Asked by: Andrew George (Liberal Democrat - St Ives)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what discussions he has had with (a) local authorities and (b) Local Resilience Forums on supporting telecommunications resilience during power outages.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
From conversations with local MPs and organisations involved in the response to Storm Goretti, I understand their concerns around telecommunications resilience, particularly in rural areas.
I have asked my officials in the Cabinet Office and my ministerial colleagues in the relevant departments to look very carefully at the lessons being drawn from Storm Goretti and consider what further measures are needed.
Local Resilience Forums have access to the Resilient Voice System, a central government provided capability for use during significant disruption to the telecommunications network.
Asked by: Andrew George (Liberal Democrat - St Ives)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of implementing alternative models for improving power resilience of mobile telecommunications networks, including the use of (a) shared or mobile back‑up generators, (b) regionally stored generators deployable in emergencies, or (c) partnerships with local authorities or resilience forums.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Residents in rural areas, as well as other areas of the country, rightly expect to have reliable mobile connectivity to participate in the modern digital economy. The Government recognises that events like storms and power outages can have a particular impact on rural communities.
Mobile network operators have legal obligations to put in place appropriate and proportionate measures to ensure the resilience of their networks and services. This is overseen by the independent regulator Ofcom, who have powers to monitor compliance, conduct investigations, issue penalties and enforce remedial actions.
Ofcom have completed a public consultation on power back-up for mobile services across the UK, which gained input from wide range of interested parties including mobile network operators, other industry bodies, local authorities, and members of the public. They published an update on their work in February 2025, setting out the results of their analysis of the resilience of mobile networks, and estimated that the cost of upgrading mobile networks to ensure almost everyone can maintain access to the emergency services for up to 4 hours would be £1 billion. Ofcom also announced they are completing further analysis to determine the appropriate and proportionate measures required to ensure adequate resilience for consumers. The Government looks forward to the rapid conclusion of that work.
The Government is also supporting collaboration between the electricity and telecommunications sectors to deliver measures so that when power cuts occur the likelihood of disruption to telecommunications services is as low as possible, and where disruption does occur it should affect as few people for the shortest possible time.
Asked by: Andrew George (Liberal Democrat - St Ives)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what estimate her Department has made of the potential impact of providing back‑up power to mobile phone masts on consumer electricity costs; and whether this estimate is based on (a) Departmental modelling and (b) information provided by mobile network operators.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Residents in rural areas, as well as other areas of the country, rightly expect to have reliable mobile connectivity to participate in the modern digital economy. The Government recognises that events like storms and power outages can have a particular impact on rural communities.
Mobile network operators have legal obligations to put in place appropriate and proportionate measures to ensure the resilience of their networks and services. This is overseen by the independent regulator Ofcom, who have powers to monitor compliance, conduct investigations, issue penalties and enforce remedial actions.
Ofcom have completed a public consultation on power back-up for mobile services across the UK, which gained input from wide range of interested parties including mobile network operators, other industry bodies, local authorities, and members of the public. They published an update on their work in February 2025, setting out the results of their analysis of the resilience of mobile networks, and estimated that the cost of upgrading mobile networks to ensure almost everyone can maintain access to the emergency services for up to 4 hours would be £1 billion. Ofcom also announced they are completing further analysis to determine the appropriate and proportionate measures required to ensure adequate resilience for consumers. The Government looks forward to the rapid conclusion of that work.
The Government is also supporting collaboration between the electricity and telecommunications sectors to deliver measures so that when power cuts occur the likelihood of disruption to telecommunications services is as low as possible, and where disruption does occur it should affect as few people for the shortest possible time.
Asked by: Andrew George (Liberal Democrat - St Ives)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of installing back‑up power at mobile phone masts on (a) one‑off capital costs, (b) ongoing operational and maintenance costs and (c) consumer bills.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Residents in rural areas, as well as other areas of the country, rightly expect to have reliable mobile connectivity to participate in the modern digital economy. The Government recognises that events like storms and power outages can have a particular impact on rural communities.
Mobile network operators have legal obligations to put in place appropriate and proportionate measures to ensure the resilience of their networks and services. This is overseen by the independent regulator Ofcom, who have powers to monitor compliance, conduct investigations, issue penalties and enforce remedial actions.
Ofcom have completed a public consultation on power back-up for mobile services across the UK, which gained input from wide range of interested parties including mobile network operators, other industry bodies, local authorities, and members of the public. They published an update on their work in February 2025, setting out the results of their analysis of the resilience of mobile networks, and estimated that the cost of upgrading mobile networks to ensure almost everyone can maintain access to the emergency services for up to 4 hours would be £1 billion. Ofcom also announced they are completing further analysis to determine the appropriate and proportionate measures required to ensure adequate resilience for consumers. The Government looks forward to the rapid conclusion of that work.
The Government is also supporting collaboration between the electricity and telecommunications sectors to deliver measures so that when power cuts occur the likelihood of disruption to telecommunications services is as low as possible, and where disruption does occur it should affect as few people for the shortest possible time.
Asked by: Andrew George (Liberal Democrat - St Ives)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether she has made an estimate of the period of time for which improved power resilience at mobile phone masts would increase consumer bills.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Residents in rural areas, as well as other areas of the country, rightly expect to have reliable mobile connectivity to participate in the modern digital economy. The Government recognises that events like storms and power outages can have a particular impact on rural communities.
