Rural Mobile Connectivity
Jayne Kirkham Excerpts(2 weeks, 5 days ago)
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Jayne Kirkham (Truro and Falmouth) (Lab/Co-op)
Mobile coverage in my constituency is not good at the best of times. Although we are frequently told by the big four mobile network providers that they have 99% 4G coverage in the UK, including in my constituency, that does not ring true to anyone who, like me, is from Cornwall, and therefore knows what it is like to struggle regularly to get signal. Where there is 5G coverage, it is often from a single provider, and not one premises has 5G coverage from all four providers. Last year, Which? and Opensignal produced a mobile network quality map for the year, by using real-world data from people’s phones and assigning a score to each postcode. TR4, which covers places like Chacewater, Trispen and St Erme in my constituency, ranked the second worst for network quality, with a consistent 4G or 5G signal just 57% of the time. Sadly, that is not at all surprising.
As a rural part of the world, we have often struggled with connectivity. That has a particular impact on rural businesses, as my hon. Friend the Member for Stafford (Leigh Ingham) pointed out, including farms, which still experience poor mobile and broadband service. Data from the NFU shows that just 33% of farming businesses have access to fibre, while only 22% report reliable mobile signal across their farm. Despite that, support schemes like the sustainable farming incentive and communication with the Rural Payments Agency are increasingly done online, so digital connectivity is more important to farmers than ever before.
Mobile coverage in my constituency failed spectacularly last month when Storm Goretti struck Cornwall, triggering a rare Met Office red warning, with gusts of about 100 mph. The storm caused widespread power outages and brought down over 1,000 trees, leaving many people completely cut off, with no internet and poor mobile phone signal. The new digital landlines that replaced the old copper networks did not work without power, and Ofcom’s rules require only one hour of battery back-up for vulnerable customers, which is completely inadequate. This meant that for days, and in some cases weeks, large parts of Cornwall were disconnected from the outside world, with no means of accessing information or getting assistance. For many, that was very frightening and showed how in some circumstances, mobile connectivity really could mean life or death.
The loss of telecommunications and poor signal made it harder for responders to identify and support vulnerable residents. Unlike the national grid, Openreach relied on people contacting their service provider to say they were offline, which was not sufficient in a context where many residents had no internet or phone signal. This was not helped by the fact that the providers generally displayed minimal customer service, and it was impossible to get through to human beings in many cases. There was then another layer of delay while the providers reported to Openreach, which had no map of the areas that were offline.
Ms Julie Minns (Carlisle) (Lab)
My hon. Friend is making a powerful point about the role of Openreach in this scenario. I have said for some time that its role is equivalent to that of electricity distribution network operators. Although we all pay our bills to an electricity company, it is the distribution network that is responsible for getting our power back on, but Openreach delegates that to the individual service providers. Openreach needs to do more to look after the customers who are affected in these instances.
Jayne Kirkham
I agree. Although mobile providers are a category 2 responder under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 framework, they do not have the duties, responsibilities and powers that, say, National Grid or water companies do. There is a strong argument for changing that.
Furthermore, the storm exposed the fact that most mobile masts do not have back-up generators or meaningful battery reserves, making them highly vulnerable to power loss. That contrasts with the expectations placed on water and electricity companies, which operate under established resilience duties. Telecoms providers are arguably just as essential, and the civil contingencies framework should reflect that reality in practice, not just in statute. We need stronger requirements and powers for comms providers in emergency situations, and Ofcom needs the teeth to enforce them.
Storm Goretti demonstrated how dependent communities and responders now are on digital and mobile networks, and it showed the weakness and lack of resilience of those networks in rural places like Cornwall. As Private Eye pointed out, an Ofcom technical report from last year noted that roughly two thirds of the population would be able to make emergency calls in a power outage of under an hour. The number who would be able to do so by the six-hour mark was redacted and described as being “far fewer”.
As extreme weather becomes more frequent, it is crucial that rural areas are better connected. The deadline for nationwide 5G coverage has been pushed back to 2032, but communities like mine cannot wait, as these severe weather experiences become more and more frequent. The Minister has indicated that places like Cornwall could be pilot areas for emergency resilience measures, and I very much look forward to that work beginning as soon as possible.
