Asked by: Alun Cairns (Conservative - Vale of Glamorgan)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when she plans to advertise the role of S4C chair.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Preparations are being made to launch the process to appoint a new Chairman of S4C and the role will be advertised in due course. This will be a fair and open process, run in accordance with the Governance Code on Public Appointments.
Asked by: Alun Cairns (Conservative - Vale of Glamorgan)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what progress she has made in appointing an interim chair of S4C.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
An interim appointment will be announced in due course, following consultation with the S4C board and the Welsh Government. He or she will fulfil the role from 1 April, when Mr Williams steps down, until a new permanent Chairman is appointed. This is consistent with the S4C Board’s standing orders.
Asked by: Alun Cairns (Conservative - Vale of Glamorgan)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether the establishment of a digital ID scheme to facilitate financial transactions requires primary legislation.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government is making good progress to create an enabling framework of standards, legislation and governance to support a secure and trusted digital identity marketplace in the UK, working closely with a wide variety of stakeholders so that the framework meets the needs of different users.
Since 2020, we have published a prototype (alpha) UK Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework and completed a pre-legislative consultation. We plan to publish a beta version of the Trust Framework in the summer and will introduce primary legislation on digital identity into Parliament during the current session as part of the data reform bill. We have no plans to make digital identities compulsory but, as more transactions take place online, we want to offer people the choice to prove their identity digitally where and when it suits them, securely, easily and with confidence.
Asked by: Alun Cairns (Conservative - Vale of Glamorgan)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what progress her Department has made on steps to introduce a digital ID scheme to facilitate electronic transactions.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government is making good progress to create an enabling framework of standards, legislation and governance to support a secure and trusted digital identity marketplace in the UK, working closely with a wide variety of stakeholders so that the framework meets the needs of different users.
Since 2020, we have published a prototype (alpha) UK Digital Identity and Attributes Trust Framework and completed a pre-legislative consultation. We plan to publish a beta version of the Trust Framework in the summer and will introduce primary legislation on digital identity into Parliament during the current session as part of the data reform bill. We have no plans to make digital identities compulsory but, as more transactions take place online, we want to offer people the choice to prove their identity digitally where and when it suits them, securely, easily and with confidence.
Asked by: Alun Cairns (Conservative - Vale of Glamorgan)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when he plans to update the electronic communications code; and what plans he has to amend that code to support the rollout and development of the 5G network.
Answered by Matt Warman
We recently consulted on whether changes to the Electronic Communications Code were necessary in order to support the deployment of digital infrastructure, including 5G. The responses to that consultation are currently being considered and a consultation response will be published in due course. We have confirmed our intention to legislate in this Parliamentary session and will bring forward legislative proposals as soon as parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Alun Cairns (Conservative - Vale of Glamorgan)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the potential benefits of the introduction of unbundled fibre to the cabinet and sub-loop bundling of residential broadband provision.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
I favour competition at all levels of the telecoms system, where it is effective and sustainable. Sub-loop unbundling (SLU), where a competing provider takes their fibre to BT's street cabinets and connects to BT's copper lines to consumers' premises, is a standard product controlled by Ofcom. At present there appears to be limited demand from communications providers for SLU. There may be opportunities to increase the likelihood of future competition in fibre-to-the-cabinet by designing network upgrades to make such access easier at little or no additional cost at the time of deployment, but lower entry barriers subsequently. Ofcom is keeping the matter under review.
Asked by: Alun Cairns (Conservative - Vale of Glamorgan)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will initiate a review of the fibre broadband wholesale pricing structure.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
On 27 January this year, Ofcom published a consultation on an update on the impact of fibre roll-out and the proposed charge control review of the wholesale broadband access (WBA) markets, following-on from its July-September 2013 consultation on the WBA market. In this context, services provided via copper, cable and fibre access networks are considered to be within the same market. The update consultation closed on 10 March.
Asked by: Alun Cairns (Conservative - Vale of Glamorgan)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of EU proposals to remove the right for network operators to block 18-plus content.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
We are aware that there some concerns that the European Parliament's amendments to the draft Connected Continent regulation may restrict ISPs ability to block illegal content or to filter adult content at the request of customers. The UK Government supports the aims of the Connect Continent package, but let me clear that we will not agree to any proposals that restrict the ability of parents to protect their children from inappropriate content on line. We are confident that this was not the intention of the European Parliament and we are working with EU Member States, the European Commission and the European Parliament to deliver a final package that promotes an open, safe and secure internet.
Asked by: Alun Cairns (Conservative - Vale of Glamorgan)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department's policies on voluntary restrictions by network providers of adult content of recent proposals from the European Parliament on a European single market for electronic communications.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
We are aware that there some concerns that the European Parliament's amendments to the draft Connected Continent regulation may restrict ISPs ability to block illegal content or to filter adult content at the request of customers. The UK Government supports the aims of the Connect Continent package, but let me clear that we will not agree to any proposals that restrict the ability of parents to protect their children from inappropriate content on line. We are confident that this was not the intention of the European Parliament and we are working with EU Member States, the European Commission and the European Parliament to deliver a final package that promotes an open, safe and secure internet.
Asked by: Alun Cairns (Conservative - Vale of Glamorgan)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the effect on industry of delays in the implementation of the Government's proposals to streamline regulatory and competition appeals.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
No such assessment has been made. Ministers are currently considering the responses received to the consultation. They will then decide the scope and extent of proposals to be implemented.