Shared Rural Network

Chris Elmore Excerpts

Monday 28th October 2019 Commons Chamber

[Nicky Morgan]

I thank my hon. Friend for his welcome for this network. I am delighted that it is going to benefit Staffordshire and all parts of the United Kingdom. The mobile network operators have proposed, and we agree with them, that it will be much better for consumers because it will be much more consistent. The thing about roaming is that people get passed from network operator to network operator, so there is more risk of the signal falling out, whereas in this way they stay with their network operator as they travel across the United Kingdom, and therefore the signal is much more likely to remain consistent.

[Chris Elmore (Ogmore) (Lab)]

My constituency runs along the M4 corridor, and I have been raising the specific issue of the south Wales valleys with the Secretary of State’s predecessors and previous digital Ministers for the three and a half years that I have been in this House. Large areas of my constituency have no coverage, and my valleys are blamed for that. Can she set out what specific support will be available for south Wales valley communities, and will she consider using areas such as the M4 to improve connectivity?

[Nicky Morgan]

I am happy to meet the hon. Gentleman, or the Under-Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, my hon. Friend the Member for Boston and Skegness (Matt Warman), will be. Unfortunately, although I have many powers, moving mountains and valleys is not one of them—there is a limit to what I am able to do, but perhaps in due course, who knows? We would need to talk to the mobile network operators about their proposals in relation to the infrastructure needed for the future and for masts in particular. As I said in my statement, this proposal will deliver additional coverage to 16,000 km of roads, and I certainly hope that the M4 corridor will be one of those.

Racism in Football

Chris Elmore Excerpts

Tuesday 15th October 2019 Commons Chamber

[Nigel Adams]

I am aware that my predecessor responded to the debate secured by the hon. Member for Tooting (Dr Allin-Khan). There has been further action and communication between our Department and the football authorities. A summit followed that debate, which was attended by the policing unit, campaign groups and all the footballing bodies. We are looking for some of the measures that I have outlined in my previous answers to be implemented. There has also been an announcement of an increase in the minimum sanctions for discriminatory behaviour to a 10-match ban. This is subsequent to the debate to which the hon. Lady refers, but there is still absolutely more to do. It is vital that the football authorities continue to prioritise tackling this despicable behaviour.

[Chris Elmore (Ogmore) (Lab)]

I thank the Minister for the work that he has done over the past 24 hours and for the work that he will do in the future in tackling the scourge of racism. What we are talking about in one example was people dressed in black shirts making the Nazi salute. These elements of racism are being pushed on social media platforms. In answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Heywood and Middleton (Liz McInnes), he said that there was more to do. May I ask him to press the Culture Secretary and, indeed, the Prime Minister to bring forward the online harms Bill that was mentioned in the Queen’s Speech? That would mean that social media companies can start to be tackled and regulated so that they are unable to have excuses and to say, “Oh we can’t take down these pictures of people making Nazi salutes at football matches because it takes too long to process.” We need the Bill. We need it to be stronger and to ensure that this type of racism is not fuelled by the social media platforms.

[Nigel Adams]

The hon. Gentleman is correct. As I have said, what we saw last night—extremists dressed in black, making Nazi salutes and making monkey chants—was bordering on the subhuman and should not be tolerated. Online abuse—any form of online abuse—should not be tolerated. With regard to the online harms Bill, we will be undertaking pre-legislative scrutiny and working with industry in this Session to deliver exactly the sort of results that he wants to see. We have made it absolutely clear that social media companies need to do more, and this Government will hold them to account.

Oral Answers to Questions

Chris Elmore Excerpts

Thursday 4th July 2019 Commons Chamber

[Margot James]

My hon. Friend makes a very good point. Although we have not conducted a specific study on the environmental impact of faster broadband speeds, we have considered it as part of a wider evaluation. We have found that the use of cloud computing has an effect in reducing commuting time, and we will be exploring this more specifically in our superfast broadband programme evaluation next year.

[Chris Elmore (Ogmore) (Lab)]

May I ask the Minister, in using the word “rural”, not to forget communities in the south Wales valleys that can be quite socially isolated? Will she set out what funding she will put in place to deal with the geography of some of the south Wales valleys, which are still suffering with painfully slow broadband?

[Margot James]

I think the hon. Gentleman asked me a similar question last summer, and I am delighted to say that his intervention last year led directly to my recommending to the Chancellor that he include the Welsh valleys in the first pilot of the roll-out of the rural gigabit connectivity programme, so the hon. Gentleman can hold us to that. I also want to mention that the voucher scheme has been enhanced, so that small and medium-sized enterprises in the Welsh valleys will now get access to a voucher worth £3,500 and residents a voucher worth £1,500 to connect on to the public buildings that the programme will connect.

