Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll and Bute)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many members of staff in his Department are working full-time on preparation for an adequacy assessment by the European Commission following the UK's withdrawal from the EU.
Answered by Margot James
I refer the Hon member to the answer given to PQ 218152 from 20th February.
Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll and Bute)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether his Department has plans to appoint a broadband consumer champion.
Answered by Margot James
The interests of telecommunications consumers are currently championed by Ofcom’s independent advisory body, the Communications Consumer Panel (CCP). As part of the government’s consumer green paper, published in April 2018, the government is seeking views on whether the current consumer advocacy arrangements need to change, and if so, in what way.
Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll and Bute)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to strengthen the consumer within the telecoms sector.
Answered by Margot James
The Government strengthened Ofcom’s powers to support consumers through the Digital Economy Act 2017. Since then, Ofcom has taken a number of steps to benefit consumers in the telecoms sector, including introducing an Automatic Compensation Scheme for broadline and landline customers, and a text to switch reform to simplify switching for mobile customers. Additionally, the Government’s Consumer Green Paper was published on 11 April 2018. It seeks views on how to ensure that modern consumer markets work for all, both now and in the future, including in the telecoms sector. A copy of the Green Paper can be viewed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/consumer-green-paper-modernising-consumer-markets.
Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll and Bute)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will take into account whether Comcast’s bid for Sky includes commitments to maintain Sky’s employment levels in (a) Scotland and (b) throughout the UK.
Answered by Matt Hancock
I refer the hon member to my written statement to the House issued on 21st May.
Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll and Bute)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how compliance with the EU Network and Information Systems Directive will be (a) monitored and (b) enforced.
Answered by Margot James
The EU Network and Information Systems Directive (the ‘NIS Directive’) will help ensure Britain’s essential networks and infrastructure are safe, secure and resilient against the risk of future cyber attacks, helping to make the UK most secure place to live and do business online.
The Government’s plans to implement the NIS Directive were set out in a public consultation published on 8 August 2017. This set out that cross-sector security guidance will be published by the National Cyber Security Centre in January 2018, sector specific guidance by Competent Authorities (Regulators) in November 2018, and that compliance will be monitored and enforced by sector based Competent Authorities. The Government is reviewing the responses to this consultation and a formal Government reply will be published shortly.
The Government has kept the European Affairs Committees of both Houses regularly informed of progress on implementation of the EU Network and Information Systems Directive. Secondary legislation implementing the Directive will be laid before Parliament in due course.
Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll and Bute)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether any sector-specific guidance will be drafted to support the implementation of the EU Network and Information Systems Directive.
Answered by Margot James
The EU Network and Information Systems Directive (the ‘NIS Directive’) will help ensure Britain’s essential networks and infrastructure are safe, secure and resilient against the risk of future cyber attacks, helping to make the UK most secure place to live and do business online.
The Government’s plans to implement the NIS Directive were set out in a public consultation published on 8 August 2017. This set out that cross-sector security guidance will be published by the National Cyber Security Centre in January 2018, sector specific guidance by Competent Authorities (Regulators) in November 2018, and that compliance will be monitored and enforced by sector based Competent Authorities. The Government is reviewing the responses to this consultation and a formal Government reply will be published shortly.
The Government has kept the European Affairs Committees of both Houses regularly informed of progress on implementation of the EU Network and Information Systems Directive. Secondary legislation implementing the Directive will be laid before Parliament in due course.
Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll and Bute)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what parliamentary scrutiny there will be of the implementation of the EU Network and Information Systems Directive.
Answered by Margot James
The EU Network and Information Systems Directive (the ‘NIS Directive’) will help ensure Britain’s essential networks and infrastructure are safe, secure and resilient against the risk of future cyber attacks, helping to make the UK most secure place to live and do business online.
The Government’s plans to implement the NIS Directive were set out in a public consultation published on 8 August 2017. This set out that cross-sector security guidance will be published by the National Cyber Security Centre in January 2018, sector specific guidance by Competent Authorities (Regulators) in November 2018, and that compliance will be monitored and enforced by sector based Competent Authorities. The Government is reviewing the responses to this consultation and a formal Government reply will be published shortly.
The Government has kept the European Affairs Committees of both Houses regularly informed of progress on implementation of the EU Network and Information Systems Directive. Secondary legislation implementing the Directive will be laid before Parliament in due course.
Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll and Bute)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans her Department has to implement the EU Network and Information Systems Directive.
Answered by Margot James
The EU Network and Information Systems Directive (the ‘NIS Directive’) will help ensure Britain’s essential networks and infrastructure are safe, secure and resilient against the risk of future cyber attacks, helping to make the UK most secure place to live and do business online.
The Government’s plans to implement the NIS Directive were set out in a public consultation published on 8 August 2017. This set out that cross-sector security guidance will be published by the National Cyber Security Centre in January 2018, sector specific guidance by Competent Authorities (Regulators) in November 2018, and that compliance will be monitored and enforced by sector based Competent Authorities. The Government is reviewing the responses to this consultation and a formal Government reply will be published shortly.
The Government has kept the European Affairs Committees of both Houses regularly informed of progress on implementation of the EU Network and Information Systems Directive. Secondary legislation implementing the Directive will be laid before Parliament in due course.
Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll and Bute)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment she has made of whether BT Group’s voluntary offer to deliver a universal service obligation in broadband will deliver universal 10mbps coverage across the UK by 2020.
Answered by Matt Hancock
The Government’s ambition is to ensure universal access to broadband at minimum speeds of 10Mbps by 2020, so that no home or business is left behind. We are considering the best route to deliver universal broadband, whether to introduce a new regulatory broadband Universal Service Obligation, or whether to accept BT’s voluntary offer. We will make an announcement on our proposed approach shortly.Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll and Bute)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate he has made of the number of proportion of premises which have access to fibre and superfast broadband as a result of the implementation of the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband programme.
Answered by Matt Hancock
The broadband project, supported by UK taxpayer funding and delivered by Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband, had provided superfast broadband coverage to approximately 520,000 premises by the end of September 2017. The Scottish Government has been funded a further £20 Milllion in 2014 to connect more Scottish households, but has failed even to open procurement. Over 7% of Scottish premises still have no access to Superfast broadband.