Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether he has had discussions with infrastructure providers about the compatibility of fibre-to-the-premises broadband and telecare products.

Yes, the Government engages regularly with communication providers and network operators to ensure that the industry-led transition from the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) proceeds safely.

I have written to all telecare suppliers with Stephen Kinnock MP (Minister for Care, DHSC) urging them to stop selling analogue telecare devices that are reliant on the PSTN and do not function over fibre-to-the-premises broadband. On November 18th I hosted a roundtable specifically to discuss the protection of telecare users during the PSTN migration. At this meeting major communication providers agreed to extra safeguards to protect telecare users ahead of restarting non-voluntary migrations.