Tag: Department for Digital and Culture

The press release issued by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on 13 December 2022.

• Three top UK universities awarded £28 million to develop next-generation 6G network technology
• Groundbreaking £80 million fund to set up state-of-the-art UK Telecoms Lab in the West Midlands for testing network equipment
• UK joins forces with Republic of Korea to solve power efficiency challenges in rollout of more innovative and secure networks

Research and development on next-generation 5G and 6G wireless technology and telecoms security is to be ramped up as part of a £110 million government investment.

In the package announced today, three top UK universities, University of York, University of Bristol and University of Surrey, will receive a share of £28 million to team up with major telecoms companies including Nokia, Ericsson and Samsung to design and build networks of the future such as 6G.

The move will bolster the UK’s status as a global leader in telecoms research and follows Ericsson and Samsung’s recent decision to set up cutting-edge 6G research centres in the UK. It will also support the roll out of lightning-fast 5G by making it easier for more firms to enter the market.

The universities will work with world-leading UK academics and industry players to ensure future network technologies, including 6G, are designed in a way that promotes a more diverse and innovative telecoms market, and brings an end to current network setups where all equipment within a network must be from a single supplier.

The package includes £80 million for a state-of-the-art UK Telecoms Lab being built in Solihull in the West Midlands. Under a new contract the government has signed with the National Physical Laboratory, the lab will act as a secure research facility for mobile network operators, suppliers and academics to research and test the security, resilience and performance of their 5G and, in the future, 6G network technology. The facility will also create dozens of specialised jobs in telecoms and cyber security for the region.

A new R and D partnership with the Republic of Korea has also kicked off, which aims to accelerate the deployment of Open RAN and associated technologies. The joint project, which will receive more than £3 million (including £1.2 million from the UK Government), will focus on the power efficiency of emerging technical equipment – one of the main obstacles holding back the roll out of this new technology.

Open RAN enables operators to ‘mix and match’ equipment from several suppliers within a network, and is crucial to the government’s £250 million strategy to end the UK’s reliance on a small number of firms to build and maintain 5G networks. It will help the country to build a more diverse, competitive and secure telecoms supply chain.

Digital Secretary Michelle Donelan said:

The technology powering our phone and internet networks is evolving rapidly and with 6G on the horizon we must stay ahead of the curve.

This government investment will see top UK universities join forces with industry to develop the nuts and bolts underpinning new networks, create skilled jobs testing the security of the latest telecoms tech, and ensure our plan for a more diverse and innovative 5G market is sustained in the future.

The funding will also turbocharge our work to strengthen telecoms supply chains so we are no longer reliant on a handful of companies to develop and maintain our 5G networks.

Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands, said:

Tech is one of the most exciting and fastest growing sectors in our region so it’s great news that this £80m UK Telecoms Lab is being built in Solihull, reinforcing the importance of this sector for us here in the West Midlands.

The Lab will bring a wide range of stakeholders together to drive innovation and create high quality new jobs for local people. With our tech sector already valued at over £15 billion, I cannot wait to see how this Lab helps to usher in an exciting future in the months and years ahead.

5G connectivity will revolutionise people’s daily lives and boost business productivity through much faster internet speeds, as well as underpinning new technologies such as driverless cars, improved artificial intelligence and precision healthcare.

Today’s funding package follows an announcement last week that the United States, Canada and Australia have committed to closer cooperation to diversify telecoms supply chains. As part of this, they signed up to the UK’s principles for developing and deploying Open RAN equipment. The principles aim to direct public and private investment in Open RAN so that it delivers on its promise of a more competitive, innovative and secure telecoms market.

The UK is becoming one of the best places in the world to invest in Open RAN. The £250 million 5G Diversification Strategy, published November 2020, sets out where the government will remove barriers for new vendors, invest in open technologies like Open RAN and work with like-minded countries to achieve the shared aim for secure and resilient telecoms supply chains.

The measures announced today support the UK’s strategy to reduce its reliance on a small number of suppliers to build and maintain telecoms networks, and supports the joint ambition made with UK mobile network operators in December 2021 for 35 per cent of mobile network traffic to pass through Open RAN by the end of the decade, as well as a string of investments worth more than £50 million in innovative trials and facilities to develop new Open RAN solutions.

