Tag: Chi Onwurah

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2015-11-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps are taken by (a) his Department and (b) Ofcom to investigate objections to the content of a UK-licenced radio station made by a foreign government.

Mr Edward Vaizey

Any complaint made by a foreign government about a television or radio station that is licensed in the UK is a matter for Ofcom to deal with.

Ofcom will apply the same procedures that they use for evaluating any other complaint. Those procedures are available from Ofcom’s website at:

http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/broadcasting/guidance/complaints-sanctions/standards/

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2015-11-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what requirements for wifi delivery his Department plans to put in future rail franchises; and how his Department plans to assess the quality of wifi service provided pursuant to those franchises.

Claire Perry

On all Department for Transport-controlled rail franchises, in England and Wales, free Wi-Fi is being introduced. All train operators bidding for new franchises and direct award agreements will have to present a phased implementation plan for free Wi-Fi, which will deliver Wi-Fi on the majority of all franchised train fleets by end of 2018.

Train operators will be required to monitor and report on performance, availability and usage of the service.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2015-11-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, for what reasons statistics on National Lottery good causes expenditure has not been updated on the gov.uk website since December 2014; and when he plans to publish those updated statistics.

Tracey Crouch

We have encountered significant technical difficulties in updating the National Lottery Grants Database which have proved much more complex to resolve than anticipated. The delay in updating is very unfortunate however we have been working hard to resolve the issue and expect an update to be accessible in the New Year. Meanwhile, information about grants can be found on the websites of many distributors.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2015-12-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what proportion of the total declared claw back from BT under National Broadband Scheme contracts has been reallocated to local authorities for additional roll-out under the Scheme.

Mr Edward Vaizey

All of the£129 million clawback funding that has been announced by BT is available to the local authorities to support additional roll-out, subject to suitable deployment opportunities being identified which ensure value for money.

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.