Asked by: Paul Monaghan (Scottish National Party - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, for what reasons the Government has not joined the World Tourism Organisation.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
Our international standing is highly important - not only to inbound tourism but in wider trade terms. Currently the UK government is not considering membership of the World Tourism Organisation but it is an organisation we remain in contact with to ensure the UK is participating fully in international tourism discussions.
Asked by: Paul Monaghan (Scottish National Party - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what measures she is taking to promote the Flow Country in Caithness and Sutherland as a future UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
The Flow Country World Heritage nomination was examined at a Technical Evaluation panel in December 2015, where it was concluded that there is potentially a strong and clear case to be made for putting the site forward for World Heritage status. Further work is currently being undertaken to develop the nomination to a sufficient standard to make a convincing case for inscription, and DCMS will be happy to arrange a further technical evaluation once this has been completed.
Asked by: Paul Monaghan (Scottish National Party - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of the 10 Point Plan for a Better Openreach proposed by the industry coalition comprising Sky, TalkTalk, Vodafone, the Independent Networks Cooperative Association and the Federation of Communication Services in their letter to Ms Sharon White, Ofcom, dated 16 May 2016.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
I am pleased to see that the industry is engaging constructively with Ofcom on this issue. The Government’s ambition is to ensure that the UK has the right infrastructure to meet the needs of business and consumers and enable the UK to remain a leading digital nation. We welcome Ofcom’s determination to tackle these issues and agree with the Regulator’s view that the current relationship between BT and Openreach will not deliver the country’s needs for more competition, better innovation and better service. Our belief is that Ofcom should be firmly focused on taking whatever action is needed to correct the competition problems identified, however radical a change that might be.
Asked by: Paul Monaghan (Scottish National Party - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that all households have access to efficient digital communication networks and that broadband is available to all households at data transfer rates greater than 2 Mbit/s before the end of 2015.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
According to Ofcom only 3% of premises in the UK had access to speeds of less than 2Mbps in June 2014 (down from 11% in 2010). The government estimates that by the end of 2015 this will be around 1% as a result of the BDUK broadband programme.
The government will ensure that the remaining premises have access to speeds of at least 2Mbps by the end of 2015 by making available the option of satellite broadband connections, which will have the capability of delivering superfast speeds for those who want it.