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Written Question
Broadband and Mobile Phones: Rural Areas
Wednesday 8th February 2023

Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) broadband, and (2) mobile phone, connectivity in rural areas.

Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

Over 73% of premises in the UK can now access gigabit-capable broadband, which is a huge leap forward from January 2019, when coverage was just 6%. The competitive and pro-growth regulatory environment we have created is enabling suppliers to expand their networks to reach more homes and businesses, and we are making excellent progress with Project Gigabit, delivering fast, reliable broadband to rural and hard-to-reach parts of the UK.

We are awarding a series of contracts to suppliers to deliver gigabit-capable connectivity in areas to which the market will not go without subsidy. We have already awarded six contracts and, in total, have made almost £1 billion of funding available through our live contracts and procurements, covering up to 681,500 premises. We have also recently increased the maximum value of vouchers through the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme to support suppliers to connect premises in particularly hard-to-reach areas.

Mobile phone connectivity continues to improve in rural areas via the Government's £1 billion deal with mobile network operators to deliver the Shared Rural Network. The programme will see operators collectively increase the UK’s 4G geographic mobile network coverage to 95%; this will reduce rural ‘not spots’, levelling up coverage between rural and urban areas.

The operators have already deployed more than 150 new sites and have upgraded over 1,300 sites across the UK since the programme began in 2020. 4G coverage across the UK has increased to 92.2%, as the early impact from the Shared Rural Network took effect.


Written Question
5G
Wednesday 8th February 2023

Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of (1) rural, and (2) non-rural, areas have 5G network coverage.

Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

Ofcom is responsible for reporting on 5G coverage in Connected Nations. Ofcom first reported on 5G coverage in 2021 and is refining its measuring and reporting of this. Ofcom does not currently report on 5G availability in rural compared to non-rural areas.

According to Ofcom, (basic) ‘non-standalone’ 5G is available with a high degree of confidence from at least one mobile network operator outside 77% of UK premises.

Our forthcoming Wireless Infrastructure Strategy will articulate a clear vision for how advanced wireless infrastructure can become an integral part of the fabric of the UK's economy and society by 2030. We aim to publish the strategy in early 2023.


Written Question
Public Telephones
Wednesday 15th December 2021

Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the removal of public telephone boxes; and what steps they will take to retain public telephone boxes in rural areas with poor mobile phone connectivity.

Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The Government recognises the importance of public telephone boxes to people across the UK. The telephony Universal Service Order requires that certain providers maintain telephony services across the UK, including access to public telephone boxes.

It is for Ofcom to designate the providers subject to this Order and set rules for public telephone boxes, including the rules regarding their removal. Ofcom estimates that there are 1500 public telephone boxes in areas with poor mobile coverage, many of which will be rural.

Ofcom has recently announced a consultation designed to strengthen these rules. Ofcom’s proposals include a criterion that protects public telephone boxes where they do not have coverage from all four mobile network providers.


Written Question
Telecommunications: Rural Areas
Friday 5th March 2021

Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made in expanding communications network coverage in rural areas; and what plans they have to share the resources used by the Emergency Services Network to achieve such coverage.

Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The Government’s £1 billion Shared Rural Network (SRN) agreement with the Mobile Network Operators, will see the operators collectively increase 4G mobile coverage to 95% by the end of the programme. While the programme is still in its early stages, we anticipate that areas of the UK will see improvements in coverage long before its completion. On 27 January 2021, the operators O2, Three and Vodafone announced a joint venture to build and share 222 new mobile masts to boost rural coverage across the United Kingdom and deliver the first stage of the SRN. This will see 124 new sites built in Scotland, 33 in Wales, 11 in Northern Ireland, and 54 in England.

Furthermore, on 24 February, EE announced it will be expanding 4G in more than 500 areas in this year to improve rural connectivity across the UK as part of the programme. This will include 333 in England, 132 in Scotland, 76 in Wales, and 38 in Northern Ireland. 110 areas have already been upgraded since the SRN deal was signed, with a further 469 to follow this year in the first phase of the programme.

The Government is committed to delivering value for money for the taxpayer by sharing infrastructure where possible for the Shared Rural Network. The Home Office will make the Extended Area Service (EAS) infrastructure, which is part of the new Emergency Services Network (ESN), available to all mobile operators for deployment as part of SRN. In some specific cases, SRN site upgrades may not be possible due to insurmountable practical or cost barriers.


Written Question
Broadband: Rural Areas
Wednesday 25th July 2018

Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to extend the Better Broadband Subsidy voucher scheme beyond 31 December for the provision of broadband in the hardest to reach rural areas.

Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde

The Department is currently considering how it can most effectively use vouchers to extend broadband coverage and an announcement will be made in due course.


Written Question
Gambling: Internet
Wednesday 6th June 2018

Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government when they intend to bring forward detailed proposals for the regulation of online gambling.

Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde

The Gambling Commission is the statutory regulator for gambling in Great Britain. The Gambling Commission recently concluded a comprehensive review of the online gambling sector drawing on its experience of regulating the whole British online gambling market since November 2014, and has identified key areas where it intends to consult on regulatory changes to enhance protections for online gambling. The attached review can be found here: http://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/PDF/Online-review-March-2018.pdf

In particular, the Gambling Commission is proposing to require operators to set limits on players’ spending until affordability checks have been completed, and to introduce stricter licence requirements for gambling companies to know their customers and intervene at an earlier stage before players experience harm.

Detailed proposals will be set out at consultation stage, the timelines for which are set out in the Gambling Commission’s recently published business plan, which is attached: http://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/news-action-and-statistics/news/2018/Gambling-Commission-publishes-2018-2019-business-plan.aspx


Written Question
Gaming Machines
Wednesday 6th June 2018

Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the proposed changes to maximum stakes for gaming machines on employment in and the economy of market towns.

Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde

The Government published its response to the consultation on changes to gaming machines and social responsibility measures on 17 May accompanied by an impact assessment, which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/consultation-on-proposals-for-changes-to-gaming-machines-and-social-responsibility-measures

Whilst the impact assessment does not address specific economies such as market towns, the Government is aware of the potential impact on businesses following the decision to cut stakes on Fixed-Odds Betting Terminals and took this into consideration. A report by Geofutures, commissioned by GambleAware in February 2015, showed that betting shops are overwhelmingly in urban places and places with economic deprivation. The attached research can be viewed here:

http://about.gambleaware.org/media/1170/b2gamingmachines_finalreport_20150218.pdf

We will continue to take the actions necessary to protect those most vulnerable from harm and will work closely with the industry between now and implementation.


Written Question
Telecommunications: Rural Areas
Tuesday 3rd April 2018

Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve (1) mobile phone coverage, (2) broadband access, and (3) internet speeds, in rural areas

Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde

As set out in our 2017 5G Strategy our ambition is for the UK to have good quality mobile connectivity where people live, work and travel. This is why we reformed mobile planning laws in England in 2016, reformed the Electronic Communications Code in December 2017 and signed an Accord with the Church of England in February 2018 to make it easier and cheaper to install digital infrastructure across the UK including rural areas.


We also welcome Ofcom’s consultation, launched on 9 March, which outlines potential new licence obligations for rural coverage as part of the upcoming 700MHz spectrum auction. This will further help drive coverage improvements for consumers


£1.7 billion of public money is being invested to support vital improvements in superfast broadband coverage across the UK. BDUK will continue supporting delivery of superfast broadband beyond the 95% level, and at least a further 2% is likely to be achieved. Of which, 340,000 premises (over 1% of premises) are contracted to be delivered by March 2019


The Better Broadband Scheme is available to those who are unable to obtain a connection speed above 2Mbps. The Scheme can support access to satellite broadband, 4G or wireless connections in some locations, and can also support community fibre broadband projects through the BT Community Fibre Partnerships scheme

As confirmed in our announcement in December 2017 we are pushing ahead with our plans for a Universal Service Obligation (USO) so that, by 2020, everyone across the UK will have a clear, enforceable right to request 10 Megabit per second broadband


Defra has also allocated £30 million of grant funding from the Rural Development Programme for England, targeted at helping to connect businesses with broadband in hard to reach rural areas


Full fibre broadband connections offer the fastest and most reliable speeds available, and the government is strongly committed to a vision of full fibre Britain. In the Spring 2017 Budget £200m of funding was allocated to the Local Full Fibre Networks (LFFN) programme. This funding was used to launch a £190m Challenge Fund designed to stimulate commercial investment in full fibre networks in both rural and urban locations across the whole of the UK.

We also recently announced our £67m Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme. The voucher scheme is designed to further the strategic objective of the Local Full Fibre Networks programme to stimulate commercial investment in full fibre coverage across the UK. Gigabit broadband vouchers can be used by small businesses and local communities to subside the installation cost of ultrafast connections over gigabit-capable infrastructure.


Written Question
Internet
Monday 30th January 2017

Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the comparative access and speed of the internet between urban and rural areas; and what proposals they have to improve internet access and speeds in rural areas.

Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde

The Government is committed to improving access to quality broadband services to as many people in the UK as possible. This is why £1.7 billion of public money is being invested to support improvements in superfast broadband services across the UK. Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) is committed to bringing superfast broadband access to 95 per cent of UK premises by the end of the year. By 2020, this should reach 97 per cent through a combination of public and commercial investment. To ensure that no one is left behind, the Government is also introducing a new broadband Universal Service Obligation (USO) within this Parliament. The USO will give households and businesses the legal right to request a broadband connection with speeds of at least 10 Megabits, no matter where they live or work.


Written Question
Broadband
Wednesday 2nd March 2016

Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the average broadband speed in (1) North Yorkshire, and (2) London.

Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)

Data published by Ofcom shows that in 2011 the average broadband speed for London was 8.8 Mbit/s, with North Yorkshire averaging 6.6 Mbit/s and that by June 2015 commercial and BDUK programme roll-outs had led to an increase in the average speed to 32.6 Mbit/s for London and 22.5 Mbit/s for North Yorkshire.

This data can be downloaded the attached sheet and here:

http://maps.ofcom.org.uk/broadband/broadband-data-2011/