Hamish MacLeod, Chief Executive of Mobile UK, said:

Mobile UK welcomes this package of announcements from the Government. International collaboration and investment in research and development of this kind are absolutely essential if the UK is to be a leader in the development of open networks that push for the highest standards of security, innovation and power efficiency.

President Sung Bae Jun of the Korean Institute for Information and Communications Technology Planning and Evaluation said:

It is a great pleasure to launch this UK-ROK Open RAN R and D Collaboration which will see Korean and British companies working together to develop innovative solutions to key open RAN and telecoms challenges.

I am also pleased to sign a joint DCMS-IITP Terms of Reference which will guide our cooperation and support further UK-ROK exchange.  Both the UK and ROK recognise the importance of initiatives to support telecoms innovation and to support the resilience of telecommunication infrastructure supply chains.

The press release issued by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on 9 December 2022.

A number of high profile public figures including Jermaine Jenas, Myleene Klass, Georgia Kousoulou, Jo Frost and Laura Amies have today backed the government’s Online Safety Bill in the week the landmark internet safety laws returned to Parliament.

• A number of high profile public figures have today backed the government’s Online Safety Bill
• It comes as the government releases latest findings from Ipsos revealing UK adults think social media platforms should be doing more to protect children online
• Jermaine Jenas, Myleene Klass, Georgia Kousoulou, Jo Frost and Laura Amies amongst celebrities publicly supporting new internet safety laws
• The Bill returned to Parliament this week with new protections for children

A number of high profile public figures including Jermaine Jenas, Myleene Klass, Georgia Kousoulou, Jo Frost and Laura Amies have today backed the government’s Online Safety Bill in the week the landmark internet safety laws returned to Parliament.

It comes as the government releases latest findings from a survey by Ipsos revealing that more than 70 per cent of adults in the UK think social media platforms should be doing more to protect children online.

The new data coincides with the return of the Online Safety Bill to Parliament this week, following the announcement of vital new provisions.

This includes greater accountability on larger tech companies to protect young people, including requiring them to publish a summary of their risk assessments concerning the dangers their platform poses to children, alongside moves to boost transparency and accountability through new powers for the regulator Ofcom.

Ipsos research also found that 69 per cent of people believe that children are not safe when using social media, with 77 per cent of adults worried about children seeing content promoting self harm.

The draft legislation will go further than before to shield children, whilst protecting free speech. The Online Safety Bill has significant public backing, with more high profile public figures today backing it, from former England footballer Jermaine Jenas to global parenting expert Jo Frost.

This follows confirmation that the Bill will also include new measures to make significant changes to the UK’s criminal law to increase protections for vulnerable people online by criminalising the encouragement of self-harm and the sharing of people’s intimate images without their consent.

Former England footballer, broadcaster and parent, Jermaine Jenas says:

Our support for the landmark Online Safety Bill is so important in ensuring tech companies clamp down on harmful content that can be accessed by children online. As a parent myself, I am keen to ensure that my kids are able to use the internet safely. The Online Safety Bill is a step in the right direction.

Musician and mum, Myleene Klass says:

These new internet safety laws are incredibly important to protecting children and young people online. We are all aware of the harmful content that is available online and shared across social media platforms.

These new safety laws put more responsibility on social media platforms to ensure the removal of this content and enforce them to actually stop underage children from accessing content they shouldn’t be. We need to ensure our children feel empowered, supportive and safe online.

TV personality and mother, Georgia Kousoulou says:

As a mum, I’m already thinking about how I will help Brody navigate the online world. I’ve experienced first hand how harmful and damaging online content can be and the online safety bill is so important in preventing this.

It will hold technology companies accountable for harmful content they are allowing children to see online. I am looking forward to seeing this legislation passed and the effect this will have to make the online world a safer place for everyone.

Global parenting expert Jo Frost (‘Super Nanny’), says:

While we understand the importance of protecting our children in the physical world, we must also be sure to recognise the equal importance of keeping our children safe online in the virtual world too. “This is the reason why with urgency we must all come together in strength to support these new internet safety laws to ensure that social media companies are held more accountable for the content children access on their platforms.”

Child behaviour expert Laura Amies (‘The Toddler Tamer’ from Channel 5’s Toddlers Behaving (Very) Badly), says:

Given that children learn so much from their environment, those within it and the experiences they have, I believe that it is now more important than ever to do all we can to ensure their safety online.

