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1241803

registered interest
date	08/10/2020
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
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 progress his Department has made with Building Digital UK in rolling out full-fibre broadband throughout the UK.
tabling member constituency	Tatton
tabling member printed	Esther McVey
uin	100988
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/10/2020 answer text <p>According to Thinkbroadband, currently 27.1% of premises have access to gigabit-capable broadband - up from 0.9% in 2016. 17.1% of premises have access to full fibre connections.</p><p>The Local Full Fibre Networks (LFFN) programme is investing £278 million to stimulate commercial investment in full fibre networks in both rural and urban locations across the whole of the UK. There are 36 projects ongoing across the UK, 34 of which are in delivery.</p><p>The Superfast Programme has delivered superfast broadband to 5.3 million premises, which constitutes 17% of all households in the UK. In 2019, the majority of delivery on the Superfast Programme moved from Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) to Fibre to the Premise (FTTP). For example, for the financial quarter April-June 2020, ~90% (27k premises out of 30k) of delivery through the programme was FTTP. The Superfast Programme, therefore, is now a significant contributor to the government’s gigabit ambitions, as well as satisfying its commitment to Superfast coverage.</p> answering member constituency Boston and Skegness answering member printed Matt Warman question first answered 23/10/2020 16:28:36 answering member 4361 label Biography information for Matt Warman
tabling member	4084 label Biography information for Esther McVey

1241806

registered interest
date	08/10/2020
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
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 progress his Department has made in upgrading broadband infrastructure in the UK.
tabling member constituency	Tatton
tabling member printed	Esther McVey
uin	100989
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/10/2020 answer text <p>According to Thinkbroadband (<a href="https://labs.thinkbroadband.com/local/" target="_blank">https://labs.thinkbroadband.com/local/</a>), coverage at UK premises for different broadband speeds is currently:</p><ul><li><p>Superfast (30Mbps) = 96.48%</p></li><li><p>Ultrafast (100Mbps) = 63.02%</p></li><li><p>Gigabit (1,000Mbps) = 27.22%</p></li><li><p>Full Fibre (Gigabit+) = 17.12%</p></li></ul><p>Virgin Media are in the process of activating gigabit services across their entire network by the end of 2021, and this currently covers over 52% of the UK. BT Openreach and CityFibre also have multi-billion pound fibre rollout programmes underway so a leap in gigabit coverage during 2021 is anticipated. This planned build predominantly covers urban areas so DCMS’s focus is on stimulating build in the more rural and disadvantaged areas of the UK where the commercial market will not build unaided.</p><p>The government has invested significant amounts in digital infrastructure over the last decade. The DCMS portfolio of active projects is currently c.£4 billion (detailed below) and in the Spring Budget, a further £5 billion of investment was announced for the hardest to reach areas of the UK. More details regarding the programme will follow in the Autumn Spending Review.</p><p>Current and future programmes are as follows:</p><ul><li><p>The Building Digital UK (BDUK) Superfast Broadband Programme is investing over £1.9 billion of public money (much of this match funded on top of this figure by local bodies, EU funds and suppliers) to ensure over 96.4% of UK premises have access to superfast broadband.</p></li><li><p>The Local Full Fibre Networks Programme (LFFN) is investing £278 million to stimulate commercial investment in full fibre networks in both rural and urban locations across the whole of the UK. Currently 17% of UK premises have access to a full fibre connection, up from 0.9% in 2016. 27.2% of UK premises have access to gigabit-capable broadband.</p></li><li><p>The Rural Gigabit Connectivity Programme (RGC) is investing up to £200 million on gigabit broadband connections in rural areas. This includes a rural voucher scheme where up to £3,500 is available to rural SMEs and up to £1,500 for rural premises is available to support the installation of gigabit-capable broadband when part of a group scheme. To date, the programme has issued vouchers to the value of £33.5 million. Top-up schemes are also operating across the UK where Local Authorities / Devolved Administrations provide their own funding on top of our values.</p></li><li><p>The Shared Rural Network Programme (SRN) is investing £500 million of public funding with a further £500 million of match funding from industry to improve rural 4G coverage across the UK. The programme has just started but has already seen the first handful of new 4G sites go live.</p></li><li><p>The 700MHz Spectrum Clearance Programme is investing up to £400 million on reconfiguring the use of the airwave in the UK to make more capacity available for 5G broadband. That programme completed its airwave clearance activity in August 2020.</p></li><li><p>The 5G Trials and Testbeds Programme is investing c.£250 million in a number of 5G projects across the UK.</p></li><li><p>We are in the process of mobilising our new £5 billion UK Gigabit Programme which was announced in the Spring Budget. Procurements will commence in early 2021.</p></li></ul><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Boston and Skegness answering member printed Matt Warman question first answered 16/10/2020 15:00:07 answering member 4361 label Biography information for Matt Warman
tabling member	4084 label Biography information for Esther McVey

