Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans she has to review requirements to obtain wayleave agreements to install broadband supporting fibre cables on private properties, and what steps she is taking to improve the efficiency of that process.
Answered by Matt Warman
Agreements to install digital communications equipment - including fibre cables - on private land are underpinned by the Electronic Communications Code. My Department reformed the Code in 2017, with the aim of making it cheaper and easier for digital communications apparatus to be deployed. My Department is monitoring the impact of these reforms closely and is working with stakeholders to ensure they achieve their intended effect.
In addition, the Telecommunications Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Bill received its first reading in the House of Commons on 15 October 2019. If enacted, this legislation will create a cheaper and faster process for operators to install fibre needed to provide services to tenants in multiple-dwelling buildings if a landlord repeatedly fails to respond to operator requests for access rights.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what progress the Government has made on the roll out of superfast broadband to rural areas; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Margot James
The Superfast programme met its original objective of delivering at least 24Mbps broadband to 95% of the population in December 2017, and is now pushing beyond 96% with an ambition to reach at least 97% coverage by March 2020.
The Rural Gigabit Connectivity (RGC) programme launched in May 2019 and will run until the end of March 2021. £200 million has been allocated to the Programme, from the National Productivity Investment Fund.
This is the first step of our “Outside In” approach, as outlined in the Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review (FTIR), to ensure that no areas are systematically left behind when it comes to the deployment of gigabit capable broadband. The FTIR estimated that around 10% of premises in the UK would need some sort of additional funding to get this connectivity.
The RGC Programme will trial a model connecting local hubs in rural areas to gigabit capable broadband, starting with primary schools. The RGC programme also has a rural gigabit broadband voucher component, offering up to £3,500 for small businesses and up to £1,500 for residents. This will be offered to encourage greater take-up of gigabit-capable connectivity to residents and businesses in rural areas.
In addition, and not specifically Superfast Broadband, I can confirm that the Local Full Fibre Networks programme is currently working with Tyne Combined Authority on a £12m bid that will deliver full fibre connectivity in Northumberland to 313 sites, improving the addressable full fibre coverage and associated productivity gains for homes and businesses.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to promote coastal tourism in the UK; and what recent assessment he has made of the potential effect on tourism of the UK leaving the EU (a) with and (b) without a deal.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
VisitBritain and VisitEngland are responsible for promoting the UK as a tourist destination, which they do through a range of different initiatives and campaigns. VisitBritain sit on the Coastal Tourism Leadership Forum (run by the National Coastal Tourism Academy), helping to shape the Coastal Visitor Economy Vision and Action Plan. DCMS are observers at the forum. VisitEngland administer the £40m Discover England Fund which develops innovative products with customisable, bookable itineraries across England. The England’s Coast project is a good example of this and includes the North East coastline in its itineraries.
My colleagues in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government also provide support and funding to coastal areas through the Coastal Communities Fund and the Coastal Revival Fund, much of which has a tourism focus. They have also set up Coastal Community Teams around the country to support the development of the coastal economy.
The Tourism Sector Deal was announced on 28th June with the aim of boosting the sector’s productivity as we look forward to welcoming up to 9m more visitors a year in the future. As part of the Sector Deal, initiatives such as Tourism Zones will provide focused support for areas across the country. Coastal regions are among those who will be able to take part in the bidding process.
In terms of the impact of EU exit on tourism, we will remain an open and welcoming destination, and we want international visitors to experience all the wonderful coastlines, countryside, and culture that the UK has to offer.For example, the UK and the EU have proposed reciprocal visa-free travel arrangements to enable UK and EU citizens to continue to travel freely for tourism in the future. This is also the case in a no deal scenario. The Government has also confirmed that EU nationals can continue to travel on a national ID card until December 2020 and use e-gates when travelling on a passport.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on tax concessions for small music venues.
Answered by Margot James
Ministers have regular discussions with their Cabinet colleagues on a range of matters, including supporting music venues.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the cost to (a) small clubs, (b) charities and (c) churches of compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation; and what assessment she has made of the current level of compliance with that regulation.
Answered by Margot James
The European Commission published an Impact Assessment on the regulatory impact of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This is available on their website.
HM Government's Impact Assessment for the Data Protection Bill assesses there will be implementation costs for a range of organisations but that the overall effect of the Act is de-regulatory. This Impact Assessment is available on gov.uk.
The Information Commissioner is responsible for monitoring compliance with the UK's new data protection laws.
The Information Commissioner’s Office has published a range of user-friendly material on the GDPR on its website. It has also set up a dedicated phone line for small businesses and charities. Details can be viewed at: https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/advice-service-for-small-organisations/.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment he has made of the economic value of tourism to (a) the UK and (b) Yorkshire.
Answered by Michael Ellis
Tourism is a vitally important aspect of the UK’s economy, worth over £66 billion to the UK’s GVA in 2016, which is over 14% of the UK’s total GVA. Tourism also supports over 1.5m jobs across the country.
In the Yorkshire and Humber area, VisitEngland’s Tourism survey of domestic overnight visitors shows that 10.7m visits were made over the same period, accounting for spend of £1.75 billion.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what progress has been made on preparations to implement the broadband universal service obligation; if he will prioritise the allocation of broadband funding for areas with (a) very slow and (b) no connections; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Margot James
By 2020 the Universal Service Obligation (USO) will give everyone the legal right to high speed broadband of at least 10Mbps.
We created new powers for this in the Digital Economy Act 2017, and subsequently ran a public consultation on the design of the USO, which we will be setting in secondary legislation very shortly.
Ofcom will then be responsible for implementing the USO, including designating the universal service providers and the design of an industry cost-sharing fund.
The USO is demand-led, and will, upon request, allow anyone who does not have a connection that meets the minimum specification from a designated provider, no matter where they live or work, up to a reasonable cost threshold.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans her Department has to set up a Data Ethics Commission.
Answered by Matt Hancock
Data governance, and the effective and ethical use of data, are vital for the future of our economy and society. The Government is committed to creating a sound ethical framework in the UK that will give people confidence in how their data is being handled and used.
We are currently considering the British Academy and Royal Society’s thoughtful report in this issue (https://royalsociety.org/~/media/policy/projects/data-governance/data-management-governance.pdf) and will set out next steps shortly.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate she has made of the (a) number and (b) cost to the public purse, of the loss of library books in the last five years; and what steps she is taking to help local authorities prevent such losses.
Answered by Rob Wilson
The Department has not made an estimate of the number and cost of library books in public libraries in England that have been lost in the five years since 2012. Local library authorities are responsible for providing public library services including managing book stock available for library lending.
The Libraries Taskforce is committed to working with local library authorities in England to promote improved procurement processes including of bookstock.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 18 October 2016 to Question 48050, if her Department will make representations to Ofcom on introducing a cap on the amount of spectrum each mobile operator can hold.
Answered by Matt Hancock
Ofcom is still considering the rules for the forthcoming auction. We will await their findings.