Asked by: Liz Twist (Labour - Blaydon)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what recent discussions she has had with Ofcom on the eligibility of satellite broadband for the universal service obligation scheme.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
There have been no recent discussions with Ofcom on the eligibility of satellite broadband for the Broadband Universal Service Obligation (USO).
The USO remains technology agnostic and any connectivity solution that can meet the minimum parameters, including required speeds and the current cost per month threshold of £56.20, can be used both to determine eligibility and to deliver a connection.
Currently Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite technology is unlikely to meet the needed requirements however, last year, DSIT published a consultation to review the USO and ensure it remains up to date. The government response will be published later this year.
Asked by: Liz Twist (Labour - Blaydon)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what progress her Department has made on the establishment of the Connectivity in Low Earth Orbit scheme.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Connectivity in Low Earth Orbit programme has been established and the first call for proposals is now open.
Further information on in the initial call for proposals may be found here: https://www.find-government-grants.service.gov.uk/grants/connectivity-in-low-earth-orbit-c-leo-2
Further information on the programme may be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/c-leo-programme
Asked by: Liz Twist (Labour - Blaydon)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether she has made an assessment of the economic impact of delays in the Project Gigabit Lot 4 procurement process on households in the North East of England.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The supplier that was awarded the Project Gigabit contract for the North East (Lot 4) was unable to proceed after failing to secure the funding it required.
To maintain the delivery of gigabit coverage to premises in the North East, we have worked with suppliers to bring forward additional projects under the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme. The remaining premises will be included in a call-off under our cross-regional framework, which we aim to have in place this summer. We will press the successful supplier to begin to build premises in the North East as soon as possible to minimise any delay. Consequently, the economic impacts of this change in approach will be kept as low as possible.
Asked by: Liz Twist (Labour - Blaydon)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, for what reason the type B procurement of Lot 4 of Project Gigabit was not successful.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The supplier that was awarded the Project Gigabit contract for the North East (Lot 4) was unable to proceed after failing to secure the funding it required.
To maintain the delivery of gigabit coverage to premises in the North East, we have worked with suppliers to bring forward additional projects under the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme. The remaining premises will be included in a call-off under our cross-regional framework, which we aim to have in place this summer. We will press the successful supplier to begin to build premises in the North East as soon as possible to minimise any delay. Consequently, the economic impacts of this change in approach will be kept as low as possible.
Asked by: Liz Twist (Labour - Blaydon)
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 speed of the roll-out of Project Gigabit.
Answered by John Whittingdale
Over 76% of UK premises can access gigabit-capable broadband. We are on track to meet our target of 85% coverage across the UK by 2025 and more than 99% by 2030.
I am proud to see the progress we have made on Project Gigabit, with twelve contracts awarded so far to suppliers to extend gigabit-capable coverage in hard-to-reach areas.
On top of this, over 117,000 vouchers have been issued so far under the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme and its previous iterations. 89,000 of these have been used to provide a gigabit-capable connection.
Asked by: Liz Twist (Labour - Blaydon)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
What steps she is taking to support the commercialisation of science and technology research in the North East.
Answered by George Freeman
Innovation in the North East is supported by significant public investment. For example, universities in the region received £12 million this year through the Higher Education Innovation Fund, and six received a further £5 million from the Connecting Capability Fund to help spinout their research. We have also invested £5 million in the North East Technology Park to attract more science and technology companies, and the North East hosts Catapult centres that de-risk the transition from research to commercialisation, including the Offshore Renewable Catapult (Blyth), the Digital Catapult (Sunderland) and the Satellite Applications Catapult (County Durham).