1241819

registered interest
date	08/10/2020
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
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much of the UK has one gigabit capability; and what assessment he has made of the geographical distribution of one gigabit capability in (a) towns, (b) cities and (c) rural areas.
tabling member constituency	Tatton
tabling member printed	Esther McVey
uin	100993
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/10/2020 answer text <p>Building Digital UK (BDUK) uses information collected from Ofcom’s Connected Nations Report. This dataset distinguishes between urban and rural premises, and an easy to read version can be found in the Commons Library (<a href="https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/constituency-data-broadband-coverage-and-speeds/" target="_blank">https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/constituency-data-broadband-coverage-and-speeds/</a>).</p><p>However, Connected Nations does not yet hold information on specific Gigabit connectivity and therefore we use the next best source, Thinkbroadband, which does provide gigabit statistics. According to Thinkbroadband, at this moment in time 27.2% of the UK have access to gigabit capable speeds, up from 0.9% in 2016. A full list of Gigabit availability by area can be found here: <a href="http://labs.thinkbroadband.com/local/england" target="_blank">http://labs.thinkbroadband.com/local/england</a>.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Boston and Skegness answering member printed Matt Warman question first answered 22/10/2020 14:13:28 answering member 4361 label Biography information for Matt Warman
tabling member	4084 label Biography information for Esther McVey

1329840

registered interest
date	04/06/2021
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	Technology: Nature Conservation
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 his Department is taking to ensure that technology companies support efforts to tackle wildlife crime and the illegal wildlife trade.
tabling member constituency	Exeter
tabling member printed	Mr Ben Bradshaw
uin	10153
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/06/2021 answer text <p>In March, the Government hosted a roundtable with a group of conservation charities, tech companies and experts to discuss and better understand the challenges and opportunities facing the conservation sector, and the nexus with digital technologies.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>This is an important year for the world and this government. At COP26 we will unite parties to help accelerate action toward tackling climate change, which includes how we take forward action to protect and restore critical ecosystems. <a href="https://ukcop26.org/cop26-goals/" target="_blank">https://ukcop26.org/cop26-goals/</a></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>This work is ongoing, and my Department is committed to further understanding the opportunities and links between our collective goals for COP26 and conservation efforts. We will continue to engage with colleagues across government, Non-Government Organisations, conservation experts and tech companies in this regard.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Boston and Skegness answering member printed Matt Warman question first answered 11/06/2021 10:34:47 answering member 4361 label Biography information for Matt Warman
tabling member	230 label Biography information for Mr Ben Bradshaw

1242336

registered interest
date	12/10/2020
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	Telephone Services: Fees and Charges
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 recent discussions his Department has had with (a) Ofcom and the (b) Phone-paid Services Authority on improving regulation of companies selling turn key premium phone line (i) services and (ii) software to third parties.
tabling member constituency	Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey
tabling member printed	Drew Hendry
uin	102110
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/10/2020 answer text <p>The Phone-paid Services Authority (PSA) is the UK regulator for content, goods and services that are charged to a phone bill. The PSA is reviewing and updating its Code of Practice - the regulatory framework that companies offering phone-paid services to UK consumers have to follow. The PSA will consult on a draft revised Code of Practice in 2021, which Ofcom has to approve before it can come into force. The PSA keeps DCMS and Ofcom informed of the progress of the review.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Boston and Skegness answering member printed Matt Warman question first answered 15/10/2020 15:36:07 answering member 4361 label Biography information for Matt Warman
tabling member	4467 label Biography information for Drew Hendry

1242574

registered interest
date	12/10/2020
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	Housing: Broadband
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 progress he has made on ensuring developers provide new homes with gigabit broadband.
tabling member constituency	Burton
tabling member printed	Kate Griffiths
uin	102185
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/10/2020 answer text <p>Ensuring that every new home is built with fast, reliable and resilient broadband is a priority for my Department. The Government announced in March 2020 that we will amend Building Regulations 2010 to require housing developers to:</p><ul><li><p>Provide a gigabit-capable connection unless the cost exceeds £2,000, or the network operator declines to provide a connection;</p></li><li><p>Install the next fastest broadband connection which can be installed below a cost of £2,000, where a gigabit-capable connection cannot be installed below a cost of £2,000; and</p></li><li><p>Install the physical infrastructure necessary for gigabit-capable connections even where a gigabit-capable connection exceeds the cost cap.</p></li></ul><p>We are working closely with stakeholders to develop the regulations and statutory guidance and will publish a technical consultation this winter, laying the amendments to regulations in spring 2021.</p><p>The Government has also secured commitments from the CEOs of Openreach, Virgin and Gigaclear to work with housing developers to provide gigabit-capable connectivity to all new build developments across the UK, including contributing to the costs of connection.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Boston and Skegness answering member printed Matt Warman question first answered 16/10/2020 14:52:00 answering member 4361 label Biography information for Matt Warman
tabling member	4773 label Biography information for Kate Kniveton