As an adult who spends a great deal of my time online, social media in particular, I can not imagine trying to navigate the internet throughout my most formative years and often say how grateful I am to have attended school without a smart phone in my school bag.

As adults however, it is our responsibility to ensure that we keep online safety at the forefront in a bid to both protect and be able to benefit from the infinite positives that the internet has to offer us.

The Online Safety Bill returned to Parliament on 5 December in the House of Commons for Report stage.

The press release issued by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on 8 December 2022.

International allies issue joint statement on ensuring the resilience and security of global telecoms supply chains and future 6G networks.

The press release issued by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on 7 December 2022.

UK and Japan to collaborate on joint digital priorities including supply chain resilience, cyber security and data.

Today the UK and Japan have unveiled details of a new digital partnership to turbocharge their joint working in an era of increasing global competition on tech and data.

The UK and Japan are modern tech powerhouses, with combined IT sectors worth more than £406 billion. The newly launched partnership will develop the unique strengths of both countries and deliver on the UK’s ambition, set out in this year’s Digital Strategy, to increase international collaboration on complex tech issues.

The partnership will structure engagement between the UK and Japanese governments on a range of digital issues, including how to improve the resilience of globally significant supply chains such as semiconductors and telecommunications. The countries will develop joint research and development initiatives to share expertise about these vital technologies.

The UK and Japan will strengthen foundations for trade and investment between their tech economies and make it easier for businesses to operate in both countries by aligning approaches to digital regulation.

Improving cyber resilience is a priority for the partnership, which will see the UK and Japan promote initiatives to standardise the security of internet-connected products and apps and address the risks of digital services in supply chains.

Collaboration between the UK’s data regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), and Japanese regulators will be supported through the partnership to give businesses and citizens greater certainty about the security of data sharing between both countries.

At the centre of the partnership will be the UK-Japan Digital Council, an annual meeting between ministers from the UK’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and representatives from the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Digital Agency to drive forward new priorities.

UK Digital Secretary Michelle Donelan said:

The UK’s relationship with Japan has grown from strength to strength in recent years based on a foundation of shared goals and values. Our thriving tech sectors are another opportunity for us to work together to benefit citizens and businesses across both countries. I look forward to deepening our relationship through the UK-Japan Digital Partnership in the future.

Both governments will use international settings such as Japan’s G7 Presidency and the G20 to tackle shared goals and challenges with other global partners.

This new partnership further delivers on the UK’s goal, set out in the Integrated Review, to become the European nation with the broadest presence in the Indo-Pacific region which is increasingly critical as global tech competition and international assertiveness intensifies.

The press release issued by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on 6 December 2022.

• Funding will help make museums more accessible through initiatives like building ramps and improving displays
• Particular focus on helping organisations to be more sustainable and adopt energy saving measures

Museums and galleries across England will receive a share of £4 million to improve displays, protect collections and make exhibitions more accessible to visitors.

The cash boost will go to 33 museums, 26 of which are outside London, from the joint DCMS/Wolfson Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund. Both DCMS and the Wolfson Foundation contributed £2 million to this round of the fund, which has benefited more than 400 projects in its 20-year history.

The fund aims to help museums and galleries make their collections as accessible to the public as possible, whether that be through building accessible ramps and facilities, improving collection storage to protect them for the future or getting more of their collections out on display.

In this latest round of funding, the People’s History Museum in Manchester will receive a grant of £214,300 to improve access to the museum for people with disabilities by installing accessible doors, lifts and toilets, improving stairs and walkways with handrails and ramps, and installing signs around the museum to make it more accessible.

This year there has also been a particular focus on supporting museums and galleries in adopting energy saving measures and improving sustainability.

The National Motor Museum in the New Forest, for example, will use its grant of £200,000 to install new heating and lighting to improve environmental performance. Abbot Hall Art Gallery, in Kendal, will use £40,500 to review its environmental controls for collections to reduce energy use.

Arts Minister Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay said:

The DCMS/Wolfson Fund aims to make sure more people can access our brilliant museums and galleries right across the county.

Thanks to this combination of public funding and private philanthropy, these awards will help people who may have previously found visiting museums and galleries difficult and make sure everyone can enjoy and engage with the wonderful collections and exhibitions they offer.

With 80 percent of the money going to museums outside the capital, this funding is further evidence of the Government’s commitment to levelling up and widening access to culture.

