Oral Answers to Questions

Daniel Kawczynski Excerpts

Thursday 2nd March 2017 Commons Chamber

[Chris Davies (Brecon and Radnorshire) (Con)]

7. What progress has been made on identifying parish churches suitable for wi-fi and broadband in rural areas.

[Daniel Kawczynski (Shrewsbury and Atcham) (Con)]

9. What progress has been made on identifying parish churches suitable for wi-fi and broadband in rural areas.

--- Later in debate ---

[Dame Caroline Spelman]

I am grateful for that question, because there is a commonly held myth that it is not possible to amend ancient and listed buildings in these ways, but as my hon. Friend will have seen from the success in Norwich diocese, there is no fundamental barrier to putting a wi-fi booster set or a mobile phone booster on the top of a church tower or spire. That is why the Government have welcomed the partnership with the Church of England to try to reach our notspots.

[Daniel Kawczynski]

Will my right hon. Friend outline what work the Church is undertaking to assess the potential scale of this project, and how Members can identify buildings in notspot areas that could be used for wireless transmitters?

[Dame Caroline Spelman]

Yes; my hon. Friend is right. I am sure that he would like the Church in Shrewsbury to be actively involved in this. The absolute key to this is knowing where the notspots are. I met the Minister for Digital and Culture, as I think many colleagues in the House did, who has an enormous spreadsheet that shows where the gaps are, and that is now being matched to what the Church can provide. We have offered to help to create a property asset register, so that this matching process can take place, and I hope it will benefit my hon. Friend’s constituency.