Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether the Government plans to announce a spectrum auction by 2020.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
UK spectrum auctions are managed by Ofcom. Ofcom expects to auction up to 190 MHz of spectrum at 2.3 GHz and 3.4 GHz in this financial year (2015/16). No decision has yet been taken by Ofcom as to whether an auction will be used to assign future spectrum released from public sector use or freed up by the clearance of the 700 MHz band, or the timing of any such auction.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent steps he has taken to implement EU regulations on net neutrality.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
Negotiations are continuing on an EU Regulation on net neutrality, as part of the Connected Continent package. Should a common position be agreed between the European Council, the European Commission and the European Parliament, and the Regulation adopted, the Regulation will be directly applicable in UK law.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when he expects all internet connection speeds to be 2Mbps or more in (a) Windsor constituency, (b) South-East England and (c) the UK.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
According to Ofcom only 3 per cent of UK premises have access to speeds of less than 2Mbps, down from 11 per cent in 2010. As a result of the commercial and government investments, the number of premises with a broadband service below 2Mbps continues to reduce. The government will however, before the end of 2015, make available options to deliver the minimum 2mbps broadband commitment for all qualifying premises.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much his Department has spent on promoting or advertising (a) fibre optic and (b) satellite broadband to the public in each of the last three years.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The Department has run a national awareness campaign to promote superfast broadband in the financial year 2014-15 only. The campaign ran from December 2014 to March 2015 and did not differentiate between fibre optic and satellite. A total cost of £8 million has been set aside for this campaign to include the media buying costs (e.g. the airtime for TV/press adverts) as well as production costs for adverts (TV/radio/digital/out of home), social media activity and a toolkit of materials for local authorities.
In addition, as part of the Government’s Business is GREAT campaign we have spent £1.667 million on advertising aimed at small businesses to encourage them to take up a grant for superfast broadband connection for their businesses with a supplier of their choice. This campaign ran September - December 2014 and comprised media buying costs (out of home posters, local press advertisements and radio airtime) and production costs (e.g. photography, fees, printing).
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent progress the Government has made on increasing competition among internet service providers.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The UK has a highly competitive and open market for Internet Service Providers. There are dozens of companies providing services either using their own network or making use of wholesale products provided by BT. BT’s wholesale access products are open to all Internet Service Providers, meaning that consumers have a range of retail Internet Service Providers to buy broadband services from.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the current BBC funding model; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
No such assessment has been made. The Government has said that the right time to consider these questions is as part of the Charter Review which will not be starting in advance of the Election in 2015. |
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he has taken to encourage public sector users of the radio spectrum to share bands.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
All public sector spectrum users are subject to Administered Incentive Pricing (AIP) which serves to encourage spectrum to be used efficiently or released to other uses. This charge is set by HM Treasury with advice from Ofcom and the DCMS.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what the average (a) download and (b) upload speed in (i) the UK, (ii) the South East, (iii) Berkshire and (iv) Windsor constituency was on the latest date for which figures are available.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
Ofcom’s October 2013 Infrastructure Report reported that download modem sync speeds in May 2013 were 17.7Mbit/s for the UK, 17.6Mbit/s for South East England, 19.2Mbit/s for Berkshire, and 18.5Mbit/s for the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. Average upload speeds were not published in the infrastructure report. However in Ofcom’s UK fixed-line broadband performance report for November 2013 reported an average actual upload speed of 2.3Mbit/s for UK residential fixed-line broadband connections, but they did not publish a geographic breakdown.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent steps he has taken to provide more business resources in libraries.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The Enterprising Libraries programme, a £1.2 million partnership between Arts Council England, the British Library and the Department for Communities and Local Government, is supporting local economic growth by turning libraries into spaces for the development of business ideas, providing coaching, advice, meeting spaces and IT support for local businesses and entrepreneurs. Currently sixteen public libraries in England are actively engaged in the programme and receiving financial support.
Other specific initiatives being delivered through public libraries includes the Access to Research service. This two year pilot commenced in January 2014 and provides a free service enabling local libraries to provide users with access to a wealth of research, including business information. In addition, library authorities are developing business resources to meet local needs. Staffordshire for example has introduced Start2, a service that is available in all public libraries across the county and has trained staff offering information and signposting on all aspects of looking for and finding work, including providing a starting point for entrepreneurs who want to start their own business and small enterprises looking to expand by signposting them to relevant sources of information or specialist organisations.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what progress he has made on improving the availability of superfast broadband in (a) the Thames Valley and (b) Windsor constituency.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
I can confirm that the Berkshire broadband project was allocated £2.03m, which was matched by the Berkshire councils, the project signed its supplier contract on 04 October 2013 and is proposing to make available superfast broadband to over 17,000 premises that would not otherwise have got it.
Ofcom monitors and reports on broadband and the table is of Next Generation Access availability across Berkshire between 2012 and 2013:
Local Authorities | 2012 | 2013 |
BRACKNELL FOREST | 76.8% | 96.2% |
READING | 92.9% | 95.0% |
SLOUGH | 91.7% | 96.6% |
WEST BERKSHIRE | 59.5% | 65.1% |
WINDSOR AND MAIDENHEAD | 83.1% | 89.7% |
WOKINGHAM | 87.3% | 92.5% |
Berkshire | 81.7% | 88.5% |