Paul Ramsbottom, Chief Executive of the Wolfson Foundation said:

We’re delighted to continue our longstanding partnership with DCMS, which has now awarded over £50 million to outstanding museums and galleries over the past two decades.

While the projects funded are many and varied, they will all improve access to the treasures of our museums and galleries – allowing more people to enjoy and learn from these impressive collections, as well as safeguarding them for the future.

The Bowes Museum which manages a Grade I listed building as well as a designated collection and parkland in County Durham has received a grant of £254,900 to develop four new gallery spaces – bringing more of their collections to the public. The new galleries will be created together with the local community to make sure they are fully accessible for people with reduced mobility and sensory impairments.

£71,700 will help Derby Museums to improve accessibility at Grade I listed Pickford’s House to help the museum use virtual reality to bring the house to a wider audience. Kelham Island Museum in Sheffield will receive £45,000 to improve displays in collaboration with their local communities.

The press release issued by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on 5 December 2022.

Research project launched to explore ideas to build on UK semiconductor sector’s strengths in design, compound semiconductors and advanced technologies.

• Study, as part of the government’s upcoming semiconductor strategy, will consider how to grow chip design start-ups and testing facilities as well as bring together industry, customers and government to address shared challenges
• Semiconductors underpin almost every electronic device on the planet with the UK among world leaders for chip design

A new national institution could be established as part of plans to boost the infrastructure underpinning the UK’s industry through the government’s upcoming semiconductor strategy.

The strategy will aim to unlock the full potential of British microchip businesses, support jobs and skills to grow the UK’s domestic industry and ensure a reliably supply of semiconductors.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is today commissioning a research project to look into the feasibility of new national initiatives to bring the nation’s industry together to tackle shared challenges and help businesses scale up.

It will look at whether better access to prototyping and manufacturing facilities for chip firms is needed to tackle barriers to innovation and grow the industry. It will also cover opportunities to make specialist software tools more available for start-ups and ways to develop cutting-edge packaging processes, the point in the supply chain where chips are prepared for use.

Semiconductors are materials which conduct electricity more than insulating substances like glass, but less than pure conductors, like copper, and can be altered to meet the electrical needs of a  circuit or device. They are found in almost every electrical circuit powering device from phones and cars to ventilators and power stations.

The UK’s semiconductor industry has expanded rapidly over the last decade, with global revenue increasing by 95 per cent between 2012 and 2021. The UK has established a number of major industry strengths, including in chip design, research and compound semiconductors.

Digital Secretary Michelle Donelan said:

We rely on semiconductors – they are in everything from our smartphones, kitchen appliances, and cars all the way through to the supercomputers that support our weather reporting, energy sector and countless other areas of our economy.

In the UK we are leading the world in areas including design and research. We want to build on these successes and keep our semiconductor sector on the cutting edge.

This study will help us meet our ambition and could lead to a new national institution and greater research facilities.

The study will consider how to improve infrastructure in five key areas: industry coordination, silicon prototyping, open-access manufacturing for compound semiconductors, advanced packaging and intellectual property.

The results will inform how the government could deliver on some of the ambitions set out in the forthcoming semiconductor strategy, which will be published as soon as possible and is not dependent on the completion of the feasibility study.

The proposed initiative is one of many options under consideration and does not represent the full breadth of the strategy.

The study will set out the delivery model a national initiative could take to have the most positive impact on the industry, including whether or not the different infrastructure capabilities are centralised in one organisation.

The press release issued by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on 2 December 2022.

A temporary export bar has been placed on a French Gothic ivory casket.

• Export bar is to allow time for a UK gallery or institution to acquire the piece

A French Gothic ivory casket worth more than £1.5 million is at risk of leaving the UK unless a buyer can be found to save it for the nation.

The casket is one of just nine known 14th century French composite caskets that depict scenes from mediaeval romance tales. It includes a detailed and early depiction of wild men, mythical creatures appearing in mediaeval European art and literature that symbolise people living outside ‘civilised’ society. The casket shows them assaulting a castle in a rare variation on the popular theme of the storming of the Castle of Love.

The Castle of Love was a commonly depicted scene on secular ivories in the 14th century in which women and girls are shown defending a castle attacked by knights. The scene was so popular at the time that there are records of re-enactments where castles were built and defended by women and girls of the town while men attacked them with fruits and flowers.

