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 premises in Scotland had superfast and fibre broadband service made available to them as a result of the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband scheme.
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.
Over 7% of Scottish premises still have no access to Superfast broadband. The Scottish Government has been funded a further £20 Million in 2014 to connect more Scottish households, but has failed even to open procurement, and is not expecting to have contracts agreed until December 2018. This will be over three years behind Wales, Northern Ireland and most regions of England. The Government will implement the Local Full Fibre Networks programme directly with Local Bodies to ensure more efficient delivery.
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 UK premises have had superfast or fibre broadband service made available as a result of UK government-funded projects.
Answered by Matt Hancock
The Government's Superfast Broadband Programme had provided superfast broadband coverage to 4,651,700 premises by September 2017.
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 she has made of changes in the level of access to superfast broadband for SMEs in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales, (d) Northern Ireland and (e) the UK between 2015 and 2016.
Answered by Matt Hancock
The Department does not hold data which distinguishes broadband coverage between home and business premises.
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 she has made of the change in access to superfast broadband in rural areas in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales, (d) Northern Ireland and (e) the UK between 2015 and 2016.
Answered by Matt Hancock
The Department does not hold data which distinguishes broadband coverage between rural and urban areas.
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 change in the number of premises with access to superfast broadband between 2015 and 2016 in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales, (d) Northern Ireland and (e) the UK.
Answered by Matt Hancock
We do not hold such figures.
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 the change in the number of premises with access to superfast broadband was in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales, (d) Northern Ireland and (e) the UK between 2014 and 2016.
Answered by Matt Hancock
We do not hold such figures.
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 her Department has estimated the economic cost to the entertainment sector after programme making and special events sector users no longer have access to the 700 MHz radio spectrum accounting for the funding proposed for that sector by Ofcom.
Answered by Matt Hancock
We recognise the importance of the Programme Makers and Special Events industry to the entertainment sector and the wider UK economy. We will be providing Government funded support to the PMSE industry through the 700MHz spectrum clearance programme, aimed at mitigating the impacts on the industry and enabling them to continue to provide high quality services to the entertainment industry after spectrum clearance.
Following Ofcom advice to Government, Ofcom consulted on a Help Scheme to provide support to the industry. We are awaiting Ofcom’s assessment of responses to this consultation and a decision on the level of support will be made once this has been taken into account.
To further mitigate impacts on the industry, and provide the possibility for future growth, Ofcom has also decided to allocate frequencies in the 960-1164MHz band for PMSE.
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 assessment her Department has made of the effect on the live entertainment sector in terms of production value and economic cost as a result of the decision to clear the 700 MHz radio spectrum band.
Answered by Matt Hancock
We recognise the importance of the Programme Makers and Special Events industry to the entertainment sector and the wider UK economy. We will be providing Government funded support to the PMSE industry through the 700MHz spectrum clearance programme, aimed at mitigating the impacts on the industry and enabling them to continue to provide high quality services to the entertainment industry after spectrum clearance.
Following Ofcom advice to Government, Ofcom consulted on a Help Scheme to provide support to the industry. We are awaiting Ofcom’s assessment of responses to this consultation and a decision on the level of support will be made once this has been taken into account.
To further mitigate impacts on the industry, and provide the possibility for future growth, Ofcom has also decided to allocate frequencies in the 960-1164MHz band for PMSE.
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 assessment her Department has made of the contribution of the UK's programme making and special events sector to the economy.
Answered by Matt Hancock
We recognise the importance of the Programme Makers and Special Events industry to the entertainment sector and the wider UK economy. We will be providing Government funded support to the PMSE industry through the 700MHz spectrum clearance programme, aimed at mitigating the impacts on the industry and enabling them to continue to provide high quality services to the entertainment industry after spectrum clearance.
Following Ofcom advice to Government, Ofcom consulted on a Help Scheme to provide support to the industry. We are awaiting Ofcom’s assessment of responses to this consultation and a decision on the level of support will be made once this has been taken into account.
To further mitigate impacts on the industry, and provide the possibility for future growth, Ofcom has also decided to allocate frequencies in the 960-1164MHz band for PMSE.
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 discussions her Department has had with Ofcom on the non-equipment costs to businesses in the Programme Making and Special Events sector as a result of the clearance of the 700 MHz band.
Answered by Matt Hancock
Ofcom consulted on a Help Scheme for Programme Makers and Special Events earlier this year. Government is awaiting Ofcom’s assessment of responses to that consultation, with a final decision on the Help scheme yet to be taken.