Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to increase broadband coverage and speed in Bradford.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The West Yorkshire superfast broadband project, which covers Bradford, will provide superfast broadband coverage to nearly 59,000 homes and businesses. As of March 2015, the project had already provided superfast broadband coverage to over 46,000 premises.
Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the contribution to Bradford's economy made by the (a) digital sector, (b) animation industry, (c) fashion and textiles industry and (d) games industry.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
While there are little economic statistics available on individual cities such as Bradford broken down by detailed industries there are estimates of employment from the ONS Business Registers and Employment Survey (BRES). This survey reports that in 2013 there were around 6,200 jobs in Bradford the digital sector (which incorporates ICT and Media) and 1,400 in the manufacture of textiles, clothing and footwear. Employment figures for animation and the computer games industry in Bradford are not available.
Bradford has a rich textiles history, particularly for the production of fine wool fabric. The textiles sector is still important to Bradford today with companies engaged in a wide range of activities – from spinning and weaving to the production of high performance and high value added goods. I am pleased Government has been able, through the Regional Growth Fund (RGF) programme, to support the creation and safeguarding of jobs in textile businesses through the national Textiles Growth Programme. 11 Bradford-based businesses have been assisted to date, with investment in capital projects, skills training and research and development. The Textiles Growth Programme was granted a further tranche of RGF funding earlier this year – bringing total Government investment to £32.3m – giving more Bradford companies the opportunity to secure support for innovation and growth.
Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on funding for digital skills.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
Digital skills provision in maintained schools, taught within the computing curriculum, is funded through the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) which is the responsibility of the Department for Education. Public funding for digital skills in Further Education and Skills and Higher Education is the responsibility of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
The Department for Education and Department for Business, Innovation and Skills regularly speaks to Her Majesty’s Treasury about all aspects of funding for schools, Higher and Further Education.
Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the effect of broadband speed and coverage on local economies.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
Superfast broadband is now available to over 80% of UK homes and businesses, up from 45% in 2010. The UK Broadband Impact Study - Impact Report estimated that the availability and take-up of faster broadband speeds through programmes that had been delivered or were in the delivery phase at that time will add about £17 billion to the UK’s annual Gross Value Added (GVA) by 2024. This level of uplift contributes an average of 0.07 percentage points to real annual GVA growth over this period. It also demonstrated that the benefits will be shared across the UK, helping the rebalancing of our economy.