On the lid of this casket, wild men and knights are shown engaged in a battle for the castle and its female occupants. Meanwhile the back panel depicts the outcome: a victorious knight kneeling in front of a king with a procession of knights and ladies leading the captured wild men in chains.

Arts Minister Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay said:

This incredibly rare French ivory casket shows romantic and chivalric scenes as fascinating today as they were seven centuries ago.

I sincerely hope a buyer comes forward so that we might continue to learn more about this remarkable casket and its long history in the UK.

The Minister’s decision follows the advice of the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest. The Committee noted that the casket is exceptional and enlarges the collection of ivory caskets, particularly given the important secular iconography of the wild men.

Committee member Stuart Lochhead said:

This French 14th-century carved ivory casket is adorned with scenes of chivalry and romance including depictions of wild men – ranging from the rescue of a lady from one such assailant to a procession of knights and ladies who lead the captured wild men in chains. Similar iconography exists on some of the other nine known mediaeval caskets of this type, but it is the present one that illustrates some of the earliest and rarest type of images.

Furthermore, its provenance indicates that it was continuously owned by the same family in Scotland for about four hundred years which is a remarkable and significant provenance for a mediaeval object.

The casket is an exciting addition to a rare group of secular mediaeval ivory carvings, and with a long history of Scottish ownership that needs further in-depth research, its loss to an overseas buyer would be very regrettable.

The Committee made its recommendation on the grounds that the casket met the third Waverley criterion for the study of provenance and the history of early collecting in Britain, and of secular mediaeval art.

The decision on the export licence application for the ivory casket will be deferred for an initial period ending on 1 March 2023 inclusive. At the end of the first deferral period owners will have a consideration period of 15 business days to consider any offer(s) to purchase the casket at the recommended price of £1,506,000. The second deferral period will commence following the signing of an Option Agreement and will last for four months.

The press release issued by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on 30 November 2022.

Work also begins on biggest ever £100 million Project Gigabit contract to connect 60,000 rural homes and businesses in Cumbria, delivered by Fibrus.

• Mountain rescue base and 12th Century abbey to benefit in government tests of satellites to connect remote locations
• Broadband voucher scheme to help people get better connections to be tripled in value to £4,500 –  funding gigabit connections in more rural communities

Some of the UK’s most remote homes and businesses will be connected to better broadband, beamed to earth by satellite, as part of new government plans to ensure everyone can access fast and reliable coverage wherever they live or work.

A trial officially launched today will see the extent to which satellites can be used to deliver high-speed connections to more than a dozen ‘very hard to reach’ locations – the less than one per cent of sites which are too difficult to upgrade via expensive physical cables in more extreme locations such as mountainous areas or small islands.

A 12th century abbey in the North Yorkshire Moors National Park, a scout camping site in Snowdonia, a Lake District mountain rescue base and other remote premises will have equipment installed that allows them to link up to a satellite orbiting the globe and benefit from broadband up to ten times faster than is currently available to them.

Following the trials, the government will consider the viability of using satellite technology to connect very hard to reach homes and businesses across the UK.

It comes as the government signs its biggest contract under its £5 billion programme to roll out gigabit-capable connections to hard-to-reach areas, Project Gigabit. The £108 million contract, awarded to Northern Ireland-based provider Fibrus, will connect up to 60,000 rural homes and businesses in Cumbria which might have otherwise missed out on upgrades to faster gigabit speeds.

Digital Secretary Michelle Donelan said:

High-speed broadband beamed to earth from space could be the answer to the connectivity issues suffered by people in premises stuck in the digital slow lane.

Ensuring everyone can get a quality internet connection is crucial to our levelling up plans and these trials aim to find a solution to the prohibitively high cost of rolling out cables to far-flung locations.

We are also today kicking off plans for our biggest broadband build to date as we announce another £100 million is being spent as part of our Project Gigabit programme.

The Cumbria contract is the latest in a flurry of deals signed under Project Gigabit in recent weeks to level up the north of England, with projects now underway to connect thousands of hard-to-reach premises in Northumberland and Teesdale.

In a further broadband boost for rural areas, the government will triple the value of vouchers available under the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme. From early next year, eligible homes and businesses will be able to apply for up to £4,500 to cover the costs of a gigabit-capable connection, up from £1,500 for homes and £3,500 for businesses previously, which will enable broadband providers to reach further into rural areas where the build costs are higher.

