Asked by: Patrick Hurley (Labour - Southport)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to support Ukraine.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
In chairing the UN Security Council on 18 November, the Foreign Secretary made clear that UK support for Ukraine is ironclad. We have stepped up the delivery of vital military equipment, led the way in investing in Ukraine’s defence industrial base, and imposed major new sanctions upon Russia. As the Prime Minister has said, we must double down and give Ukraine the support it needs for as long as it needs.
Asked by: Patrick Hurley (Labour - Southport)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, when measures under the Online Safety Act 2023 to help protect social media users from (a) fake and (b) anonymous accounts will be implemented; and whether Ofcom's consultation on additions to the Illegal Content Codes will include those accounts.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Under the Online Safety Act, all services in scope must tackle illegal content and activity which is harmful to children, including activity through fake and anonymous accounts. The illegal harms duties will come into force in Spring 2025, followed by the child safety duties in Summer 2025.
Ofcom’s draft codes include proposed measures to allow children to block accounts, and to reject unwanted invitations to group chats. The Act also requires Category 1 providers to offer user verification options, enabling users to filter out non-verified users and their content. Ofcom expects to consult on these duties in late 2025.
Asked by: Patrick Hurley (Labour - Southport)
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 (a) ensure (i) transparency and (ii) accountability in the decision-making process for broadband infrastructure projects and (b) tackle potential conflicts of interest.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
DSIT defines clear policies and procedures for identifying, disclosing, and managing conflicts of interest. This includes a comprehensive disclosure process set out in Terms and Conditions documents and encourages proactive disclosure by employees. Non-Executive Directors are required to disclose any potential conflicts of interest upon appointment and as soon as they become aware of them. Civil Servants and appointed board members must also adhere to a code of conduct that outlines the principles and standards expected of them. This includes maintaining integrity and professionalism and ensuring that private interests do not adversely impact their official duties.
As an arm Arms’ Length Body (ALB), BDUK may be subject to ALB review by the Cabinet Office, which involve independent parties to review the organisation in full and oversee conflict of interest situations to ensure impartiality and fairness.
BDUK Non-Executive Directors support business performance and provide strategic guidance to the executive team, Non-Executive Directors are not involved in any commercial contract awarding decisions.
To identify intervention areas for Project Gigabit interventions, the government conducts regular market reviews to collect data on suppliers’ commercial plans to define the premises that are eligible for Project Gigabit subsidy. Using this information, the government then conducts a transparent, fair, and robust procurement process to award contracts to any Project Gigabit suppliers.
Asked by: Patrick Hurley (Labour - Southport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the number of dentists taking new NHS patients in Southport constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As of 10 July 2024, there were 12 open dentistry practices in the Southport constituency, four of which were showing as ‘accepting new adult patients when availability allows’. This data is sourced from the Find a Dentist website, and is matched to constituencies based on the postcode data shown on the website, which is available at the following link:
https://www.nhs.uk/service-search/find-a-Dentist
Asked by: Patrick Hurley (Labour - Southport)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many seaside piers there are; where those piers are located; which piers are local authority controlled; and which are privately owned.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Department for Culture, Media, and Sport does not hold this information centrally. The National Piers Society can be contacted for further information on this matter at https://piers.org.uk/
Asked by: Patrick Hurley (Labour - Southport)
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 help ensure that (a) Openreach and (b) other broadband providers use existing underground infrastructure wherever possible when installing new broadband provision.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
We understand concerns about the deployment of telegraph poles. We want operators to share infrastructure and use existing underground ducts, wherever possible.
Where the original infrastructure was buried without ducts, or existing infrastructure is not useable, new infrastructure must be built, and underground ducts are significantly more expensive than poles.
On 16 August, I wrote to broadband operators asking them to share infrastructure wherever possible and expressing support for their work revising the Cabinet and Pole Siting Code of Practice. I will shortly be meeting them to understand their infrastructure sharing plan, to express our concerns and to ensure community views are taken into account.