Tag: Drew Hendry

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Drew Hendry on 2016-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of establishing a statutory social tariff for broadband services.

Matt Hancock

We are committed to introducing a new broadband Universal Service Obligation (USO) within this Parliament. The USO will give households and businesses the legal right to request a broadband connection with speeds of at least 10 Megabits, no matter where they live or work.

Ofcom are preparing advice and recommendations for Government on the design of the broadband USO, and we have asked them specifically to consider a social tariff to make sure it is affordable for all. Ofcom will report on its findings by the end of the year and we will consider them as part of our decision.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Drew Hendry on 2015-10-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will estimate the cost to businesses of inconsistent broadband coverage in the last 12 months.

Mr Edward Vaizey

Access to broadband is of vital importance to small businesses, which is why the Government-funded Broadband Connection Voucher Scheme has provided over 50,000 small and medium sized enterprises with access to high speed broadband.83 per cent of homes and businesses already have access to superfast broadband services, and thanks to the Government’s investment in the superfast broadband rollout. This is set to rise to 95 per cent by the end of 2017.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Drew Hendry on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that all areas of the UK benefit from the award of 2.3 and 3.4 GHz spectrum bands.

Mr Edward Vaizey

The 2.3 and 3.4 GHz spectrum bands are being made available across the UK as part of the Government’s programme of public sector spectrum release. Ofcom takes independent decisions on how to assign spectrum, including whether and how to auction it and the conditions of licences granted. The licence obligation on Telefonica together with the Government’s 2014 agreement with mobile network operators means that by the end of 2017 95% of premises in Scotland will have indoor 4G coverage and complete not-spots for voice and SMS text will halve.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Drew Hendry on 2016-09-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department plans to bring forward legislative proposals to prohibit the imposition of broadband service cessation fees by providers who are unable to provide customers with adequate service.

Matt Hancock

Most major broadband providers have signed up to Ofcom’s Residential Broadband Speeds Code of Practice. This requires providers to give new customers, or customers who have changed their service, information on their guaranteed minimum speed. If a customer cannot get this guaranteed access line speed and providers are unable to resolve the problem, the Code states that providers must allow customers to leave their contract without penalty.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Drew Hendry on 2016-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what support the Government makes available to businesses to (a) prevent and (b) recover from cyber-attacks.

Matt Hancock

The cyber security of the UK is a top priority for the Government which is why we are investing £1.9 billion to protect the nation in cyber space. The new National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is helping to make the UK the safest place to live and do business online. The NCSC is the UK’s authority on cyber security and aims to reduce risks to the UK by working with businesses to improve their cyber security.

The Government’s Cyber Essentials scheme shows businesses how to protect themselves against common cyber attacks and the ‘Ten Steps to Cyber Security” guidance shows organisations how to manage cyber risk and prevent attacks. The NCSC’s Cyber Security Incident Response scheme (CSIR) helps businesses deal with and recover from a cyber incident. A wide range of Government guidance, support and training is available via the NCSC and on www.gov.uk.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Drew Hendry on 2015-10-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many officials of her Department have been employed to communicate the benefits of the Union to the Scottish public.

Mr Desmond Swayne

Scotland’s contribution to the UK’s international development effort is immense and we can be proud of what we have achieved together. As one United Kingdom, we have a much greater impact in saving lives and helping the world’s neediest people.

We have a duty to communicate to the UK public how international development, funded by the British people, is making a difference in the world’s poorest places. That includes making sure that people in Scotland know what we are achieving together.

In line with the cross-party International Development Committee’s recommendations, DFID has recruited one senior external communications officer for Scotland and devolved administrations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Drew Hendry on 2016-02-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how his Department will monitor implementation of the measures set out in the Government’s British Road Safety Statement, published in December 2015.

Andrew Jones

The British Road Safety Statement was published on 21 December 2015. It includes a number of actions to be delivered across government and in partnership with others in private, public and civil society organisations.

We are currently setting up monitoring arrangements.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Drew Hendry on 2016-09-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what proportion of UK premises has access to ultrafast broadband; and what steps she is taking to increase the number of such properties.

Matt Hancock

There is no agreed definition of ultrafast broadband. According to the independent broadband information website thinkbroadband.com – who define ultrafast as download speeds of more than 100mbps – approximately 50% of UK premises have access to ultrafast broadband.

Virgin Media have announced plans to extend their coverage by up to 4 million premises by 2019 through their Project Lightning roll-out. This roll-out has funding support from the UK Guarantee Scheme which has been put in place the government. BT also plan to make available ultrafast speeds to 10 million premises by 2020. Smaller providers, such as CityFibre, Gigaclear and Hyperoptic, are also investing to provide ultrafast services.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Drew Hendry on 2016-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions her Department has had with BT on the removal of phoneboxes in rural areas; and what assessment has been made of the safety implications for people in areas with inadequate mobile phone coverage.

Matt Hancock

This is a matter for local authorities to take based on the value of retaining a phone box to the local community.

We recognise the importance of public call boxes as a means of calling the emergency services. Ofcom requires that there is a period of consultation before a public call box is removed and that one of the factors to be considered by the relevant public body is the potential importance of the call box to contact the emergency services.

Improving mobile connectivity across the UK, including in rural and hard to reach areas is a priority for the Government, and the December 2014 agreement with industry guarantees that each mobile network operator will provide voice and SMS text coverage to 90% of the UK’s landmass by end-2017. Additionally, Telefonica has a licence obligation to deliver indoor 4G coverage to 98% of UK premises over the same period. Taken together these obligations will cut complete not spots by two thirds, resulting in 98% of the UK landmass with mobile coverage.

The Code of Practice for the Public Emergency Call Service requires that a caller from a mobile phone is able to roam onto another mobile network to make an emergency call if they have no signal from their own provider. The improvements in mobile connectivity arising from the December 2014 agreement will support this.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Drew Hendry on 2015-10-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to reduce violence against women and girls.

Justine Greening

Addressing violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a top priority for the UK Government and DFID’s Ministerial team. The UK led efforts across the globe to ensure that a target to end VAWG formed part of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and we are now focused on seeing this target implemented. Following our Call to Action to Protect Women and Girls in Emergencies in 2013 and Girl Summit in 2014, DFID has also continued to scale up its own programmes to address VAWG.