers/Report-an-Issue" target="_blank">PSA </a>to seek advice.</p> answering member constituency Boston and Skegness answering member printed Matt Warman question first answered 25/07/2022 14:13:22 answering member 4361 label Biography information for Matt Warman
tabling member	4820 label Biography information for Abena Oppong-Asare

1490678

registered interest
date	19/07/2022
answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept id	10
answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	BBC News
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the impact of the merger of BBC News and BBC World News on the effectiveness of public service news broadcasting (a) in the UK and (b) overseas; and what discussions she has had with representatives of the BBC on funding to maintain those services.
tabling member constituency	Twickenham
tabling member printed	Munira Wilson
uin	40007
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/07/2022 answer text <p>The BBC’s proposal to merge BBC News and BBC World News means that the BBC will continue to provide a 24 hour news channel both domestically and abroad. This forms part of the BBC’s plan announced on 26 May to keep the BBC relevant and offer value to all audiences in an on-demand age, with a particular focus on plans to build a digital-first BBC.</p><p>We believe the recent licence fee settlement is a fair settlement for the BBC, which will see the BBC continue to receive £3.7bn in annual public funding to deliver its Mission and Public Purposes and continue doing what it does best. We recognise the BBC, just like individual households, businesses and other organisations across the UK, is having to make difficult financial decisions. But the BBC is operationally and editorially independent from the government, and decisions over its spending and services are a matter for them.</p><p>The Government strongly values the BBC’s work in promoting UK values globally through its independent and impartial broadcasting. The Foreign, Commonwealth &amp; Development Office will also continue to provide the BBC World Service with £94.4m p/a for the period 2022-2025.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Boston and Skegness answering member printed Matt Warman question first answered 25/07/2022 14:19:38 answering member 4361 label Biography information for Matt Warman
tabling member	4776 label Biography information for Munira Wilson

1490765

registered interest
date	19/07/2022
answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept id	10
answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	Broadband: Prices
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to raise awareness of social tariffs on broadband packages for consumers in receipt of benefits.
tabling member constituency	Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross
tabling member printed	Jamie Stone
uin	39959
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/07/2022 answer text <p>Raising awareness of social tariffs amongst eligible households is a key priority for DCMS.</p><p>We are working closely with other departments including the Department for Education, and the Department for Work and Pensions, to share information on the availability of social tariffs with libraries, local authorities, schools and regional job centres. We have also engaged a number of charities to circulate social tariff messaging to help reach those who may qualify for support.</p><p>On 27 June, the Secretary of State secured a set of public <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/telecoms-industry-agrees-to-new-cost-of-living-plan-following-government-summit-led-by-digital-secretary-nadine-dorries" target="_blank">commitments</a> from the UK’s major mobile and broadband providers to support families through the rise in the cost of living, which includes increasing efforts to promote their social tariff offers. To support the sector, the government is developing eligibility checking software which will allow a more efficient application process. We expect this work to conclude over the summer.</p> answering member constituency Boston and Skegness answering member printed Matt Warman question first answered 25/07/2022 14:29:40 answering member 4361 label Biography information for Matt Warman
tabling member	4612 label Biography information for Jamie Stone