Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the Answer of 28 October 2025 to Question 80709 on Churches: Aerials, what estimate she has made of the average change in rents paid to (a) churches, (b) local authorities, (c) other public authorities and (d) private landowners for hosting telecommunications masts since the amendment of the Electronic Communications Code under the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act 2022.

Measures included in the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act 2022 will extend the statutory valuation framework contained in the Electronic Communications Code to certain cases regulated by the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 and the Business Tenancies (Northern Ireland) Order 1996. These measures have not yet come into force and therefore no assessment has been made of their impact on rents.

Following the 2017 reforms to the Electronic Communications Code, government representatives engaged regularly with stakeholders about their impact. The changes made by the 2022 Act were consulted on and received Parliamentary scrutiny during passage of the Act.