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1699948

registered interest
date	12/04/2024
answering body	Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept id	216
answering dept short name	Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept sort name	Science, Innovation and Technology
hansard heading	Telecommunications: Security
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what recent discussions her Department has had with (a) Openreach Limited and (b) other telecoms operators on improving security measures for accessing shared network infrastructure.
tabling member constituency	Rhondda
tabling member printed	Sir Chris Bryant
uin	20909
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/04/2024 answer text <p>The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) regularly engages with telecoms operators to discuss a range of security and risk related issues, including the security of shared network infrastructure, and to ensure the security of telecoms network infrastructure. Officials and ministers meet regularly with individual companies (including Openreach), industry bodies and the industry-led Electronic Communications Resilience and Response Group (EC-RRG).</p><p> </p><p>Communication Providers have statutory obligations set out in section 105A-Z of the Communications Act 2003 to take appropriate and proportionate measures to identify, prepare for and reduce the risk of security compromise. This includes anything that compromises the availability, performance or functionality of the network or service.</p><p> </p><p>Openreach has commercial contracts with broadband contractors who access its ducts and poles. The Office of the Telecommunications Adjudicator (OTA) works with Openreach and Communication Providers to support mediated resolution of working-level implementation issues relating to these contracts. If there are concerns that statutory obligations are being breached, then these should be raised with Ofcom. Ofcom’s Openreach Monitoring Unit ensures that the company meets expectations in how it deals with both its customers and its competitors.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Hornchurch and Upminster answering member printed Julia Lopez question first answered 17/04/2024 09:30:10 answering member 4647 label Biography information for Julia Lopez
tabling member	1446 label Biography information for Sir Chris Bryant

1700096

registered interest
date	12/04/2024
answering body	Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept id	216
answering dept short name	Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept sort name	Science, Innovation and Technology
hansard heading	Broadband: Suffolk Coastal
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if she will make an estimate of the proportion of households that have access to broadband in Suffolk Coastal constituency.
tabling member constituency	Suffolk Coastal
tabling member printed	Dr Thérèse Coffey
uin	21015
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/04/2024 answer text <p>According to Ofcom’s December 2023 Connected Nations report, over 95% of premises in the Suffolk Coastal constituency have access to a superfast connection, with 37% having access to a gigabit-capable connection. Only 2% of premises are unable to access a decent fixed broadband connection and may be able to get an improved connection through the Broadband Universal Service Obligation (USO).</p><p>The Broadband USO gives individuals the right to request a decent broadband connection. Consumers are deemed not to have a decent broadband connection if their current connection falls below 10Mbps download and 1Mbps upload; the cost of accessing a decent broadband connection is higher than £56.20 per month and they are not due to be connected by an existing government scheme within the next 12 months.</p><p>Consumers whose connections would cost more than the reasonable cost threshold covered by the USO (of £3,400), can choose to pay the excess cost (with crowdfunding options available).</p><p>The Government is rolling out Project Gigabit, a £5 billion mission to deliver gigabit-capable broadband to 99% of UK premises by 2030. This constituency is included in the Project Gigabit contract for Suffolk that was signed by the supplier CityFibre in June 2023.</p> answering member constituency Hornchurch and Upminster answering member printed Julia Lopez question first answered 22/04/2024 10:09:15 answering member 4647 label Biography information for Julia Lopez
tabling member	4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey

1700097

registered interest
date	12/04/2024
answering body	Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept id	216
answering dept short name	Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept sort name	Science, Innovation and Technology
hansard heading	Broadband: Suffolk Coastal
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to help improve (a) 4G and (b) 5G coverage in (i) Suffolk Coastal constituency and (ii) Suffolk.
tabling member constituency	Suffolk Coastal
tabling member printed	Dr Thérèse Coffey
uin	21016
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/04/2024 answer text <p>This Government is taking steps to improve both 4G and 5G coverage across the country.</p><p> </p><p>In the East of England our £1bn agreement with the industry to deliver the Shared Rural Network programme (SRN) will see 4G coverage from all four Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) rise to 93% of the geographic landmass, up from 90% when the programme began in 2020.</p><p> </p><p>In Suffolk Coastal, 4G coverage already stands at 81% geographic coverage from all four MNOs and almost 100% from at least one MNO. While the SRN is focused on areas with poorer coverage, it is not the only focus for infrastructure investment for mobile connectivity. In addition, the MNOs independently invest around £2 billion annually across the UK in enhancing and improving their networks.</p><p> </p><p>According to Ofcom’s Connected Nations report, basic, non-standalone, 5G is available outside 74% of premises in the Suffolk Coastal constituency from at least one MNO. In the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-wireless-infrastructure-strategy/uk-wireless-infrastructure-strategy" target="_blank">Wireless Infrastructure Strategy</a>, published in April 2023, we announced a new ambition for nationwide coverage of higher quality standalone 5G in all populated areas by 2030. The strategy includes a series of measures to help the private sector invest in 5G networks by supporting investment and driving the take-up of innovative, 5G-enabled tech by businesses and the public sector.</p><p> </p><p>The Department provides extensive guidance for local authorities and operators to help facilitate broadband and mobile deployment through the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/digital-connectivity-portal" target="_blank">Digital Connectivity Portal</a>. We have also taken steps to make it easier and cheaper for operators to deploy 4G and 5G. This includes reforming the planning system in England. Alongside this, measures within the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act 2022, will support the deployment of wireless infrastructure, including 4G and 5G.</p> answering member constituency Hornchurch and Upminster answering member printed Julia Lopez question first answered 22/04/2024 10:12:01 answering member 4647 label Biography information for Julia Lopez
tabling member	4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey

