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Written Question
British Telecom
Tuesday 22nd February 2022

Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with British Telecom following Storms Arwen, Malik and Corrie on the rollout of the BT Digital Voice.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

DCMS has frequent discussions with the BT Group, and others, to discuss a range of issues, including resilience to storms and the migration to Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP).

Through the Electronic Communications Resilience & Response Group, DCMS is working with Ofcom, BT, and other providers to complete a Post-Incident Review following Storms Arwen, Malik and Corrie. We will carefully consider the findings and work with the telecoms sector to understand where improvements can be made in future.

DCMS is also engaged in regular discussions with BT and other providers regarding the migration from the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to VoIP services. The PSTN is an outdated technology, and becoming difficult to replace and repair due to a lack of spare parts. Given it cannot be maintained, it will become increasingly unreliable.

While the PSTN upgrade is an industry-led process, the government is also working with Ofcom to ensure consumers and sectors are protected and prepared for the upgrade process. This also includes close engagement with the emergency services, such as the Police, the NHS and the Fire Brigade.


Written Question
Broadcasting: Scots Gaelic Language
Monday 17th January 2022

Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential (a) merits of including in the forthcoming Broadcasting White Paper statutory provisions for the creation of a Gaelic language media service with Public Service Broadcaster status and (b) economic and social benefits of such a service for Gaelic speaking communities.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The UK Government has a strong record of demonstrating its commitment to minority language broadcasting to ensure that our broadcasting sector serves all audiences of the UK nations and regions.

Minority language broadcasting has an important role to play in the UK’s broadcasting ecology. It provides an opportunity for audiences - such as the Gaelic speaking community - to access content in a language familiar to them, and is a vital means of cultural expression.

The Government has been undertaking a strategic review of public service broadcasting and will set out conclusions in due course.


Written Question
Television: Scots Gaelic Language
Thursday 6th January 2022

Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with Ofcom and broadcasters on supporting Gaelic language television.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Government has a strong record of demonstrating its commitment to minority language broadcasting to ensure that our broadcasting sector services all audiences of the UK nations and regions.

In particular, the government has embedded a duty to regional and minority languages within the BBC’s general duties under the current Charter, with a further set of responsibilities in the Framework Agreement.

Ministers regularly meet Ofcom and broadcasters to discuss a wide range of issues.


Written Question
Internet
Tuesday 3rd November 2020

Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to tackle offensive, harmful and illegal content online.

Answered by Caroline Dinenage

The Government is committed to ensuring that the UK is the safest place in the world to be online. In April 2019 we published the Online Harms White Paper which set out our intention to establish in law a new ‘duty of care’ on companies towards their users. The ‘duty of care’ will ensure that companies have robust systems and processes in place to tackle illegal content and protect users.

We will publish a full government response to the Online Harms White Paper consultation which will provide further detail on our proposals. This will be followed by legislation, which will be ready early next year.


Written Question
Social Media: Scotland
Thursday 5th September 2019

Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions he has had with (a) his Scottish Government counterpart and (b) social media companies on tackling online (i) abuse and (ii) extremist content in Scotland.

Answered by Matt Warman

DCMS regularly engages with social media companies and the Scottish Government on a range of issues relating to online harms, including as part of the recent consultation on the Online Harms White Paper. The consultation closed on 1 July and the Government intends to publish its response before the end of the year.


Written Question
Broadband: Scotland
Thursday 5th September 2019

Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when he next plans to meet with his Scottish Government counterpart to discuss increasing the availability of superfast broadband in the north east of Scotland.

Answered by Matt Warman

The Secretary of State met her Scottish counterpart, Paul Wheelhouse MSP, in August 2019 shortly after her appointment.

Officials from Building Digital UK meet regularly with Scottish officials on behalf of the Department to discuss broadband rollout in Scotland, including rollout in the north east of Scotland. The most recent Director level meeting was held in Glasgow on 20 August 2019.


Written Question
Voluntary Work: Young People
Tuesday 16th January 2018

Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether he plans to pilot the National Citizens Service in Scotland.

Answered by Tracey Crouch

Youth policy is a devolved matter and the decision to pilot NCS is a decision for the Scottish Government. It is this Government’s ambition that every young person is able to benefit from NCS regardless of where they live in the United Kingdom.


Written Question
Broadband: Aberdeenshire
Wednesday 13th December 2017

Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with the Scottish Government about the full fibre broadband pilot scheme in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire.

Answered by Matt Hancock

We have kept the Scottish Government informed about all aspects of the Local Full Fibre Networks programme, including the test project in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, including at Ministerial level.

For delivery of the project, which launched on 15 November 2017, we are working with the local authorities directly.


Written Question
Broadband: Aberdeenshire
Wednesday 13th December 2017

Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what the timetable is to roll out the full fibre broadband pilot scheme in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire.

Answered by Matt Hancock

We have kept the Scottish Government informed about all aspects of the Local Full Fibre Networks programme, including the test project in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, including at Ministerial level.

For delivery of the project, which launched on 15 November 2017, we are working with the local authorities directly.


Written Question
Tourism: Aberdeenshire
Tuesday 12th December 2017

Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate her Department has made of the value of tourism generated in Aberdeenshire by the Royal Family.

Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

According to the VisitScotland Visitor Survey 2015-16, 16% of tourists surveyed, domestic and international, visited the Aberdeenshire area and 13% stayed overnight in the area. In addition, tourism directly employed over 8,000 people in the Aberdeenshire area in 2015 and contributed £166m in GVA to the local economy in 2014. Data is not collected about the Royal Family’s individual impact on a destinations’ statistics.