Emergency Services Network

Lord Fowler Excerpts

Thursday 24th September 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)]

I will respond to the areas raised by the noble Viscount that pertain to the Home Office and are linked to DCMS. Clearly, in January, the government restrictions on the use of Huawei equipment introduced the restrictions in 5G and FTTP networks. We expect the decision to be brought into law by the forthcoming telecoms security Bill.

[The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)]

I call Lord Desai. No? We will move on. I call the noble Lord, Lord Paddick.

[Lord Paddick (LD)]

My Lords, this new emergency service network will operate on old 4G technology, and current estimates are that it will cost £33,000 per user. We learned from the King’s Cross fire and the 7/7 terrorist attacks the importance of this network working on the London Underground but, to date, it does not—even though my own iPhone does. How and when will this be resolved?

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)]

What is important with the infrastructure to which the Huawei systems relate is where security lies in terms of national security and, going forward, the security of people’s devices and that sort of thing.

[The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)]

My Lords, all supplementary questions have been asked, and we now move to the next Question.