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 resilience and security of digital landline and mobile communications in rural areas during prolonged power outages; and what steps her Department is taking to ensure that residents in areas such as Rutland are not left without access to emergency services in the event of cyber incidents or electricity failure.

The Telecommunications (Security) Act 2021 introduced a robust security framework for UK telecoms networks and places legal duties on providers to identify, reduce and prepare for security and resilience risks, including cyber threats, and we have recently completed a public consultation proposing to update these measures to further protect against evolving threats and technologies. Digital landlines require a battery back-up to work during a power cut, and providers must offer at least one solution providing access to emergency services for at least one hour, free of charge for those who rely on their landline. Many providers exceed these standards. Ofcom have completed a public consultation on power back-up for mobile services, which identified a particular impact on rural communities. They published an update on their work this February, and announced they are completing further analysis to determine the appropriate and proportionate measures required to ensure adequate resilience for consumers. For calls to 999, if a customer’s own mobile network is unavailable, calls automatically roam to any available provider.