​​Gigabit-capable broadband networks are fast and fit for the future, allowing communities to work, stream and browse seamlessly with none of the disruptions associated with ageing copper networks.

Entire families will be able stream movies, TV and video games in new high quality 4K and 8K definition onto multiple devices at the same time with no slowdowns in speed.

It will pave the way for revolutionary new technologies such as Virtual and Augmented Reality and more internet-connected smart appliances in the home and the workplace to make our lives easier and more productive.

And it will fuel our innovators and wealth creators, boosting growth, enabling anyone to start-up and run a business of any size from anywhere in the UK – from the Highlands, to the Norfolk Broads and the Welsh Valleys to the Lake District.

More than 72 per cent of the UK can access gigabit connections, up from just 6 per cent in early 2019, thanks to the government’s plan to drive investment in rollout and bust the barriers holding back the industry from doing so at full pace.

Satellite broadband trials

The initial wave of trial sites announced today includes:

• Rievaulx Abbey, founded in 1132, in North Yorkshire Moors National Park, is one of the most complete of England’s abbey ruins. The project will improve connectivity at the site and is expected to help visitors and researchers engage with educational content relating to the ancient monument.
• Wasdale Head in the Lake District will be connected to explore how better broadband can improve operations in communication ‘blackspot’ zones for mountain rescue team radio and global positioning services.
• Snowdonia National Park will see two sites connected: the base of the Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Organisation (Sefydliad Achub Mynydd Dyffryn Ogwen) to support their life-saving operations and Ty Cornel, an outdoor activity centre in Crafnant Valley managed by Scouts Cymru to help improve safety for wardens and the public traversing the isolated 25 acre site as well as enabling new educational resources for visiting school, university or scout groups.

Other locations have been identified around the UK, and discussions for further trial sites are  ongoings, including small island locations in England, Scotland and Wales. As well as testing the technical capability of the satellites, the trial will assess what benefits faster connections will bring to these remote premises.

Andrea Selley, Territory Director for the North at English Heritage said:

We are so pleased to be part of this trial and want to thank the DCMS for their support. Rievaulx Abbey nestles within a beautiful but remote setting so this new satellite service will ensure better connectivity for our visitors and staff.

The initial wave of sites are being supported by equipment supplied by Starlink, given the readiness and availability of its technology. DCMS continues to discuss the capability of other solutions and services with suppliers, including the use of other providers such as Oneweb at more complex sites..

Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites are positioned around 550 – 1,000km above the earth’s surface and, in contrast to larger geostationary satellites, travel along their own orbit. The fact they are closer to earth than previous generations of satellites makes more applications possible, including video calls and real-time collaboration while also making activities like web browsing much smoother. The limited ground infrastructure required means they can provide additional resilience to critical networks in remote, often dangerous, environments.

Recent tests have shown that in many locations these satellites can deliver speeds of up to 200 megabits per second, well above the speeds capable via copper cables commonly used in hard-to-reach areas today.

Project Gigabit: Cumbria

The £108 million contract awarded to Fibrus will cover rural towns, villages and hamlets across the region from Grasmere to Gilsland. Now the contract has been signed, Fibrus will begin construction of the network immediately with the first connections anticipated by the spring.

The investment in Cumbria will also spark new apprenticeship and employment opportunities in the county. Following today’s announcement, Fibrus is set to create at least 90 apprenticeships over the next three years – covering a range of roles from underground and overhead cabling to surveying – and invest £50,000 to establish an apprentice training academy near Penrith.

More areas including Cornwall, Hampshire, Shropshire & Telford, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk are all in line for contract awards by summer 2023.

Dominic Kearns, CEO of Fibrus, said:

Fibrus considers it a privilege to deliver a transformative project for Cumbria which will change the lives of people living in rural and regional areas. Fibrus is committed to supporting local communities, ensuring any work undertaken in our name supports apprenticeships and allows more people to reap the benefits of full fibre.

This win helps us further our mission and commitment to bring fast, reliable and affordable broadband to all.

Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme

The Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme ensure rural communities and businesses, which commercial suppliers are not planning to reach, can get more immediate help with the costs of installing a gigabit-capable broadband connection.

Businesses or residents that are eligible for gigabit vouchers can access the scheme through a  registered supplier. Suppliers can develop a project proposal to connect rural communities where there is demand for upgrades and then request vouchers on their behalf. Funding is only committed when a voucher requested has been approved by DCMS.

