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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what progress her Department has made on implementing small-scale DAB radio.

DCMS brought forward detailed secondary legislation that will allow Ofcom to licence small-scale DAB radio multiplex services in June 2019. The small-scale Radio Multiplex and Community Digital Radio Order 2019 completed its Commons and Lords committee stages where it received cross party support. We expect the Order will shortly complete its final stage of a Motion from the House of Commons.

The next phase is for Ofcom to complete the consultation on their plans to license small-scale DAB, using the new powers the Government is proposing, through Parliament, to give them. Ofcom expect to be able to publish a post-consultation Statement early next year, at which point Ofcom plan to begin the process of advertising new small-scale radio multiplex licences.