Oral Answers to Questions

Lord Vaizey of Didcot Excerpts

Tuesday 15th December 2015 Commons Chamber

[Clive Efford (Eltham) (Lab)]

15. What discussions he has had with the Minister for the Cabinet Office on supporting the cyber-resilience of UK businesses.

[The Minister for Culture and the Digital Economy (Mr Edward Vaizey)]

I am delighted to say that I talk about cyber-resilience a lot with the Minister for the Cabinet Office. Only the other day, we were saying how pleased we were to hear the Chancellor announce the doubling of the cyber-security budget to almost £2 billion.

[Clive Efford]

I am delighted that the Minister has more than doubled the budget, but only 10% of it goes on consumers, the police force and small businesses. What is the Minister doing to encourage small businesses that are time-poor, meaning that they are not able to engage with this sort of administration? What is he going to do for business in Eltham, to ensure that they are safe online?

[Mr Vaizey]

I did not double the budget; it was the Chancellor. It is important—particularly for one’s career—to give him credit when he does such things. I take the hon. Gentleman’s point very seriously. We have a fantastic scheme called the cyber essentials scheme, which allows small businesses and large businesses to get a certificate to show that they have been through a process to increase their cyber-security.

[Richard Arkless (Dumfries and Galloway) (SNP)]

16. What steps he is taking to improve productivity in the economy.

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[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

17. What discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on improving competition in the broadband market.

[The Minister for Culture and the Digital Economy (Mr Edward Vaizey)]

It is nice to be back, Mr Speaker. We have a very competitive broadband market. I was thinking about that the other day when I went to York to see TalkTalk delivering fibre to premises. I met the chief executive of Virgin Media, which is investing billions in fibre. There has been an announcement from CityFibre about its acquiring some of KCom’s holdings. On Friday, I will go to see Gigaclear delivering broadband to homes in Epping Forest. We have a very competitive market.

[Diana Johnson]

Ofcom has confirmed to me that Hull is the only city in the country without competition for small businesses and households, and the only city among the worst 20 areas for superfast broadband access. This is really affecting small businesses in Hull. Will the Minister tell me how much of the £530 million that the Government have allocated for investment in superfast broadband will be allocated to Hull?

[Mr Vaizey]

The hon. Lady knows full well that Hull has traditionally had one, in effect municipal, provider—Kingston Communications, which has been privatised—which is why Hull has white phone boxes, rather than red ones. I am pleased to say that KCom is investing in broadband for the whole of Hull without any need for a public subsidy.

[Kate Hollern (Blackburn) (Lab)]

T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.