Asked by: Gordon McKee (Labour - Glasgow South)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the UK’s position compared with other advanced economies in urban 5G deployment.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government's ambition is for all populated areas to have access to higher quality standalone 5G by 2030, this includes both urban and rural areas. We continue to work closely with the network operators to achieve this.
The regulator, Ofcom, is responsible for reporting on mobile network coverage, and do not publish any international comparisons. However other third-party data sources such as Speedtest’s Global Index rank some of the world’s largest cities, on a range of mobile network performance variables. Such data forms part of a range of sources of information that support policy development including as part of the Government’s ongoing Mobile Market Review.
Asked by: Gordon McKee (Labour - Glasgow South)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions she has had with the Scottish Government on support for nationally significant cultural institutions in Glasgow.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
Support for arts and culture in Scotland is a devolved matter. The UK Government provides the Scottish Government with a settlement through the Barnett Formula which it can spend on cultural activities and priorities across Scotland. Direct support for cultural organisations in Glasgow is therefore the responsibility of the Scottish Government, Local Authority and its agencies, who are best suited to determine the level of support needed.
The UK Government also recognises that many cultural organisations in Glasgow are deeply embedded in the wider cultural ecosystem of the UK. Further support is available, for example through creative tax reliefs or national lottery funding, which can support cultural organisations. DCMS Ministers will continue to work with the Scottish Government to champion Glasgow’s world class culture sector.
Asked by: Gordon McKee (Labour - Glasgow South)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions she has had with cultural organisations in Glasgow on the sustainability of the arts sector.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
Support for arts and culture in Scotland is a devolved matter. The UK Government provides the Scottish Government with a settlement through the Barnett Formula which it can spend on cultural activities and priorities across Scotland. Direct support for cultural organisations in Glasgow is therefore the responsibility of the Scottish Government, Local Authority and its agencies, who are best suited to determine the level of support needed.
The UK Government also recognises that many cultural organisations in Glasgow are deeply embedded in the wider cultural ecosystem of the UK. Further support is available, for example through creative tax reliefs or national lottery funding, which can support cultural organisations. DCMS Ministers will continue to work with the Scottish Government to champion Glasgow’s world class culture sector.
Asked by: Gordon McKee (Labour - Glasgow South)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of UK Government investment programmes on communities in Scotland.
Answered by Melanie Ward - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Scotland Office)
The UK Government is committed to driving sustainable economic growth, creating high-skilled jobs, and delivering tangible benefits for communities right across Scotland.
Our direct investment programmes, including the £140 million Scottish Local Growth Fund, the Pride in Place programme, City Region and Growth Deals, Freeports, and Investment Zones, are targeted at unlocking economic potential, regenerating town and city centres, and improving local infrastructure. For example, the Glasgow City Region Deal, has attracted over £800 million in private and commercial investment since 2014, further strengthening Glasgow City Region’s position as a hub of Scotland’s economic growth. The Deal has supported 5,500 people into sustained employment, and has the potential to deliver 29,000 jobs over the Deal’s lifetime.
Assessments of investment programmes are conducted in partnership with local authorities, regional partnerships, and key stakeholders using robust economic frameworks. These measure long-term outcomes such as local job creation, private-sector leverage, productivity growth, and community revitalisation. My department continues to monitor these impacts closely to ensure UK Government funding delivers maximum value and lasting economic prosperity across Scotland.
Asked by: Gordon McKee (Labour - Glasgow South)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what discussions his Department has had with Scottish local authorities on the delivery of UK Government-funded projects.
Answered by Melanie Ward - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Scotland Office)
Ministers and officials from the Scotland Office regularly engage with Scottish local authorities, regional partnerships, and COSLA (Convention of Scottish Local Authorities) to discuss the design, delivery, and governance of UK Government-funded projects.
Recent discussions have focused on ensuring efficient delivery of programmes, including City Region and Growth Deals, the Pride in Place initiative, and the Local Growth Fund.
The Scotland Office works collaboratively with local authority leaders and the Scottish Government to ensure projects are tailored to local economic priorities, delivered transparently, and aligned with wider community needs.
Asked by: Gordon McKee (Labour - Glasgow South)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of cross-government coordination on national security priorities.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security) (Jointly with the Cabinet Office)
Keeping the country safe is the government's first responsibility. The Cabinet Office has successfully coordinated across a number of national security priorities, such as agreeing support for Ukraine, responding to terrorist incidents or delivering the largest sustained increase in defence spending since the Cold War. The government keeps the effectiveness of its cross-government coordination on national security priorities under continuous review to ensure the UK remains resilient against evolving threats.
Asked by: Gordon McKee (Labour - Glasgow South)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what metrics his Department uses to assess the effectiveness of the Government's innovation strategy.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government uses a range of international and UK metrics to track progress on innovation.
For international comparisons, we use several metrics such as rankings from the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Global Innovation Index, data from the OECD Science and Technology Indicators, and numbers of patents, academic publications, citations and other bibliometric data from several other sources.
To understand UK innovation, we use official statistics such as the number of innovation active businesses from the UK Innovation Survey, R&D expenditure by government and businesses from the Office for National Statistics, and R&D tax credit data from HMRC. We also utilise metrics on university knowledge exchange and commercialisation from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.
The Government also uses our Innovation Clusters Map to identify emerging clusters. The 2025 update will allow year-by-year performance tracking of priority clusters with metrics such as levels of public R&D investment, company formation, and job creation.
Asked by: Gordon McKee (Labour - Glasgow South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the risk of widespread flight disruption caused by air traffic control failures.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Following a technical failure that NATS experienced in 2023, an independent review was commissioned by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The review made 34 recommendations for NATS, CAA, airlines, airports and government to respond on in order to learn lessons from this event and ensure that the UK aviation industry is well prepared to respond to incidents when they occur in the future. The CAA has recently confirmed that all recommendations from the review have either been completed or integrated into its ongoing regulatory oversight work.
Additionally, my department has recently introduced secondary legislation, which will make it easier for Air Navigation Service Providers to recruit existing Air Traffic Controllers (ATCOs) from Third Countries and the Military. This will increase resilience in the UK’s ATCO system and reduce the risk of delays.
Asked by: Gordon McKee (Labour - Glasgow South)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the cyber resilience of UK energy infrastructure.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government monitors and assesses the cyber resilience of UK energy infrastructure through a combination of annual regulatory assurance returns, on-site inspections conducted under the Network and Information Systems (NIS) Regulations, and regular engagement with industry. This is supported by technical assessments and threat intelligence provided by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).
The cyber threat continues to evolve, and the Government keeps the resilience of the energy sector under continual review to ensure our defensive posture is appropriate and proportionate to the cyber threat. The Cyber Security and Resilience Bill will further strengthen resilience by expanding the scope of cyber regulation and enhancing requirements to manage cyber risk and respond to incidents.
Asked by: Gordon McKee (Labour - Glasgow South)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what estimate he has made of expected electricity demand growth arising from (a) data centres and (b) artificial intelligence by 2035.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Future electricity demand for both data centres and artificial intelligence overall is inherently uncertain. This is because different scenarios for capacity, efficiency, utilisation and ramp-up rates of data centres, as well as scenarios for AI adoption and speed of technological change, interact in complex ways and translate into varying annual electricity consumption.
The Government continues to work with the National Energy System Operator, Ofgem and industry to monitor developments and test how a range of scenarios interface with final consumption.