1700101

registered interest
date	12/04/2024
answering body	Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept id	216
answering dept short name	Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept sort name	Science, Innovation and Technology
hansard heading	Department for Science, Innovation and Technology: Suffolk Coastal
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if she will make an assessment of the potential economic impact of funding provided by her Department to projects in Suffolk Coastal constituency in the last four years.
tabling member constituency	Suffolk Coastal
tabling member printed	Dr Thérèse Coffey
uin	21020
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/04/2024 answer text <p>UK Research and Innovation spend in Suffolk in financial year 2020-21 (the latest available data) was £1.71 million, of which £1.6 million was from Innovate UK (IUK).</p><p> </p><p>In December 2023, in collaboration with New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership, IUK launched the <a href="https://iuk.ktn-uk.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/FINAL_New-Anglia-Action-Plan.pdf" target="_blank">New Anglia Local Action Plan</a> to give Norfolk and Suffolk innovators and entrepreneurs improved access to expertise, tools and support to help them grow. For example, Haverhill-based Keronite has used an IUK grant to develop a highly efficient, low-impact solution to water treatment.</p> answering member constituency Arundel and South Downs answering member printed Andrew Griffith question first answered 22/04/2024 10:14:47 answering member 4874 label Biography information for Andrew Griffith
tabling member	4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey

1700102

registered interest
date	12/04/2024
answering body	Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept id	216
answering dept short name	Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept sort name	Science, Innovation and Technology
hansard heading	Broadband: Suffolk Coastal
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps she is taking to help provide broadband connections to rural communities in Suffolk.
tabling member constituency	Suffolk Coastal
tabling member printed	Dr Thérèse Coffey
uin	21021
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/04/2024 answer text <p>According to the independent website Thinkbroadband.com, 98% of premises in the county of Suffolk can access a superfast broadband connection. Furthermore, over 68% of premises are able to access a gigabit-capable connection, up from just 4% in December 2019.</p><p> </p><p>In June 2023 we announced that a Project Gigabit contract had been awarded to the supplier CityFibre. This contract has a value of over £100 million, covering 79,500 hard-to-reach premises in Suffolk that would otherwise miss out on a gigabit-capable connection. The supplier has completed the initial planning and survey work for this contract and the first connections are expected to be made this summer. We expect the contract to be completed by December 2028.</p> answering member constituency Hornchurch and Upminster answering member printed Julia Lopez question first answered 22/04/2024 10:21:03 answering member 4647 label Biography information for Julia Lopez
tabling member	4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey

1700251

registered interest
date	12/04/2024
answering body	Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept id	216
answering dept short name	Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept sort name	Science, Innovation and Technology
hansard heading	Department for Science, Innovation and Technology: Disinformation
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of her Department's media literacy strategy in countering (a) mis- and (b) dis-information.
tabling member constituency	Barnsley Central
tabling member printed	Dan Jarvis
uin	21042
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/04/2024 answer text <p>Improving media literacy is one of the government’s key tools in tackling the harm caused by misinformation and disinformation. To demonstrate how the Government is delivering against the objectives of the Online Media Literacy Strategy, we are publishing annual Action Plans each financial year until the end of 2024/25. Through media literacy grant schemes, we have provided almost £2 million in funding to a range of educational projects.</p><p>These projects seek to build the online safety and critical thinking skills of internet users, empowering them to respond effectively to the threats posed by mis- and disinformation, along with other online harms. All funded projects are evaluated robustly, including by independent experts, and findings will be published on gov.uk upon completion. This will improve the effectiveness and efficiency of future media literacy initiatives and inform government policy moving forward.</p><p>As part of this work, we established the Media Literacy Taskforce to bring together organisations in the media literacy landscape to amplify, increase and improve media literacy provision across underserved parts of the UK. Taskforce members advised the government on which projects should be awarded funding, and then helped grant recipients to maximise the impact of their projects.</p><p>Alongside the Strategy, the Online Safety Act updates Ofcom’s statutory media literacy duty to require it to take tangible steps to prioritise the public's awareness of and resilience to misinformation and disinformation online.</p> answering member constituency Meriden answering member printed Saqib Bhatti question first answered 22/04/2024 10:25:45 answering member 4818 label Biography information for Saqib Bhatti
tabling member	4243 label Biography information for Dan Jarvis

