Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
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 effect of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement on the ability of UK journalists to travel frequently across national borders in the EU without visa requirements.
Answered by John Whittingdale
For short stays of up to 90 days in any 180-day period, the EU has legislated so that UK nationals will not need a visa when travelling to and within the Schengen Area for tourism and other limited purposes. This should include business meetings, visitors coming for journalistic or media purposes and short-term study. Some Member States may also allow additional activities without a visa beyond those stipulated in the Schengen rules. However, Member States can require a visa for what they regard as a paid activity. UK nationals should check with their host state(s) before travelling.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he has had with the Welsh Government on Central Libraries Funding.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
My department regularly discusses with the Welsh Government issues related to our respective library services. Public library policy and funding of libraries and their services is a devolved matter and is for each government to determine.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
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 Government’s response to the online harms white paper, what steps his Department has taken in respect of Welsh language internet users on the (a) design of the proposed regulatory framework, (b) use and futureproofing of AI in tackling hate speech and other evolving online harms and (c) development of best practice guidance for digital product and platform designers.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
We have been working with the Devolved Administrations, including the Welsh Government, throughout the development of our proposals and will continue to do so throughout the legislative process.
As set out in the Full Government Response to the Online Harms White Paper, we also expect the regulator to ensure that devolved considerations are effectively built into their work.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what level of Barnett consequential funding the Welsh Government will receive in respect to the Sports Winter Survival Package for England.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Barnett formula will apply in the normal way for the devolved administrations, as set out in the Statement of Funding Policy.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether the Welsh Government's covid-19 funding guarantee will be revised as a result of the £300 million Sports Winter Survival Package fund for sports in England.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The devolved administrations have been provided with an upfront guarantee this year of £16 billion above their Spring Budget 2020 funding to support their response to Covid-19. There are no plans to revise the Welsh Government's covid-19 funding guarantee as a result of the £300 million Sports Winter Survival Package fund for sports in England.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
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 (a) Barnett formula funding for Wales deriving from the Sport Winter Survival Package and (b) the projected £35 million loss that Welsh Rugby Union has estimated this financial year, whether he has plans to provide further financial support for Welsh Rugby Union.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Barnett formula will apply in the normal way for the devolved administrations, as set out in the Statement of Funding Policy, and it will be for the Welsh Government to decide how to allocate any additional funding it receives as a result.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much funding the Government plans to allocate to the implementation of the Shared Rural Network in each of the UK's nations.
Answered by Matt Warman
Shared Rural Network programme will ensure that the £1 billion jointly committed by government and industry will increase 4G mobile coverage throughout the UK to 95% geographic coverage by the end of 2025. Technical work is underway to determine how to most efficiently reach targets and the department is unable to provide any further details on funding allocations at this stage. Government funds will be directed to areas where there is no current coverage while industry funds will be directed towards filling gaps where there is only partial coverage.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether local authorities in Wales are eligible to become strategic partners with the Government for the purposes of identifying public sector buildings to be included in the Rural Gigabit Connectivity programme.
Answered by Matt Warman
Building Digital UK (BDUK) continues to extend opportunities to Local Authorities across the UK, including Wales, to become strategic partners by sharing their public sector buildings for possible inclusion within the Rural Gigabit Connectivity (RGC) programme, which runs until March 2021.
BDUK welcomes dialogue with Local Authorities on digital connectivity, and also encourages them to work closely with neighbouring Authorities to collectively identify hub sites that may be eligible for programme inclusion.
BDUK is already in dialogue with Welsh Government on a proposal to upgrade ~110 public sector sites, which will act as hub sites. Welsh Government is overseeing the development of the proposal for a project that involves Anglesey, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Gwynedd, Neath Port Talbot, Pembrokeshire, Powys, and Swansea.
Should other Local Authorities in Wales be interested in participating in the programme, they can express their interest by completing a Hub Site Submission sheet which is available at this address: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rgc-programme-key-information. Once complete, this should be sent to rgc@dcms.gov.uk.
Although the completion of a Submission sheet is not a guaranteed commitment that BDUK will invest in that particular area, it is a mandatory part of the selection process. If a completed sheet looks to be in alignment with the aims and objectives of the RGC programme, BDUK will contact the Local Authority.
BDUK also has Local Full Fibre Networks (LFFN) projects underway in Wales, which are upgrading public buildings in North Wales, Cardiff City Region and Pembrokeshire. We are also jointly funding, with Welsh Government, the deployment of a fibre optic backbone along the South Wales Motorway and Trunk Road network between Newport and Pembrokeshire.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent estimate the Government has made of the number of premises in Ceredigion that do not have access to an internet service with a download speed of at least 10Mbps.
Answered by Matt Warman
The broadband Universal Service Obligation (USO) provides every UK household with the legal right to request a broadband connection that provides download speeds of at least 10Mbps and an upload speed of at least 1Mbps, where this is not already available or is not due to be made available within a year through a publicly funded intervention.
Ofcom’s Connected Nations Report, published in December 2019, found that 5132 (or 13.7%) of premises in Ceredigion have a fixed broadband connection that is delivering speeds below the USO specification. However, some of these premises are likely to be able to access a 4G mobile data service that provides USO level speeds or higher.
As the Universal Service Obligation only launched on 20 March 2020, no assessment of its progress in Ceredigion has yet been made. However, as the Universal Service Provider, BT is required to report at least every six months on progress to Ofcom, who are implementing and monitoring the broadband USO on behalf of the Government.
In addition to the USO, the Government is also investing to bring gigabit capable broadband to harder to reach areas through the existing £200 million Rural Gigabit Connectivity programme and, from next year, through its new £5 billion UK Gigabit Programme.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment the Government has made of progress towards at least 10Mbps download speeds under the Universal Service Obligation at qualifying premises in Ceredigion.
Answered by Matt Warman
The broadband Universal Service Obligation (USO) provides every UK household with the legal right to request a broadband connection that provides download speeds of at least 10Mbps and an upload speed of at least 1Mbps, where this is not already available or is not due to be made available within a year through a publicly funded intervention.
Ofcom’s Connected Nations Report, published in December 2019, found that 5132 (or 13.7%) of premises in Ceredigion have a fixed broadband connection that is delivering speeds below the USO specification. However, some of these premises are likely to be able to access a 4G mobile data service that provides USO level speeds or higher.
As the Universal Service Obligation only launched on 20 March 2020, no assessment of its progress in Ceredigion has yet been made. However, as the Universal Service Provider, BT is required to report at least every six months on progress to Ofcom, who are implementing and monitoring the broadband USO on behalf of the Government.
In addition to the USO, the Government is also investing to bring gigabit capable broadband to harder to reach areas through the existing £200 million Rural Gigabit Connectivity programme and, from next year, through its new £5 billion UK Gigabit Programme.