Overall, more than 111,000 vouchers have been issued through the government’s vouchers schemes, and to date, more than 77,000 of these vouchers have been used to connect premises to gigabit-capable broadband.

The announcement comes ahead of Small Business Saturday, which shines a light on the 5.5 million small businesses registered in the UK. The boost to the voucher scheme will directly support small businesses in rural areas across the country when it comes in early next year.

Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, James Cartlidge, said:

Breaking barriers and driving competition in the telecoms sector will help deliver fast and reliable gigabit broadband to all corners of the UK.

Using innovative methods to beam broadband to isolated areas, alongside this latest Project Gigabit deal to level up the north of England, will connect thousands more hard-to-reach premises, helping people get and stay connected”.

The press release issued by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on 30 November 2022.

Work has started to connect tens of thousands of people living and working in rural Cumbria to lightning-fast broadband thanks to more than £100 million of government investment.

• Around 60,000 rural premises to benefit from lightning-fast broadband following £108 million government contract award, delivered by Fibrus
• Will benefit hard-to-reach homes and businesses across the county, from Grasmere to Gilsland and Buttermere to Beckermet
• Satellite broadband trial launched in the Lake District under plans to connect highly remote areas

Work has started to connect tens of thousands of people living and working in rural Cumbria to lightning-fast broadband thanks to more than £100 million of government investment.

Around 60,000 premises in the county will be connected to the fastest broadband on the market after Belfast-based supplier Fibrus signed the biggest contract yet under the government’s Project Gigabit programme.

Project Gigabit is the biggest broadband roll out in British history, backed with £5 billion to deliver faster connections to hard-to-reach areas that would otherwise have missed out.

Installation work is already underway in the region, with the first gigabit connections expected by the spring.

Gigabit-capable networks are fast and fit for the future, allowing users to work, stream and scroll online without the battle for bandwidth or disruption often experienced with ageing networks.

In a huge boost for jobs and skills for Cumbria, Fibrus has committed to creating at least 90 apprenticeships following the government investment. These will cover a range of roles, from underground and overhead cabling to surveying, and Fibrus has also committed to establish an apprentice training academy at Newton Rigg near Penrith.

It comes as the government brings broadband delivered via satellite for the first time to the Lake District, which will see a mountain rescue base in Wasdale Head connected to faster, more reliable connections than currently available due to its highly remote location. The project is part of a wider trial announced today to test the reliability of satellite technology to bring high-speed connections to the most hard-to-reach parts of the UK.

Michelle Donelan, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), said:

We’re steaming ahead with our plan to level up internet speeds across Cumbria, which will see the biggest investment to date from the government’s Project Gigabit – the biggest broadband roll out in British history.

Tens of thousands of rural homes and businesses will be able to plug into faster connections in the new network, allowing Cumbrian communities to take full advantage of the endless benefits lightning-fast broadband has to offer.

Dominic Kearns, CEO of Fibrus, said:

Fibrus considers it a privilege to deliver a transformative project for Cumbria which will change the lives of people living in rural and regional areas. Fibrus is committed to supporting local communities, ensuring any work undertaken in our name supports apprenticeships and allows more people to reap the benefits of full fibre.

This win helps us further our mission and commitment to bring fast, reliable and affordable broadband to all.

In a further broadband boost for rural areas in Cumbria and the rest of the UK, the government will triple the value of vouchers available under the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme.

From early next year, eligible homes and businesses will be able to apply for up to £4,500 to cover the costs of a gigabit-capable connection, up from £1,500 for homes and £3,500 for businesses previously, which will enable broadband providers to reach further into rural areas where the build costs are higher.

While the vast majority of rural premises in Cumbria are now in line for a gigabit broadband upgrade, the boost to vouchers is designed to help suppliers reach more premises outside the scope of the Project Gigabit contract or suppliers’ commercial build plans.

Today’s announcement follows millions of pounds worth of contracts signed in Northumberland and Teesdale recently, boosting broadband to level up the north of England.

More than 72% of the UK can access gigabit connections – such as full fibre – thanks to the government’s plan to drive investment in rollout and bust the barriers holding back the industry from doing so at full pace.

The investment will also directly support small businesses in rural areas across the county, just in time for Small Business Saturday, which shines a light on the 5.5 million small businesses registered in the UK.

