Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the resilience of mobile networks in rural areas; and whether her Department plans to review (a) planning and (b) infrastructure requirements to prevent prolonged outages.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Senior officials within the department have been in regular contact with Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) about the coverage issue in Calder Valley constituency that impacted both O2 and Vodafone customers, along with customers of Mobile Virtual Network Operators using their networks. VMO2 have confirmed that a temporary fix has been put in place to restore mobile connectivity to the Hebden Bridge community. This was implemented on 7 November. VMO2 have told us the solution put in place will ensure that the coverage in Hebden Bridge is equivalent to the level of coverage experienced prior to the outage.
While we will be launching a call for evidence as soon as possible to assess the merits of further planning reform to support the deployment of mobile networks, VMO2 has indicated that obtaining planning permission was not a barrier to restoring coverage in the area.
Communications providers are legally required to ensure appropriate network availability, mitigate risks, and report significant incidents to Ofcom, which can investigate and enforce compliance. In December 2023, Ofcom launched a Call for Input on power back-up at mobile access sites. An update in February 2025 confirmed further analysis is underway to determine proportionate measures for operators. The Department supports this work and looks forward to its conclusions.
Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what discussions her Department has had with mobile network operators on the timetable for restoring mobile coverage in Calder Valley constituency; and what steps she is taking to help expedite that process.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Senior officials within the department have been in regular contact with Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) about the coverage issue in Calder Valley constituency that impacted both O2 and Vodafone customers, along with customers of Mobile Virtual Network Operators using their networks. VMO2 have confirmed that a temporary fix has been put in place to restore mobile connectivity to the Hebden Bridge community. This was implemented on 7 November. VMO2 have told us the solution put in place will ensure that the coverage in Hebden Bridge is equivalent to the level of coverage experienced prior to the outage.
While we will be launching a call for evidence as soon as possible to assess the merits of further planning reform to support the deployment of mobile networks, VMO2 has indicated that obtaining planning permission was not a barrier to restoring coverage in the area.
Communications providers are legally required to ensure appropriate network availability, mitigate risks, and report significant incidents to Ofcom, which can investigate and enforce compliance. In December 2023, Ofcom launched a Call for Input on power back-up at mobile access sites. An update in February 2025 confirmed further analysis is underway to determine proportionate measures for operators. The Department supports this work and looks forward to its conclusions.
Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of consumer protections for mobile phone users impacted by long term service outages; and whether she plans to introduce additional regulation to increase those protections.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Telecoms consumers should rightly expect to have access to reliable and affordable connectivity no matter where they live, work or travel.
We have engaged with providers to ensure customers are eligible for compensation and are assessing options to proactively engage affected customers. While we have no current plans to extend regulatory requirements to include service outages, we and Ofcom keep the regulatory framework under review.
Ofcom is responsible for the Automatic Compensation Scheme and so any decision to extend the scheme would be for them. Ofcom also monitors trends in complaints. Operators are required to report significant incidents to Ofcom, who have powers to investigate, rectify and penalise communications providers for any infringement of their duties to ensure their network and services remain available.
Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether she plans to extend Ofcom’s Automatic Compensation Scheme to cover prolonged mobile network outages.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Telecoms consumers should rightly expect to have access to reliable and affordable connectivity no matter where they live, work or travel.
We have engaged with providers to ensure customers are eligible for compensation and are assessing options to proactively engage affected customers. While we have no current plans to extend regulatory requirements to include service outages, we and Ofcom keep the regulatory framework under review.
Ofcom is responsible for the Automatic Compensation Scheme and so any decision to extend the scheme would be for them. Ofcom also monitors trends in complaints. Operators are required to report significant incidents to Ofcom, who have powers to investigate, rectify and penalise communications providers for any infringement of their duties to ensure their network and services remain available.
Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to support innovation in novel diagnostic technologies through the Life Sciences Sector Plan, published on 16 July 2025.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Life Sciences Sector Plan focuses on enabling world-class R&D, making the UK an outstanding place to start, scale and invest in life sciences, and driving healthcare innovation and reform.
To ensure the NHS is equipped to adopt innovation at pace and scale, we must futureproof our regulatory landscape, streamline procurement and accelerate adoption and spread.
Targeted policies will drive this agenda forward, including the Regional Health Innovation Zones, which will be empowered to experiment, test and generate evidence on implementing innovation. UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) will accelerate the transition from ideation to commercialisation for novel diagnostic products and provide wraparound support to connect innovators to testbeds, regulators, and procurement processes. We will also further expand our significant investments in UK health data and genomics capabilities.
Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to support research and development projects using novel diagnostic technologies.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Life Sciences Sector Plan commits to enabling world class research & development (R&D) within the UK, with specific actions to support Medtech and Biotech companies including those focused on diagnostics. UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) will deliver on this in parallel, accelerating the transition from ideation to commercialisation for novel diagnostic productions and providing wraparound support that will connect innovators to testbeds, regulators, and procurement processes. We will also further expand our significant investments in UK health data and genomics capabilities.
Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how many social media accounts his Department operates; and how much his Department spent on social media (a) subscriptions and (b) advertisements on each social media platform in each of the last three years.
Answered by Feryal Clark
The Department is responsible for operating a total of 18 social media accounts. This includes a number of accounts currently under review and operated by the Government Digital Service, which recently became a part of the department.
The Department has spent £201.60 on (a) subscriptions – two payments of £100.80 in 2023 and 2024.
To date, the Department has spent £450,901.04 on (b) social media advertisements.
The Department spent £386,615.04 on LinkedIn and £64,286.00 on META in the financial year 24/25.
In addition, the Department has a shared HR function with DESNZ which has a contractual arrangement with LinkedIn Hiring Solutions for the period June 2023 to June 2025, for the amount of £425,123.31.
The Department holds no data prior to the financial year 23/24 due to DSIT only being formed in February 2023.
The Government communicates across a range of media channels in order to reach its target audience effectively. Channels are selected based on whether they will reach the intended audience on a specific issue to have the most impact.
Social media is an essential part of government communications and is used to inform the public directly about matters which may affect their lives or interests. The Government remains committed to scrutiny, transparency and best value for taxpayer money.