Oral Answers to Questions

Chris Elmore Excerpts

Thursday 23rd May 2019 Commons Chamber

[Margot James]

I certainly congratulate the South East LEP on gaining this initiative. We have now launched six local digital skills partnerships, and they will match provision to the very local needs of people, particularly in my hon. Friend’s constituency.

[Chris Elmore (Ogmore) (Lab)]

I hold regular discussions about digital inclusion with a group called Young At Heart in Cefn Cribwr in my constituency—a group of women who are, in the main, over the age of 80. One of their biggest complaints is being unable to make face-to-face appointments to see their doctor, and they also have complaints about the telephone services at doctors’ surgeries. What more support could the Minister provide to allow GPs to have funding to teach and upskill those women to be able to use those services?

[Margot James]

I congratulate everyone behind Young At Heart in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency; it sounds like an excellent initiative. NHS Digital has the widening digital participation programme, which will enable people in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency and elsewhere to make better use of digital services, as well as the face-to-face appointments that will always be required.

Draft Electronic Communications (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019

Chris Elmore Excerpts

Tuesday 30th April 2019 General Committees

[Chris Elmore (Ogmore) (Lab)]

I think it is fair to say that this is a surprise outing for the whole Committee—especially me.

I have a series of questions for the Minister, and I would be very grateful if she answered them as fully as she can. The SI removes reciprocal arrangements for competent national authorities to notify each other where a breach affects subscribers or individuals in other member states. The explanatory memorandum says:

“it is anticipated that the Information Commissioner will cooperate with EEA authorities”.

Can the Minister confirm that?

The SI removes some powers that the European Commission has at the moment, rather than transferring them to the Information Commissioner’s Office. Why have the Government considered it unnecessary to recreate those powers in domestic law? For example, this SI does not recreate the Commission’s power to publish an indicative list of appropriate technical measures to demonstrate any personal data. That personal data would not have been intelligible to a person accessing it without authorisation in the case of a breach. Given that just last month, Facebook was found to have been storing 600 million users’ passwords in plain text format for years, do the Government not think the public have a right to a greater reassurance that their personal data is safe? What steps have they taken?

On that subject, the Government have avoided answering written parliamentary questions asking when they were notified about the breach, how many UK users were affected and whether the Secretary of State was told about the breach when he met Mark Zuckerberg in February. We have submitted freedom of information requests to the Department. Mark Zuckerberg seems to be ignoring Parliament by refusing to come to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, and it seems that he may have failed to mention the huge data breach when he sat opposite the Secretary of State.

The SI takes us out of the European regulators group for audiovisual media services. Of course, if the UK leaves without a deal, we cannot stay in EU groups. What plans have the Government got in place for the desired future relationship between the UK and European audiovisual sectors? For example, if the UK ceases to be party to the AVMS directive, it could become significantly less attractive as a broadcasting hub. Given the importance of the sector to the UK’s economy and cultural reach, will the Minister provide reassurances about the future regulatory relationship between the UK and the European audiovisual sector? What consideration are the Government giving to that?

What plans are the Government putting in place to ensure UK consumers are duly informed about potential increases in the cost of using their mobile devices abroad, so British users do not get stuck with unanticipated fees? Finally, what measures do the Government plan to take to protect the consumer interest and guarantee that charges for calling or texting EU countries from within the UK do not increase?

Oral Answers to Questions

Chris Elmore Excerpts

Thursday 11th April 2019 Commons Chamber

[The Solicitor General]

I do sometimes wonder. It should be as plain as a pikestaff to anyone that the criminal trial process has to have integrity and be based on the evidence heard in court. That is why the new contempt online webpage sets out clear and accessible information for the public on what might be considered contempt. I reassure my right hon. Friend that the law officers take robust action where there is evidence of contempt.

[Chris Elmore (Ogmore) (Lab)]

Will the Solicitor General set out what work he is doing with Twitter, Facebook, Google and other online platforms, which is mainly where people take the law into their own hands and assume that they know what they are talking about when they refer to cases and other issues?

[The Solicitor General]

The hon. Gentleman raises an important point. He will be happy to know that I have set up a special point of contact with each of those social media companies so that if an issue is raised with my office an official can immediately contact a named person to ensure as rapid as possible a takedown of the offending material.