Creative Industries
Jayne Kirkham Excerpts(1 year, 1 month ago)
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Jayne Kirkham (Truro and Falmouth) (Lab/Co-op)
From murals on beachside walks to a thriving Cornish film industry, and from a town-council-owned art gallery, theatre and library, to live music, including the biggest international shanty festival in the world, during which the population of Falmouth triples, we are blessed with the creative arts in Truro and Falmouth. They are all around us, all the time, but none of that would exist and impact our lives in such a positive or poignant way were it not for education in the creative arts. The world-class Falmouth University grew out of a 100-year-old art school with a strategic focus on creativity and technology. The campus on Woodlane is historic. Alumni include visual artist Tacita Dean and British sculptor Hew Locke. It leads the world in digital games design—I thought it did, although it seems that so do Guildford and Hartlepool —as well as fashion design, film, costumes and many other things. Art is all around us in Falmouth, and we should celebrate the role it plays in our lives and our economy.
I welcome the inclusion of the creative industries among the UK’s eight growth sectors in the Government’s recent industrial strategy. It is brilliant that the creative industries are recognised for the economic driver that they are. In 2022, as many have said—it bears repeating—Britain’s creative industries generated £125 billion, which accounts for almost 6% of the UK economy and represents nearly 2.5 million jobs. They contribute more than £8 billion to the UK economy every year.
Our globally loved art scene has a huge impact on the tourism economy. One in 10 tourists to the UK visited a theatre, for example, and theatres sell 34 million tickets a year across the UK. As well as the recently beautifully renovated Hall for Cornwall and the Princess Pavilion, which is also owned by Falmouth town council, in Cornwall we have the Minack, a famous open-air theatre carved into the granite cliffs overlooking Porthcurno bay. In the summer months, it is not uncommon for the dolphins to interrupt Shakespeare.
None of those things would be possible were it not for creative arts education at school, and in higher education institutions such as Falmouth University. A creative education has many positives for students. Not only does it allow them to create, but the long-term skills gained from an arts education, such as critical thinking and problem-solving, impact on other industries, such as tech and digital media. That drives economic growth. Falmouth leads the way in AI; Engineered Arts is building increasingly complex robots by the sea, and it is trying to grow, despite the lack of industrial space in the area.
As we see in Cornwall, creative arts are a regional growth driver. Cornwall is teeming with small and medium-sized enterprises and one-man bands that stimulate the independent sector and the growth of the whole area. That can be a vital lifeline for areas that struggle with deprivation, as Cornwall does. As we see in Truro and Falmouth, creativity hubs revitalise regions, bringing in the visitors that we need so much. Take the example of the growth of the Hall for Cornwall: our theatre has spread tentacles across the rest of the Duchy, attracting would-be actors and writers who want to get involved in the creative arts, but do not often have the opportunity.
In my constituency, we have the Poly, the Princess Pavilion and brilliant grassroots venues such as the Cornish Bank, the Old Bakery Studios and the Chintz, where musicians who are learning go to practice their art. The Minister has mentioned the venue levy; that will be vital for them. We are also building premises for a community radio station in the park with shared prosperity funding. That shows just how important the arts are to Falmouth. People come to us for the arts. However, that funding is not guaranteed and is no longer directed at plugging the gaps in local authority and national funding for arts and culture in our area.
I would love creativity to become a bigger part of the national curriculum, so that the arts have the prominent place that they should for students of all ages. STEAM—science, technology, engineering, arts and maths—puts the creativity of the arts alongside science and tech, where it belongs. Art is everywhere, but it does not come from thin air. Like all other endeavours, creative endeavours require financial support, and that funding should not be piecemeal and only urban, but must be integrated into the wider industrial strategy, and form part of a long-term regional art strategy that reaches all the way to places like Cornwall. The arts also require universal enthusiasm and long-term education. As we see in Falmouth, it is well worth the investment.