David Southward MBE, Cumbria County Council Cabinet Member for Economy and Digital Champion, said:

Improved digital infrastructure remains a top priority given the significant economic and social benefits for Cumbria and I am delighted that Cumbria will be in the vanguard for investment under Project Gigabit.

I am especially glad to see the Newton Rigg College site again being used for training professionals who will be part of delivering this investment in our region.

Access to fast, reliable internet connectivity is no longer a luxury; it is a basic necessity for residents, local businesses and the delivery of public services. The importance of resilient connectivity has been further highlighted by last winter’s storms and the coronavirus pandemic. This £108m investment will help people and businesses access faster internet which will in turn allow them to flourish in a modern, global job market and unlock the economic potential of the region.

The press release issued by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on 30 November 2022.

Outsourced IT providers will be brought into scope of cyber regulations to strengthen UK supply chains.

• Changes will boost security standards and increase reporting of serious cyber incidents to reduce risk of attacks causing disruption
• Laws can be updated in the future to cover new organisations or sectors if they become vital for essential services

Essential everyday services, such as water, energy and transport, will be better protected from online attacks following changes to laws which set the UK’s cyber security standards.

In response to a public consultation earlier this year, the government today confirms the Network and Information Systems (NIS) Regulations will be strengthened to protect essential and digital services against increasingly sophisticated and frequent cyber attacks both now and in the future.

The UK NIS Regulations came into force in 2018 to improve the cyber security of companies  providing critical services. Organisations which fail to put in place effective cyber security measures can be fined as much as £17 million for non-compliance.

But high profile attacks such as Operation CloudHopper, which targeted managed service providers and compromised thousands of organisations at the same time, show the UK’s cyber laws need to be strengthened to continue to protect vital services and the supply chains they rely on.

MSPs provide IT services such as security monitoring and digital billing and can have privileged access to their customer’s IT networks. This makes them an attractive target for cyber criminals who can exploit MSP software vulnerabilities to compromise a wide range of clients.

The UK is able to change the NIS regulations, which were originally derived from the EU’s NIS directive, because the UK has left the EU and can update these laws to better fit the country’s cyber security needs.

Under the new changes MSPs, which are key to the functioning of essential services that keep the UK economy running, will be brought into scope of the regulations to keep digital supply chains secure.

Cyber minister Julia Lopez said:

The services we rely on for healthcare, water, energy and computing must not be brought to a standstill by criminals and hostile states.

We are strengthening the UK’s cyber laws against digital threats. This will better protect our essential and digital services and the outsourced IT providers which keep them running.

The updates to the NIS regulations will be made as soon as parliamentary time allows and will apply to critical service providers, like energy companies and the NHS, as well as important digital services like providers of cloud computing and online search engines.

Other changes include requiring essential and digital services to improve cyber incident reporting to regulators such as Ofcom, Ofgem and the ICO. This includes notifying regulators of a wider range of incidents that disrupt service or which could have a high risk or impact to their service, even if they don’t immediately cause disruption.

The new measures will give the government the power to amend the NIS regulations in future to ensure it remains effective. This change will allow more organisations to be brought into scope if they become vital for essential services and add new sectors which may become critical to the UK’s economy.

The updated rules will allow regulators to establish a cost recovery system for enforcing the NIS regulations that is more transparent and takes into account the wider regulatory burdens, company size, and other factors to reduce taxpayer burden.

The Information Commissioner will be able to take a more risk-based approach to regulating digital services under the updated cyber laws and will be allowed to take into account how critical providers are to supporting the resilience of the UK’s essential services.

These changes to legislation are part of the government’s £2.6 billion National Cyber Strategy which  is taking a stronger approach to getting at-risk businesses to improve their cyber resilience and making the UK digital economy more secure and prosperous.

Paul Maddinson, NCSC Director of National Resilience and Strategy, said:

I welcome the opportunity to strengthen NIS regulations and the impact they will have on boosting the UK’s overall cyber security.

These measures will increase the resilience of the country’s essential services – and their managed service providers – on which we all rely.

Carla Baker, Senior Director of Public Policy UK and Ireland, Palo Alto Networks, said:

Palo Alto Networks supports the development of an agile policy framework to reduce cybersecurity risks to our economy and society.

We welcome the opportunity to engage with the UK Government as it reviews the legislation and develops guidance for industry to enhance cyber resilience and combat the risk that malicious actors pose to the UK’s national security.