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 the 2017 reforms to the Electronic Communications Code on levels of (a) 5G coverage and (b) network performance in comparison to other countries.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Government has no plans to conduct a formal review of the 2017 reforms to the Electronic Communications Code before commencing the remaining sections of the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act 2022.

The aim of the 2017 reforms was to encourage investment in digital networks and improve coverage and connectivity across the UK. Following the 2017 reforms, government representatives engaged regularly with stakeholders about their impact, resulting in a consultation on further changes to the Code. These were included in the 2022 Act, which received full Parliamentary scrutiny.

Our ambition is that all populated areas will have higher-quality standalone 5G by 2030. We are committed to removing barriers to the digital infrastructure, including reviewing where planning rules could be relaxed to support the deployment of 5G.

Analysis from the EU Commission showed 5G households' coverage in the UK at the end of 2024 (95%) was on par with India, China and ahead of France (94%) and the EU (94.3%), but behind South Korea (100%), Japan (99.2%), Norway, Iceland and Germany (all 99%) as well as USA (97.0%). Since this assessment, UK 5G coverage outside premises has increased to 96%.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department plans to commission a review of the 2017 Electronic Communications Code reforms to evaluate its potential impact on the deployment of 5G masts.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Government has no plans to conduct a formal review of the 2017 reforms to the Electronic Communications Code before commencing the remaining sections of the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act 2022.

The aim of the 2017 reforms was to encourage investment in digital networks and improve coverage and connectivity across the UK. Following the 2017 reforms, government representatives engaged regularly with stakeholders about their impact, resulting in a consultation on further changes to the Code. These were included in the 2022 Act, which received full Parliamentary scrutiny.

Our ambition is that all populated areas will have higher-quality standalone 5G by 2030. We are committed to removing barriers to the digital infrastructure, including reviewing where planning rules could be relaxed to support the deployment of 5G.

Analysis from the EU Commission showed 5G households' coverage in the UK at the end of 2024 (95%) was on par with India, China and ahead of France (94%) and the EU (94.3%), but behind South Korea (100%), Japan (99.2%), Norway, Iceland and Germany (all 99%) as well as USA (97.0%). Since this assessment, UK 5G coverage outside premises has increased to 96%.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how his Department plans to consult people with lived experience of dementia on the Modern Service Framework for Frailty and Dementia.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

We will deliver the first ever Modern Service Framework for Frailty and Dementia to deliver rapid and significant improvements in quality of care and productivity. This will be informed by phase one of the independent commission into adult social care, expected in 2026.

On 28 October, Alzheimer’s Society held a World Café event on behalf of the Department to help ensure that people living with dementia were able to feed in at an early stage to the development of the Modern Service Framework for Frailty and Dementia.

Policy leads from the Department attended the session, along with representatives from Alzheimer’s Society, to hear from those living with dementia, their family members, and their carers, both paid and unpaid. This event aimed to foster open dialogue and help inform the development of the modern service framework.

We intend to further engage with a range of partners over the coming months to enable us to build a framework which is both ambitious and practical, to ensure we can improve system performance for people with dementia both now and in the future.