Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of transitioning from analogue landline systems to a digitised service on (a) Tiverton and Minehead constituency and (b) other rural areas.

The industry-led migration from analogue to digital landlines (“the PSTN migration”) poses some specific risks for rural constituencies, for instance where areas may be more prone to power outages or lack mobile coverage. The Department is working with communications providers to ensure that they are mitigating these risks wherever possible, for example by encouraging the industry to provide improved power resilience to vulnerable customers.

Since the general election, the government has brought together communications providers, government departments, local government, telecare providers and water companies to ensure that the transition proceeds smoothly and stably. This has led to a new Charters of Commitments signed by industry to ensure additional protections for vulnerable customers and for Critical National Infrastructure.