Storm Darragh
Debate between Liz Saville Roberts and Abena Oppong-Asare(1 week, 6 days ago)
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Ms Oppong-Asare
A lot of work has been done in this regard, but if my hon. Friend writes to me I shall be able to respond to her directly and adequately.
Liz Saville Roberts (Dwyfor Meirionnydd) (PC)
I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Ceredigion Preseli (Ben Lake) for securing the urgent question.
Electricity supplies have yet to be restored to some Gwynedd communities, more than 72 hours after the red weather warning. The switch from copper to digital technology means that all landline telephones will need electricity to work in the future, as do mobile phone masts. These matters are reserved to Westminster—they are not devolved—so will the Minister speak to her colleagues in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and commit to a Government assessment of the resilience of mobile and landline communication in Wales and the adequacy of the support given by BT and EE to elderly and vulnerable people during the switchover process?
Ms Oppong-Asare
Engineers have been working tirelessly with National Grid’s electricity distributors and with other networks to ensure that steps are taken to reconnect vulnerable customers in particular, but if the right hon. Member writes to me, we can look into this in more detail.