Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of electricity supply disruption on households with fibre broadband.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
DSIT engages regularly with Communication Providers and Ofcom regulate how telecoms companies should fulfil their regulatory obligations in the event of a power cut. Communication Providers are required to meet standards and specifications set out in the General Conditions of Entitlement, under obligations imposed by the Communications Act 2003, to ensure continuity of service. Ofcom guidance states that communications providers should have at least one solution that enables access to emergency organisations, for a minimum of one hour in the event of a power outage.
DSIT works closely on a range of resilience issues in partnership with industry, through the Electronic Communications Resilience & Response Group (EC-RRG), who engage in regular dialogue with the Energy Networks Association across a range of issues to help strengthen resilience between the two sectors. Ofcom recently closed a consultation on proposing a set of revised resilience guidance for communications providers with a statement on the resilience guidance expected in summer 2024.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, for what reason her Department discontinued grant funding to TechNation; and whether her Department is taking steps to help support scaleup tech ecosystems in the 2023-24 financial year.
Answered by Paul Scully
We have supported grant funding to Tech Nation since 2017 to accelerate the growth of startups and scaleups across the UK and are grateful for their efforts.
We remain committed to our vision for the UK to be the best place to start and grow a digital business. Via the Digital Growth Grant, the government will provide £12 million to help startup and scaleup tech ecosystems in FY23/24-24/25.
The Digital Growth Grant was awarded via a competitive process, bringing this public funding into line with the majority of government grants. We announced that we would move to compete the funding on 11 April 2022. Following a period of market engagement and sector consultation, applications were opened in June and bidders notified in September 2022.
Barclays Eagle Labs was awarded the Digital Growth Grant because their application achieved the highest score against publicly available criteria when assessed by an independent panel. Their application represented the best value for taxpayers’ money, and will benefit the most startups and scale-ups over the next two financial years.
Barclays Eagle Labs will support over 22,000 businesses over the next two years, with at least 80% based outside London. As well as expanding access to Eagle Labs’ existing programmes and mentoring opportunities, to allow for even more businesses to be supported, they will also provide new growth programmes for start-ups and scale-ups, for example:
A new accelerator programme which will be targeted at Black-founded tech businesses who are at, or are about to enter, their scaleup stage.
The new Scaleup Programme that will provide the leadership teams of technology scaleups with tailored coaching to help address their bespoke challenges and achieve their potential.