Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with British Telecom following Storms Arwen, Malik and Corrie on the rollout of the BT Digital Voice.

DCMS has frequent discussions with the BT Group, and others, to discuss a range of issues, including resilience to storms and the migration to Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP).

Through the Electronic Communications Resilience & Response Group, DCMS is working with Ofcom, BT, and other providers to complete a Post-Incident Review following Storms Arwen, Malik and Corrie. We will carefully consider the findings and work with the telecoms sector to understand where improvements can be made in future.

DCMS is also engaged in regular discussions with BT and other providers regarding the migration from the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to VoIP services. The PSTN is an outdated technology, and becoming difficult to replace and repair due to a lack of spare parts. Given it cannot be maintained, it will become increasingly unreliable.

While the PSTN upgrade is an industry-led process, the government is also working with Ofcom to ensure consumers and sectors are protected and prepared for the upgrade process. This also includes close engagement with the emergency services, such as the Police, the NHS and the Fire Brigade.