Oral Answers to Questions

Julian Smith Excerpts

Thursday 12th November 2026 Commons Chamber

[Lisa Nandy]

My hon. Friend has been a consistent champion of opportunities for women and girls and, in fact, for the whole community to be able to participate in sport in her constituency, and I thank her for that. We would of course be happy to follow up in the manner she suggests.

[Sir Julian Smith (Skipton and Ripon) (Con)]

Mobile notspots are still a big problem in parts—[Interruption.] Sorry, I have just arrived. I meant to say, “No. 13.”

[Sir Julian Smith (Skipton and Ripon) (Con)]

13. What steps she is taking to improve mobile coverage in rural areas.

[The Minister for Creative Industries, Media and Online Safety (Ian Murray)]

The right hon. Gentleman is really showing his experience in the Chamber there. [Laughter.] Mobile connectivity is not a “nice to have”; it is an everyday necessity which connects people and communities and drives growth in every postcode. Of course, we cannot have growth in every postcode without connectivity in every postcode. The Government’s ambition is for all populated areas to have access to high-quality stand-alone 5G by 2030.

[Sir Julian Smith]

I will try again. Mobile notspots are a big challenge in parts of North Yorkshire and other rural parts of the UK. The shared rural network has been effective at meeting its targets, but now that those targets have been met, what plans do Ministers have for the remaining notspots to be sorted out?

[Ian Murray]

The right hon. Gentleman is absolutely right to talk about the success of the shared rural network, but notspots still remain. Direct-to-device technology is one way of resolving those. It is a pragmatic solution for remote areas where terrestrial infrastructure is not viable. Lessons learned from the shared rural network programme demonstrate where this might offer a better solution, including for deployment costs, topography and local opposition to new infrastructure in some areas. We will continue to monitor this closely with the industry and ensure that all the tech is being made available to ensure these notspots disappear.