Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether she has made an assessment of the role of Islamophobia in the events leading to the (a) death of 12-year-old Shukri Abdi and (b) subsequent investigation.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Minister of State at the Home Office, to PQ126154.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the potential economic effect of the English covid-19 tiers system on the performing arts sector.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Government fully recognises the disruptive impact that Coronavirus and restrictions has on the performing arts sector and how devastating it will be where events are cancelled.
That is why we have already extended the Job Retention Scheme until March, alongside the unprecedented £1.57bn Culture Recovery package which has already benefited thousands of organisations and the individuals supported by them.
The Government continues to work with the performing arts sector to assess the impact of the tiers and to develop proposals for how venues can open for fuller audiences when it is safe to do so.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans his Department has to ensure the retention of highly skilled workers in the creative industries.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
We recognise the crucial role that highly skilled workers play in making our creative industries world-leading, and the Government is providing extensive support to workers in these sectors. The £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund provides targeted support to critical cultural, arts and heritage organisations to help them, and the skilled workers that work in them, survive and recover from the Covid pandemic. In addition Arts Council England has made £119 million available to individuals (including freelancers) and in July, the Government also announced a UK-wide £500m Restart scheme to support film and TV production companies that have been unable to film due to the lack of insurance covering Covid-related risks. As of 19 November, the scheme is supporting over 4,500 jobs.
The Government also recently announced the extension of both the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme until March 31 2021. This support will help creative businesses across the country to protect their employees’ jobs during this difficult winter period.
Government continues to engage regularly with stakeholders such as the BFI, the Creative Industries Federation and the Creative Industries Council to ensure we understand the impact of Covid-19 on the skills and talent needed to keep the UK’s creative industries a global success.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans he has to ensure that people who work and live in Poplar and Limehouse constituency can access full-fibre broadband internet.
Answered by Matt Warman
The government has the ambition of providing nationwide gigabit-capable connectivity as soon as possible, and will continue to take action to remove barriers to commercial network rollout.
Broadband rollout in Poplar and Limehouse has been undertaken commercially, with 63% of premises now able to access full fibre broadband - this is up from 1% in March 2016. This 63% figure is nearly four times the UK figure of 16%. Openreach are responsible for 12.5% of full fibre connections, and Hyperoptic are also playing a significant role in delivering full fibre connectivity across the constituency.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of access to full-fibre broadband internet for people who live and work in Poplar and Limehouse constituency.
Answered by Matt Warman
The government has the ambition of providing nationwide gigabit-capable connectivity as soon as possible, and will continue to take action to remove barriers to commercial network rollout.
Broadband rollout in Poplar and Limehouse has been undertaken commercially, with 63% of premises now able to access full fibre broadband - this is up from 1% in March 2016. This 63% figure is nearly four times the UK figure of 16%. Openreach are responsible for 12.5% of full fibre connections, and Hyperoptic are also playing a significant role in delivering full fibre connectivity across the constituency.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 1 July 2020 to Question 64332 on Broadband and Mobile Phones, what assessment his Department has made of the efficacy of the strategy to ensure access to full fibre broadband through promoting network competition and commercial investment.
Answered by Matt Warman
The government set out its high level strategy for delivering nationwide coverage of gigabit capable broadband in the Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review (FTIR), published in July 2018. As part of the review, the government commissioned an independent report by Frontier Economics to consider different competitive models for achieving these aims against a set of criteria including overall coverage, pace of deployment, quality of service delivered, total cost and feasibility.
The FTIR concluded that the best way to achieve the government’s aims was to promote competition and commercial investment where possible, and intervene where necessary. The review estimated that c.80% of the country could support competitive networks, and that the remaining c.20% may need further intervention to deliver gigabit-capable networks.
Since the FTIR, the government has supported measures to enhance competition in the telecoms market, including Ofcom regulations to open up access to Openreach’s ducts and poles network. The government has also focused on reducing barriers to commercial deployment, including through the Telecommunications Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Bill currently before Parliament. In addition, we have committed a record £5 billion to support the deployment of gigabit-capable broadband in the hardest to reach 20% of the country.
We have seen a considerable increase in gigabit capable coverage since the FTIR was published. Full fibre coverage has increased from 5% of the UK in May 2018 to 14% as of May 2020, according to Ofcom’s latest Connected Nations figures. Gigabit-capable coverage is even higher as a result of Virgin Media’s upgrades to its cable network, with ThinkBroadband now reporting that over a quarter of the UK can access gigabit-capable broadband.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking with local councils to increase support for activities for young people over the 2020 summer holiday.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The Government recognises the important role out-of-school settings play in providing young people with enriching opportunities to support their wellbeing. DCMS and the Department for Education have supported local councils and the youth sector by publishing guidance on gov.uk about how to safely run activities for young people over the summer 2020 holidays.
The Government's £9m Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme has directly supported up to 50,000 disadvantaged children across 17 local authority areas to stay healthy and active over the summer.
In collaboration with the Department for Education, National Citizen Service is providing a further education support offer for 16-17 year olds over the summer. This is free to further education (FE) providers and will include sessions on ; employability, health and wellbeing, careers guidance, citizenship and skills for independent living.