Online Harms White Paper

Chris Elmore Excerpts

Monday 8th April 2019 Commons Chamber

[Chris Elmore (Ogmore) (Lab)]

I welcome the Secretary of State’s paper; I would argue that it is long overdue. He may be aware that last week, and three weeks ago, I launched a report by the all-party parliamentary group on social media and young people’s mental health and wellbeing. The report was about social media and its impact on young people. Many of its recommendations are in the White Paper, and I genuinely welcome that. One that is not is a 0.5% levy on social media companies’ profits, which could go into a social media health alliance. One thing that we heard during our inquiry from clinicians and young people was that we needed far more research into the impact of social media on mental health. Many individual areas of research need to be collated so that we can educate, inform and protect our young people as technology advances.

[Jeremy Wright]

I agree, and I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his work and that of his colleagues. I hope that the House recognises that within the White Paper there are contributions from a large number of Members of the House. That is as it should be, because this is a shared challenge that we must address together. I agree with the hon. Gentleman on research. It is important that we understand these problems properly, and we will do all that we can to encourage that research to take place.

Oral Answers to Questions

Chris Elmore Excerpts

Thursday 31st January 2019 Commons Chamber

[Margot James]

The Government are investing £67 million in the gigabit broadband voucher scheme, which provides small and medium-sized enterprises with vouchers worth up to £2,500. We are focusing on rolling out full fibre where there is a strong case for public investment. Our strategy is to prioritise rural areas.

[Chris Elmore (Ogmore) (Lab)]

Will the Minister answer the second part of the question tabled by the hon. Member for Eddisbury (Antoinette Sandbach), which was about mobile phone signals? What are the Government doing about that? Large swathes of my constituency in south Wales still do not have basic mobile phone access—some of them do not have 3G access, never mind 4G. The Government really must start resolving mobile phone signal issues.

[Margot James]

I can answer the hon. Gentleman’s question by referring to the new spectrum auction, which is taking place this year, on which Ofcom is consulting. Ofcom’s duty is to manage the use of spectrum efficiently, and we expect it to deliver on our manifesto commitment to provide 95% of the country, geographically, with signal.

Oral Answers to Questions

Chris Elmore Excerpts

Thursday 13th December 2018 Commons Chamber

[Chris Elmore (Ogmore) (Lab)]

It is good to hear the Secretary of State say that there is more work to do because there really is. My constituency runs along the M4 corridor. Some villages just two or three miles from the M4 simply have no coverage—not just no 3G or 4G. Will the Secretary of State set out what additional investment he will provide to ensure not just that there is 4G, but that there is basic mobile phone coverage for many of the villages in my constituency?

[Jeremy Wright]

The hon. Gentleman makes a good point. There is more that we can do in relation to the road network. The aspiration is to get to a point, in 2022, where all major road networks are covered. As he mentioned, there will then be a knock-on benefit to areas near those roads. One way in which we can do that is to make maximum use of the emergency services network that is being rolled out by my colleagues in the Home Office that is producing increases in coverage, but as I said to the right hon. Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr Carmichael)—I make no bones about it—there is a good deal more work to be done.

Loneliness Strategy

Chris Elmore Excerpts

Monday 15th October 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I thank the Minister, the shadow Minister and the—

[Chris Elmore (Ogmore) (Lab)]

rose—

[Mr Speaker]

Oh, I do beg the hon. Gentleman’s pardon. I am very sorry; I certainly do not want him to be lonely.

[Chris Elmore]

I know I am shrinking, Mr Speaker, but not quite at that rate.

I thank the Minister most sincerely for her statement. I had only served in this House for six weeks with Jo when she was taken from us, but we had been friends for the preceding three years, when I was a candidate up until I lost in 2015. When I was selected for my constituency, she sent me a text saying, “Better late than never, mate.” In the six weeks as a new Member in which I served with her, there was either a text, a WhatsApp message or a written note asking whether I was okay, so Jo really did practise what she preached.

The Welsh Government are responsible for the loneliness strategy in Wales. The Minister will be aware that the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 requires public bodies to look at issues around loneliness as part of wider public service delivery. Given the extra money that she has announced today, will there be any Barnett consequentials in the form of additional funding for the devolved Administrations?

Finally, if I may beg your indulgence, Mr Speaker, will the Minister join me in paying tribute to the connecting the elderly group in Llanharan that supports pensioners around the Pencoed, Llanharan, Bryncae and Llanharry communities by providing afternoon teas free of charge for up to 20 residents every single month to try to improve their community spirit and get them out of the house?

[Tracey Crouch]

I like a challenge, Mr Speaker, but there is no way I am repeating that!

Obviously, I support the work of the hon. Gentleman’s constituency organisation. With reference to the Barnett formula, there is nothing in this strategy relating to that, but I am sure that colleagues from other Departments will have heard his question.