Mobile network operators have legal obligations to put in place appropriate and proportionate measures to ensure the resilience of their networks and services. This is overseen by the independent regulator Ofcom, who have powers to monitor compliance, conduct investigations, issue penalties and enforce remedial actions.
Ofcom have completed a public consultation on power back-up for mobile services across the UK, which gained input from wide range of interested parties including mobile network operators, other industry bodies, local authorities, and members of the public. They published an update on their work in February 2025, setting out the results of their analysis of the resilience of mobile networks, and estimated that the cost of upgrading mobile networks to ensure almost everyone can maintain access to the emergency services for up to 4 hours would be £1 billion. Ofcom also announced they are completing further analysis to determine the appropriate and proportionate measures required to ensure adequate resilience for consumers. The Government looks forward to the rapid conclusion of that work.
The Government is also supporting collaboration between the electricity and telecommunications sectors to deliver measures so that when power cuts occur the likelihood of disruption to telecommunications services is as low as possible, and where disruption does occur it should affect as few people for the shortest possible time.
Asked by: Andrew George (Liberal Democrat - St Ives)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether she has consulted (a) industry bodies and (b) community representatives on proposals to improve mobile network resilience.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Residents in rural areas, as well as other areas of the country, rightly expect to have reliable mobile connectivity to participate in the modern digital economy. The Government recognises that events like storms and power outages can have a particular impact on rural communities.
Mobile network operators have legal obligations to put in place appropriate and proportionate measures to ensure the resilience of their networks and services. This is overseen by the independent regulator Ofcom, who have powers to monitor compliance, conduct investigations, issue penalties and enforce remedial actions.
Ofcom have completed a public consultation on power back-up for mobile services across the UK, which gained input from wide range of interested parties including mobile network operators, other industry bodies, local authorities, and members of the public. They published an update on their work in February 2025, setting out the results of their analysis of the resilience of mobile networks, and estimated that the cost of upgrading mobile networks to ensure almost everyone can maintain access to the emergency services for up to 4 hours would be £1 billion. Ofcom also announced they are completing further analysis to determine the appropriate and proportionate measures required to ensure adequate resilience for consumers. The Government looks forward to the rapid conclusion of that work.
The Government is also supporting collaboration between the electricity and telecommunications sectors to deliver measures so that when power cuts occur the likelihood of disruption to telecommunications services is as low as possible, and where disruption does occur it should affect as few people for the shortest possible time.
Asked by: Andrew George (Liberal Democrat - St Ives)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assumptions her Department used to estimate the cost of installing back‑up power at mobile phone masts, including assumptions on (a) the number of sites covered, (b) the type of back‑up power provision assumed, and (c) the expected operational lifetime of such equipment.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Residents in rural areas, as well as other areas of the country, rightly expect to have reliable mobile connectivity to participate in the modern digital economy. The Government recognises that events like storms and power outages can have a particular impact on rural communities.
Mobile network operators have legal obligations to put in place appropriate and proportionate measures to ensure the resilience of their networks and services. This is overseen by the independent regulator Ofcom, who have powers to monitor compliance, conduct investigations, issue penalties and enforce remedial actions.
Ofcom have completed a public consultation on power back-up for mobile services across the UK, which gained input from wide range of interested parties including mobile network operators, other industry bodies, local authorities, and members of the public. They published an update on their work in February 2025, setting out the results of their analysis of the resilience of mobile networks, and estimated that the cost of upgrading mobile networks to ensure almost everyone can maintain access to the emergency services for up to 4 hours would be £1 billion. Ofcom also announced they are completing further analysis to determine the appropriate and proportionate measures required to ensure adequate resilience for consumers. The Government looks forward to the rapid conclusion of that work.
The Government is also supporting collaboration between the electricity and telecommunications sectors to deliver measures so that when power cuts occur the likelihood of disruption to telecommunications services is as low as possible, and where disruption does occur it should affect as few people for the shortest possible time.
Asked by: Andrew George (Liberal Democrat - St Ives)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what advice her Department has received from (a) mobile network operators, (b) Ofcom and (c) independent telecommunications resilience experts on the most cost‑effective means of improving back‑up power provision at mobile phone masts.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Residents in rural areas, as well as other areas of the country, rightly expect to have reliable mobile connectivity to participate in the modern digital economy. The Government recognises that events like storms and power outages can have a particular impact on rural communities.
Mobile network operators have legal obligations to put in place appropriate and proportionate measures to ensure the resilience of their networks and services. This is overseen by the independent regulator Ofcom, who have powers to monitor compliance, conduct investigations, issue penalties and enforce remedial actions.
Ofcom have completed a public consultation on power back-up for mobile services across the UK, which gained input from wide range of interested parties including mobile network operators, other industry bodies, local authorities, and members of the public. They published an update on their work in February 2025, setting out the results of their analysis of the resilience of mobile networks, and estimated that the cost of upgrading mobile networks to ensure almost everyone can maintain access to the emergency services for up to 4 hours would be £1 billion. Ofcom also announced they are completing further analysis to determine the appropriate and proportionate measures required to ensure adequate resilience for consumers. The Government looks forward to the rapid conclusion of that work.
The Government is also supporting collaboration between the electricity and telecommunications sectors to deliver measures so that when power cuts occur the likelihood of disruption to telecommunications services is as low as possible, and where disruption does occur it should affect as few people for the shortest possible time.