Asked by: Gillian Keegan (Conservative - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to promote apprenticeships.
Answered by Anne Milton
The department’s latest apprenticeship marketing campaign features digital advertising, radio, and social media to encourage employers across England to offer high quality apprenticeships, and individuals to take advantage of these opportunities.
Our recent National Apprenticeship Week, with hundreds of events throughout the country, celebrated apprenticeships working for employers and individuals of all ages and backgrounds.
Asked by: Gillian Keegan (Conservative - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to improve broadband and mobile phone coverage in rural areas.
Answered by Matt Hancock
We are taking a wide range of initiatives that will improve broadband and mobile phone coverage in rural areas.
We have reformed the Electronic Communications Code to make it easier and cheaper to install digital infrastructure. Our ambition is to extend mobile coverage to 95% of the UK’s landmass by 2022 and this will benefit rural areas as well. Ofcom has identified the 700 MHz band as suitable for coverage obligations and we will work with Ofcom to determine the best options.
95% of UK premises will have access to superfast speeds by the end of 2017 and we expect coverage will be extended beyond that to reach at least a further 2% of premises.
All homes and businesses which are unable to receive a speed of at least 2Mbps can benefit from support from the Better Broadband Scheme. Further information on the Scheme can be found on our website (https://basicbroadbandchecker.culture.gov.uk/guide-to-better-broadband-subsidy-scheme.pdf).
As confirmed in our announcement yesterday, we are pushing ahead with our plans for a Universal Service Obligation so that by 2020 everyone across the UK will have a clear, enforceable right to high speed broadband.
As part of the Local Full Fibre Network programme, a £4.66 million pilot project has begun to deliver fibre connections to public buildings across West Sussex, including Chichester.
Asked by: Gillian Keegan (Conservative - Chichester)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 14 September 2017 to Question 9941, what options are being considered on alternative court provision for Chichester; and what the timetable is for a decision to be made on those options.
Answered by Dominic Raab
A range of options are being considered by HMCTS Officials. These include the provision of hearings in Chichester in both local authority and HMCTS owned buildings, and the use of the nearby Havant Justice Centre. It is anticipated that the decision regarding alternative provision for Chichester will be made by the HMCTS Property Board in December.
Asked by: Gillian Keegan (Conservative - Chichester)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent steps he has taken to secure appropriate alternative court provision in Chichester after the closure of Chichester Magistrates Court and Combined Court.
Answered by Dominic Raab
Her Majesty’s Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) Officials are assessing options for the provision of suitable alternative court provision for Chichester and a decision on the options will be made in due course. Chichester Combined Court remains open and will not close until this provision is in place.