The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-01-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many (a) homes and (b) businesses he expects to receive a rural satellite broadband voucher in the next 12 months.
Mr Edward Vaizey
Up to 300,000 premises are currently eligible for support under the Universal Service Commitment.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-01-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what his policy is on (a) the number and type of wheelchair access and accompanying person spaces at sports stadiums and (b) ticketing prices and arrangements for those spaces; and what support his Department advises such stadiums to extend to those who use wheelchairs and those who accompany them.
David Evennett
We believe that all people should be able to enjoy and participate in sports – and that disability should not be a barrier to that. Approved accessibility audits should be undertaken by individual clubs and stadia to determine the number and type of wheelchair access and accompanying person spaces which are available at those venues. The Accessible Stadia guide also sets out the minimum guidelines for such accommodation. Ticketing prices and arrangements for those spaces are a matter for the individual club or stadium to determine. My Department advises that such stadiums and clubs make the reasonable adjustments necessary to accommodate those who use wheelchairs and for those who accompany them in line with the provisions of the Equality Act 2010.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-02-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment (a) his Department and (b) Ofcom has made of the number of (a) business parks which do not have superfast broadband and (b) businesses based in business parks which do not have superfast broadband.
Mr Edward Vaizey
In its 2015 publication Connected Nations, Ofcom estimated that 68% of SMEs had access to superfast broadband in May 2015, and almost half (around 130,000) in certain business areas were unable to receive speeds above 10Mbit/s.
The Government is supporting investment to provide superfast broadband coverage to 90% of UK premises by early 2016 and 95% by December 2017. In addition, BDUK’s Connection Voucher Scheme issued around 55,000 vouchers to businesses to enable to access Superfast broadband. However, this does not include the provision of leased lines which offer an alternative connectivity option for businesses.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-03-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what requirements or guidelines her Department issues on the reference or inclusion of digital and online resources in the curriculum (a) in general and (b) for students without access to broadband at home.
Nick Gibb
The National Curriculum, introduced from September 2014, focuses on the essential knowledge that teachers should teach, not on how they should teach it.
Schools are best placed to decide which resources meet their needs and to secure these accordingly. Wherever possible, the development of new resources and training should be sector-led, with schools prioritising their use of funding in their budgets in order to best exploit the opportunities offered by the new National Curriculum.
The Government is in favour of schools embracing digital technology in order to improve educational outcomes. We want to see schools making informed decisions about what and how technology will best meet their specific needs, keeping in mind that pedagogy should drive the use of technology.
Where teachers use digital resources in the curriculum, we would expect them to take into account the circumstances of all pupils and make appropriate provision for those without access to broadband at home.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-04-28.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 27 April 2016 to Question 35020, what funding the Government has allocated to local authorities to deliver digital and budgeting support for the roll-out of universal credit.
Priti Patel
As part of the rollout of Universal Credit we fund Local Authorities, through Delivery Partnerships, to provide support to claimants which includes support to acquire and improve their digital skills and to make and manage their Universal Credit claim online. There is also budgeting support to help manage their money on a monthly basis and pay bills on time.
How much of this funding is targeted to specific purposes will be determined by the individual partnership and based on local need.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-05-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether public funding will be made available to support the maintenance of the BBC archive as a digital platform.
Mr Edward Vaizey
The BBC receives over £3.7 billion of public money each year through the licence fee. As set out in the Government’s White Paper, ‘A BBC for the future: a Broadcaster of Distinction’, we encourage the BBC to do more to open up its archive and ensure that it can be used by the public and as wide a range of institutions and organisations as possible. How the BBC uses the public money it receives to achieve this is matter for the BBC.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-07-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of the cost to the economy of the (a) UK and (b) North East of the UK leaving the EU and British digital industries therefore being unable to access the Digital Single Market.
Mr Edward Vaizey
I refer the hon Member to the answer to her own Parliamentary Question UIN 41682.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-07-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the (a) adequacy and (b) effectiveness of the level of consumer protection against misuse of consumer data in algorithm-driven applications; and what assessment she has made of the potential merits of ensuring that consumers are able to see how their data is used by such applications.
Matt Hancock
The Government Office for Science published an evaluation report on Distributed Ledger Technology: beyond block chain on 19 January 2016, which provides an assessment. In addition, the report recommends 8 actions for government to maximise the opportunities and reduce the risks of this new technology. A copy of the report is available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/492972/gs-16-1-distributed-ledger-technology.pdf
Consumers’ rights with regard to the collection, processing and disclosure of their personal data are governed by the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA). The DPA provides rights for individuals in respect of their personal data, including rights in relation to automated decision-making, the right of subject access, the right to prevent processing likely to cause damage or distress compensation for failure to comply with certain of the Act’s requirements, and the right to have data rectified, blocked, erased or otherwise destroyed in certain circumstances.
There have been significant advances in digital technology since the DPA came into force nearly 20 years ago. The Government is reviewing the current regulatory framework to ensure it is fit for purpose for the digital age.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-10-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the future role of open source software in industrial strategy (a) for the digital economy and (b) as an enabling platform; and what steps he is taking to support that software in relation to public sector procurement.
Mr Nick Hurd
The Government’s Open Standards Principles are helping to level the playing field for open source and proprietary software, and disaggregating government IT into smaller, more manageable components.
The Government IT Strategy states ‘Where appropriate, government will procure open source solutions. When used in conjunction with compulsory open standards, open source presents significant opportunities for the design and delivery of interoperable solutions.’
To support interoperability in the public sector, we have a preference for royalty-free software generated in an open and transparent manner, which is often open source.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-10-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 24 October 2016 to Question 48717, how many customers were interviewed in the small-scale qualitative evaluation of the Warm Home Discount scheme.
Jesse Norman
A total of 41 customers were interviewed as part of the evaluation of the Energy Rebate scheme.
These customers were drawn from four representative sample groups of interest.
The findings of the research can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/220145/energy-rebate-scheme-evaluation.pdf
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