Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what funding the Government has allocated to support new or expanded manufacturing facilities for advanced glioblastoma treatments.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
This Government has made funds available to support UK manufacture of medicines and medical technology products, including up to £520 million to the Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund and £50 million to the pilot Life Sciences Transformational R&D Investment fund. These funds are open to applicants looking to establish, expand or improve UK based manufacturing of treatments for glioblastoma and other cancers, as well as a wider range of capabilities that improve UK health resilience.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what estimate he has made of the proportion of households with occupants over the age of 75 that do not have access to reliable broadband.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Ofcom, the independent regulator of telecommunications, estimates that there are 48,000 premises without access to decent broadband – i.e. at least 10Mbit/s download and 1Mbit/s upload speed - in the UK. We do not have sufficient data to estimate how many of these premises have occupants over the age of 75.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking to ensure the availability of reliable broadband in rural areas to support access to essential services.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Through Project Gigabit, we are delivering future-proofed, gigabit-capable connections nationwide, to UK premises that are not included in suppliers' commercial plans, including to premises in rural areas.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of digital exclusion on the quality of life for older people.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Those who cannot use digital technologies are likely to pay more for certain transactions, have worse health outcomes, and find it more difficult to manage their finance. That’s why tackling digital exclusion, which disproportionately impacts certain demographics including older people, is a priority for Government.
In February we published the Digital Inclusion Action Plan, which outlines the first five actions we are taking over the next year on digital inclusion.
One of these actions was to launch the £9.5mn Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund to support and expand local community initiatives to get people online. All funded projects will support at least one of the focus demographic groups, including older people.