Written Question

Internet Service Providers: Monopolies

Monday 7th October 2019

Asked by: Jack Lopresti (Conservative - Filton and Bradley Stoke)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent steps her Department is taking to tackle Internet Service Provider monopolies.

Answered by Matt Warman

This is a matter for Ofcom as the UK’s independent competition regulator for telecoms. However, in general, the UK has a competitive Internet Service Provider (ISP) market as a result of the work that Ofcom has done to promote competition at the retail level by providing regulated access to BT Openreach’s national broadband network.

The Government is also working with Ofcom to promote greater competition at a network level, as this is one of the key ways to meet our ambition for nationwide coverage of faster and more resilient gigabit broadband networks as soon as possible.

---

Written Question

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Apprentices

Thursday 17th May 2018

Asked by: Jack Lopresti (Conservative - Filton and Bradley Stoke)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what levels of apprenticeships are offered by his Department; and how many apprenticeship starts there were at each level in each of the last three years.

Answered by Margot James

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport offers apprenticeships at all levels for each standard through our external suppliers, Babington Group and Civil Service Learning. The levels and number of apprenticeship starts are broken down by financial year in the tables below:

15/16

Name	Level	Numbers
Higher	4	1

16/17

Name	Level	Numbers
Higher	4	4

17/18

Name	Level	Numbers
Higher	4	2

The Department is committed to a target of 2.3% 1,300 which equates to approximately 30 apprentices for the 2018/2019 financial period. The target will remain the same for 2019/2020. We are taking the following actions to ensure we meet this target:

• We have updated our strategic approach to apprenticeships and will be investing in proactive “marketing” of the offer to shift perceptions.
• We have developed a “convert to apprenticeship” programme for employees as part of our development offer for existing staff.
• We have revised the approach to resourcing so that specific appointments will be targeted to undertake an apprenticeship in their role.
• We have appointed a new provider who will support us to deliver leadership and management apprenticeships

---

Written Question

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Land

Wednesday 14th March 2018

Asked by: Jack Lopresti (Conservative - Filton and Bradley Stoke)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much land (a) his Department, (b) its agencies and (c) its non-departmental public bodies owns in (i) England and (ii) the South West; and how much of that land has been identified as being surplus to requirements.

Answered by Margot James

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport currently holds 0.07 hectares of land in England that is designated as surplus, none of which are in the South West of England. This does not include land previously identified as surplus that has now been disposed. This figure also includes agencies and non-departmental public bodies.

These surplus assets are in the process of being disposed of in line with the Government Estates Strategy.

Details of the department's surplus land holdings are published on the register of surplus land: https://data.gov.uk/dataset/epimstransparency

---