Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether the Semiconductor Advisory Panel will meet in Northern Ireland in 2025.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government recognises that semiconductors are a UK wide strength, with clusters spread across the country, including in Northern Ireland. It is critical that the Semiconductor Advisory Panel can speak to all geographies of the semiconductor community.
The Panel was recently renewed for another 18-month term and will meet quarterly. It will meet primarily in London but may hold meetings in regions and nations of the UK that have strengths in the sector where possible.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment he has made of the impact of Innovate UK’s Small Business Research Initiative on Northern Ireland in the last two years.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Innovate UK’s Small Business Research Initiative (now renamed to Contracts for Innovation) has published an evaluation demonstrating its impact, including:
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if he will ensure that the UK Semiconductor Advisory Panel has a membership from the whole of the UK.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Semiconductor Advisory Panel is representative of the UK’s semiconductor industry, and the ecosystem that supports it. In selecting the panel, consideration was given to representation across UK specialisms in design, compound semiconductors and R&D, company size and geographic location.
We continue to speak with the full spectrum of the UK’s semiconductor industry, including regular engagement with companies and representatives from across the UK.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to the Answer of 10 July 2023 to Question 192484 on Broadband: Social Tariffs, if he will make an estimate of the number and proportion of eligible people who were both (a) aware of and (b) took up a mobile phone social tariff in the last six months.
Answered by Julia Lopez
Ofcom has a statutory duty to monitor the affordability of telecoms services, and releases regular reports regarding public awareness and take-up of broadband and mobile social tariffs.
In December 2023, as part of its Pricing Trends Report, Ofcom stated that awareness of social tariffs amongst eligible households was 45% (or around 2 million households). The report also estimated 380,000 UK households were taking-up social tariff, this represents around 8.3% of those eligible. Ofcom does not differentiate between mobile or broadband for these purposes.
We continue to work closely with Ofcom and the telecoms industry to explore ways to improve awareness of social tariffs amongst eligible households.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if she will hold discussions with Ofcom on changes in the number of mobile phone social tariff subscribers since July 2023.
Answered by Julia Lopez
Government continues to work closely with Ofcom on the affordability of telecoms services, including on social tariffs.
Ofcom’s December 2023 Pricing Trends report showed that 380,000 UK households now take up a social tariff, an almost 160% increase from September 2022.
The report also notes that the majority of social tariff take-up is in the fixed broadband market, with only 3% of social tariff take-up in mobile. Ofcom noted that the lower take up of mobile social tariffs is most likely due to the fact that these products are new to the market, as well as the widespread availability of commercial ‘sim-only’ deals which can be purchased for as little as £6 per month.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps she is taking to ensure regional representation on the UK Semiconductor Advisory Panel.
Answered by Saqib Bhatti - Shadow Minister (Culture, Media and Sport)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer the previous Minister for Tech and Digital Economy gave on 23 October 2023. In setting up the UK Semiconductor Advisory Panel, the government aimed for a small, focused group while ensuring representation across the semiconductor supply chain, UK domestic strengths, geographical locations and company size. We continue to speak with the full spectrum of the UK’s semiconductor industry, including regular engagement with companies and representatives from across the UK.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps she is taking to ensure that the Space Agency’s Placements in Industry Programme includes all parts of the UK.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade
The UK Space Agency’s Space Placements In Industry (SPIN) Programme is open to any space-related organisation across the UK. The UK Space Agency has engaged with the UK Space Ecosystem and local clusters spanning the entirety of the country to drive an increase in regional placements.
The programme has a new student recruitment system to reduce bias, improve quality of hire, and increase diversity across the cohort.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if he will hold discussions with Ofcom on the advertising and promotion of low-cost offers to low income households by telecoms providers.
Answered by Julia Lopez
The Government continues to work closely with Ofcom on the issue of affordability of telecoms services, including social tariffs.
In December, Ofcom’s Pricing Trends report, showed that 380,000 UK households now take up a social tariff. While this represents an almost 160% increase from September 2022, we recognise that it represents just 8.3% of the total number of eligible households. Ofcom’s report also showed that just 45% of eligible households were aware of low-cost broadband offers.
The Government and Ofcom continue to press operators to ensure their customers know about the support available. In July 2023, Ofcom’s Chief Executive, wrote to the sector to set out the regulator’s expectation that they should do more to promote awareness, such as by highlighting tariffs on bills and end-of-contract notifications.
We continue to work with operators to encourage them to take further steps to promote social tariffs to eligible households
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what plans Innovate UK has to help (a) promote and (b) develop new technologies in the Northern Ireland private sector in 2024.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade
Innovate UK, working closely with key Northern Ireland innovation stakeholders, is developing a Local Action Plan to realise the innovation ambitions of Northern Ireland. The Action Plan will form the basis of how Innovate UK will work with its partners to support local businesses.
Innovate UK held an Innovate Local event in Lisburn in November 2023. This event was attended by SME businesses and promoted the array of national funding and support. Further events are planned for 2024.
Innovate UK has also recently launched a pioneering Launchpad initiative in Northern Ireland to unlock local strengths in life and health sciences.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to the Answer of 23 October to Question 203232 on Semiconductors: Infrastructure, what progress her Department has made on the UK Semiconductor Infrastructure Initiative feasibility study.
Answered by John Whittingdale
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer given on 23 October to Question 203232, the study is being conducted by a consortium of industry and academic partners led by the Institute for Manufacturing at Cambridge University. The Department has worked closely with the consortium and they are expected to report back by the end of the year.
The study has consulted extensively across the sector and workshops have been held in all four nations of the UK to determine a holistic picture of the UK’s capabilities and the needs of industry.