1243130

registered interest
date	13/10/2020
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
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 he has made of trends in changes to broadband download speeds (a) regionally and (b) between urban and rural areas since 23 March 2020.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	102804
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/10/2020 answer text <p>The Ofcom Connected Nations report is published every 6 months. From this data we can see that as of May, 14.5% of the UK currently have full fibre broadband available. 15% of urban properties have full fibre broadband available. 12.4% of rural properties have full fibre broadband available.</p><p>Currently Thinkbroadband (<a href="http://labs.thinkbroadband.com/local/uk" target="_blank">http://labs.thinkbroadband.com/local/uk</a>) shows that 27.2% of premises across the UK have access to Gigabit capable broadband, however it does not provide a urban/rural split. This is up from 18% in March 2020.</p><p>A breakdown of Full Fibre service by region is as follows:</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>Jan 2020</p></td><td><p>May 2020</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>East Midlands</p></td><td><p>8.7</p></td><td><p>10.1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>East of England</p></td><td><p>6.6</p></td><td><p>8.6</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>London</p></td><td><p>15.4</p></td><td><p>18.5</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>North East</p></td><td><p>4.1</p></td><td><p>5.2</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>North West</p></td><td><p>10.2</p></td><td><p>12.0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Northern Ireland</p></td><td><p>39.5</p></td><td><p>47.4</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Scotland</p></td><td><p>10.2</p></td><td><p>12.8</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>South East</p></td><td><p>9.3</p></td><td><p>10.8</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>South West</p></td><td><p>14.2</p></td><td><p>16.8</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Wales</p></td><td><p>13.3</p></td><td><p>15.3</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>West Midlands</p></td><td><p>11.8</p></td><td><p>13.7</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Yorkshire and The Humber</p></td><td><p>19.5</p></td><td><p>22.0</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p> answering member constituency Boston and Skegness answering member printed Matt Warman question first answered 16/10/2020 14:56:09 answering member 4361 label Biography information for Matt Warman
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

1243136

registered interest
date	13/10/2020
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	Radio Frequencies
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 the clearing of the 700MHZ frequency has affected any services.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	102808
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/10/2020 answer text <p>700 MHz Spectrum Clearance has now seen over 46 million viewers retuning their TVs. The contact centre has received over 297 thousand calls asking for advice or assistance which has resulted in over 41 thousand home support visits.</p><p>No negative impact upon the elderly has been brought to the attention of the programme. The only services that have seen a change was on Com 7/8.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Boston and Skegness answering member printed Matt Warman question first answered 22/10/2020 14:19:59 answering member 4361 label Biography information for Matt Warman
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

1243137

registered interest
date	13/10/2020
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	5G
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 his Department is taking to increase (a) investment in OpenRAN technology and (b) vendor diversification in the UK’s 5G network.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	102809
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/10/2020 answer text <p>The Government wants to make Open RAN - technology that prioritises open-source and interoperable approaches - widely available across the sector so that operators can have the flexibility to use multiple suppliers throughout their network, rather than being over-reliant on one or two. This will increase choice, grow the market and build resilience. Open RAN is still in an early stage of development, however we are prioritising the testing of Open RAN through the existing 5G Testbeds and Trials Programme.</p><p>The Government will publish its targeted 5G supply chain diversification strategy focused on rebalancing the telecommunications supply chain in the coming weeks alongside the Telecoms Security Bill. The strategy will focus on measures to protect incumbents, attract new suppliers, and accelerate open-interface solutions, whilst building UK capability.</p><p>The Government has established a Diversification Taskforce - chaired by Lord Livingston of Parkhead - which will provide independent and expert advice to the Government, supporting the development of the strategy and ensuring that our measures are ambitious and effective.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Boston and Skegness answering member printed Matt Warman question first answered 20/10/2020 15:40:09 answering member 4361 label Biography information for Matt Warman
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

1243139

registered interest
date	13/10/2020
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
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 the Government is on target to meet its 2025 gigabit capable broadband rollout target.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	102811
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/10/2020 answer text <p>The Government is committed to delivering nationwide coverage of gigabit-capable broadband as soon as possible. According to ThinkBroadband, full fibre coverage now stands at 17%, up from 9% a year ago, with gigabit coverage at 27%. This means that over 1 in 4 premises can now access gigabit-capable connections.</p><p>We will continue to take action to remove barriers to meeting the target, to hasten network rollout and to ensure that those in the hardest to reach areas are not left behind. This is why we allocated £5 billion in the last budget to invest in gigabit rollout in the hardest to reach areas of the country.</p> answering member constituency Boston and Skegness answering member printed Matt Warman question first answered 20/10/2020 15:45:05 answering member 4361 label Biography information for Matt Warman
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah