Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of how the UK’s communications infrastructure would perform in maintaining mass public communications in the event of a national power outage.

The Government works closely with communications providers, Ofcom, the energy sector and other partners to ensure the resilience and security of the UK's communications infrastructure. Communications providers are responsible for the resilience of their networks and services and have statutory obligations to identify, reduce and manage risks that could affect the security and availability of services. Ofcom oversees compliance and has powers to monitor, investigate failures and take enforcement action where appropriate. The Government is also supporting collaboration between the electricity and telecommunications sectors to reduce the likelihood of telecommunications disruption during power outages and, where disruption occurs, minimise the number of people affected and the duration of any impact. In the event of a national power outage or a large-scale cyber incident affecting broadband networks, plans are in place to ensure the public can continue to receive critical information. This includes the use of BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 4, which would continue to broadcast key public advice. In the event of a prolonged broadband outage, critical information can also be communicated through alternative channels, including Emergency Alerts, which do not require a broadband connection to operate.

On 6 September 2024, Ofcom published updated Network and Service Resilience Guidance setting out the measures communications providers should take to improve network resilience. In February 2025, Ofcom published a technical report on mobile power resilience and undertook further analysis of mobile network resilience. Building on this work, Ofcom updated its Resilience Guidance in June 2026, clarifying its expectations for mobile network operators' backup power arrangements and sharing its findings with Government to support wider policy development.

The Telecommunications (Security) Act 2021 established a strengthened framework for the security and resilience of public telecommunications networks and services, introducing enhanced security duties on providers to protect their networks and services against cyber attack and reduce the risk and impact of security compromises. The framework is supported by the Telecommunications Security Code of Practice, which was updated in 2026 to reflect evolving threats, technologies and operational practices.