Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, for what reason HM Government's household participation survey offers £10 shopping vouchers to those who complete the survey; and what is the estimated annual cost to the taxpayer of such incentives.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The use of incentives is in line with best practice for public surveys and is common practice across Government. Incentives improve survey response rates, which is important for ensuring we have enough representative data. Low response rates carry a number of risks including insufficient data to analyse, bias in survey results and reduced stakeholder confidence.
We keep abreast of relevant research (such as a 2020 ONS study) and review our incentive strategy regularly to ensure it continues to represent good value for money for the taxpayer.
In 2021/22, Kantar Public issued, on behalf of DCMS, 33,841 vouchers (22,202 e-vouchers and 5,639 by post) as an incentive for completion of the 2021/22 Participation Survey. This equates to £338,410.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many £10 shopping vouchers have been issued to people responding to the Participation Survey being conducted by Kantar Public on behalf of her Department; and what redress is available to those whose voucher claims may not have been honoured.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
Kantar Public issued 33,841 vouchers (22,202 e-vouchers and 5,639 by post) as an incentive for completion of the 2021/22 Participation Survey. The other 1,791 respondents to the survey refused the offer of a voucher.
All respondents are entitled to a £10 shopping voucher, in line with best practice for this type of survey. Kantar Public has a help desk available to assist respondents with any queries, including incentive queries. The help desk details (phone number and email address), as well as how to contact DCMS, are included in the invitation letter received by the respondent.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking in response to the application by Openreach in January 2021 on behalf of 42 households in St Leonards, Dorset to have DCMS vouchers under the Community Fibre Partnership Scheme; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The Community Fibre Partnership scheme (now titled the Fibre Community Partnership scheme) is an Openreach scheme for local community broadband projects. In rural areas, Openreach encourages communities to use the voucher funding provided by the government’s Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme (GBVS) to pay towards the cost of installing the network.
As there are a number of ongoing voucher applications in St Leonards, officials in Building Digital UK (BDUK) have been unable to identify the particular project that has been raised in this question. As Fibre Community Partnership’s are Openreach products, Openreach should be able to provide information on the status of this particular project.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if the Government will commission an inquiry into the effect on (a) domestic consumers and (b) businesses of the interference to internet and telecommunications services in Christchurch constituency on 28 June 2021; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Matt Warman
Reliable access to telecommunications services is vital for the operation of essential services, and our everyday home, work, education, and social lives, and I am sorry to hear about the recent issue experienced by your constituents.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport works with owners, operators and regulators to enable UK telecommunications networks and services to be as resilient as possible, and to respond quickly when incidents occur. As the UK’s communications regulator, Ofcom plays an important role in ensuring the ongoing security and resilience of the UK’s public telecoms networks by enforcing the current duties under the Communications Act 2003. Communications providers are responsible for delivering their services, for the resilience of their infrastructure, ensuring faults are fixed and for keeping customers up to date on progress.
From the information you have provided, this appears to relate to an incident with BT affecting internet access in the local area, which was resolved before midday on 28 June 2021. I understand BT reported the fault to Ofcom in line with their obligations, and Ofcom will determine whether further investigation is needed in line with its normal process.
Further information for consumers and businesses can be found on Ofcom’s website: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-internet, which also describes the formal complaints procedure for consumers unhappy with the response from their provider.