1699330

registered interest
date	27/03/2024
answering body	Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept id	216
answering dept short name	Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept sort name	Science, Innovation and Technology
hansard heading	Internet: Data Protection
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to ensure that existing web protocols designed to prevent unauthorised access to personal data are widely known and easily navigable for both individuals and organisations.
tabling member printed	Lord Freyberg
uin	HL3675
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/04/2024 answer text <p>The UK’s existing Data Protection Framework requires organisations, including those developing AI technologies such as Large Language Models, to comply with UK data protection principles on lawfulness, fairness and transparency.</p><p>This includes requirements to make sure that processing personal data is ‘necessary’ for the intended purposes, carried out in a way that people would reasonably expect, and that data subjects are informed about processing and able to exercise their rights.</p><p>The Information Commissioner’s Office has updated guidance on how data protection laws apply to AI systems that process personal data to include fairness across the AI lifecycle.</p> answering member printed Viscount Camrose grouped question UIN HL3676 HL3677 HL3678 question first answered 12/04/2024 09:33:40 answering member 4939 label Biography information for Viscount Camrose
tabling member	2593 label Biography information for Lord Freyberg

1699331

registered interest
date	27/03/2024
answering body	Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept id	216
answering dept short name	Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept sort name	Science, Innovation and Technology
hansard heading	Artificial Intelligence
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what measures they have implemented to address the challenges individuals may face in opting out of large language models accessing their personal data, particularly considering any complexity and difficulty of navigating existing protocols.
tabling member printed	Lord Freyberg
uin	HL3676
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/04/2024 answer text <p>The UK’s existing Data Protection Framework requires organisations, including those developing AI technologies such as Large Language Models, to comply with UK data protection principles on lawfulness, fairness and transparency.</p><p>This includes requirements to make sure that processing personal data is ‘necessary’ for the intended purposes, carried out in a way that people would reasonably expect, and that data subjects are informed about processing and able to exercise their rights.</p><p>The Information Commissioner’s Office has updated guidance on how data protection laws apply to AI systems that process personal data to include fairness across the AI lifecycle.</p> answering member printed Viscount Camrose grouped question UIN HL3675 HL3677 HL3678 question first answered 12/04/2024 09:33:40 answering member 4939 label Biography information for Viscount Camrose
tabling member	2593 label Biography information for Lord Freyberg

1699332

registered interest
date	27/03/2024
answering body	Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept id	216
answering dept short name	Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept sort name	Science, Innovation and Technology
hansard heading	Artificial Intelligence: Data Protection
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce measures to encourage companies using large language models to adopt easily accessible machine-readable opt-in mechanisms to obtain consent from data subjects.
tabling member printed	Lord Freyberg
uin	HL3677
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/04/2024 answer text <p>The UK’s existing Data Protection Framework requires organisations, including those developing AI technologies such as Large Language Models, to comply with UK data protection principles on lawfulness, fairness and transparency.</p><p>This includes requirements to make sure that processing personal data is ‘necessary’ for the intended purposes, carried out in a way that people would reasonably expect, and that data subjects are informed about processing and able to exercise their rights.</p><p>The Information Commissioner’s Office has updated guidance on how data protection laws apply to AI systems that process personal data to include fairness across the AI lifecycle.</p> answering member printed Viscount Camrose grouped question UIN HL3675 HL3676 HL3678 question first answered 12/04/2024 09:33:40 answering member 4939 label Biography information for Viscount Camrose
tabling member	2593 label Biography information for Lord Freyberg

1699333

registered interest
date	27/03/2024
answering body	Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept id	216
answering dept short name	Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept sort name	Science, Innovation and Technology
hansard heading	Artificial Intelligence
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to implement regulations mandating AI developers to incorporate web protocols aimed at preventing large language models from accessing personal data without obtaining prior consent.
tabling member printed	Lord Freyberg
uin	HL3678
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/04/2024 answer text <p>The UK’s existing Data Protection Framework requires organisations, including those developing AI technologies such as Large Language Models, to comply with UK data protection principles on lawfulness, fairness and transparency.</p><p>This includes requirements to make sure that processing personal data is ‘necessary’ for the intended purposes, carried out in a way that people would reasonably expect, and that data subjects are informed about processing and able to exercise their rights.</p><p>The Information Commissioner’s Office has updated guidance on how data protection laws apply to AI systems that process personal data to include fairness across the AI lifecycle.</p> answering member printed Viscount Camrose grouped question UIN HL3675 HL3676 HL3677 question first answered 12/04/2024 09:33:39 answering member 4939 label Biography information for Viscount Camrose
tabling member	2593 label Biography information for Lord Freyberg