Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
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 antennae required to facilitate the rollout of 5G.
Answered by Margot James
Ministers have regular meetings with Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) on a range of subjects including the development of 5G networks. MNOs will lead the rollout 5G in the UK and it is for them to to confirm the details of the steps they plan to take to upgrade their network infrastructure.
The Government is setting the policy and regulatory environment needed to ensure the right conditions for investment in the development of 5G networks. For example through our 5G Testbeds and Trials Programme, and the establishment of new business models and revenue streams which in turn could lead to accelerated private sector investment.
Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the 2018-19 Main Estimates, how much funding his Department has allocated to prepare for the UK to leave the EU.
Answered by Margot James
HM Treasury has already allocated over £2 billion of additional funding to departments and the devolved administrations for EU exit preparations so far. This includes the £1.5 billion of additional funding HM Treasury announced at Autumn Budget 2017 for 2018/19. A full breakdown of how this was allocated to departments can be found in the Chief Secretary’s Written Ministerial Statement, HCWS540, laid on the 13th March (https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2018-03-13/HCWS540/). This money will be paid out in Supplementary Estimates 18/19 later this financial year.
Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what the total BDUK allocations of funding to date are for (a) Scotland, (b) Wales, (c) Northern Ireland and (d) England for the roll-out of broadband services.
Answered by Margot James
Allocated BDUK Funding for the Superfast roll-out programme in the devolved areas can be found on the attached spreadsheet.
BDUK also has other funding available through its LFFN programme’s Challenge Fund and Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme. Neither of these are centrally allocated funding - applications are made by local bodies to the Challenge Fund, and the GBVS is available to any eligible beneficiary who wishes to request a voucher.
Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what proportion of superfast broadband coverage in (a) Scotland, (b) Wales, (c) Northern Ireland and (d) England has been provided by private sector funding.
Answered by Margot James
We do not hold the information requested. This information is held by each individual Broadband supplier.