Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
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 upgrading of the telephone network, what steps she is taking to ensure resilience in telephone access to emergency services, particularly during a mains power failure.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The upgrade of UK landlines from the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to Voice over IP (VoIP) technology is an industry-led initiative. Despite this, the Government and Ofcom are working together to ensure consumers and sectors are protected and prepared for the switchover process.
The Communications Act (2003) places obligations on Communications Providers, implemented under Condition A3 of Ofcom’s General Conditions of Entitlement, to ensure that any caller can access Emergency Organisations (Police, Ambulance, Fire & Rescue, HM Coastguard) by using the emergency numbers “112” and “999” free of charge. If calling via mobile, this enables calls to 999/112 be made via another network if the caller’s mobile provider cannot provide a signal to make the call.
Alongside this, Ofcom has imposed regulatory obligations on communications providers to ensure customers have uninterrupted access to emergency organisations in the specific event of a power failure. The guidance states that providers must have at least one solution available that enables customers to access emergency organisations for a minimum of one hour in the event of a power cut, and that it must be offered free of charge to customers who are at risk due to their dependence on their landline.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
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 upgrading of the telephone network, what steps she is taking to ensure that the provision of voice services is maintained for vulnerable landline-only users without broadband.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Whilst the upgrade of UK landlines from the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to Voice over IP (VoIP) technology is an industry-led initiative, the government and Ofcom are working together to ensure consumers and sectors are protected and prepared for the upgrade process.
In order to function correctly, VoIP services require a minimum stable connection speed of just 0.5Mbps, and voice-only services will still be available to consumers in the UK who do not wish to purchase a general internet connection.
Ofcom has issued guidance on this migration which states that providers should take steps to identify at-risk customers and engage in effective communications to ensure all are protected and supported in the switch-over process.
Moreover, the PSTN migration does not affect the universal service obligations set in the Electronic Communications (Universal Service) Order 2003 which require the designated providers to offer telephony services throughout the UK. BT and KCOM are therefore still required to maintain access to a range of telephony services as well as provide a series of special measures designed for users who have a disability.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
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 Environment Agency consultation entitled Boat registration charges proposals from 1 January 2022, published in July 2021, what assessment her Department has made of the potential effect on (a) domestic and (b) overseas tourism to the East of England region in the event that the proposed increases in charges for registering boats on the Anglian Waterways go ahead.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
I am aware of the positive impact boating businesses can have on promoting tourism on the waterways however, the responsibility for operational matters on inland waterways, such as boat registration charges, lies with the navigation authority.
DCMS is in regular contact with regional tourism stakeholders, including those in the East of England, to track tourism trends across the country and to make sure we best support the sector's recovery from the pandemic.
The Environment Agency has listened to the feedback on the proposals and will be taking these concerns into account in its final proposals, which are due to be published shortly.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
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 (a) YouTube and (b) other social media companies about whether their harmful or dangerous content policies should be extended to cover content including (i) breaking and entering and (ii) vandalism to personal property.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Ministers and officials have regular meetings and discussions with a wide range of stakeholders, including YouTube, on a variety of issues, including dangerous content. Details of Ministerial meetings are published quarterly on the GOV.UK website.
The draft Online Safety Bill sets out proposals to impose a new duty of care on tech companies to tackle illegal and harmful content on their services. Companies such as Youtube will have to identify and remove illegal content and protect children from harmful or inappropriate content.
The big social media companies, such as YouTube, will also need to keep their promises to users by taking action against harmful content that is prohibited under their terms of service. Under the new laws, their terms of service will need to cover content that could cause significant physical or psychological harm to users.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
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 Historic England on the preservation of significant Roman ruins including those at Eastfield in North Yorkshire.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Roman ruins of national importance may be protected by the Secretary of State as Scheduled Monuments. Before doing so, he consults Historic England.
In the case of the currently unscheduled ruins discovered at Eastfield, Historic England has negotiated with Keepmoat Homes, the developer, to secure their short-term preservation as part of public open space within the ‘Capella’ housing scheme. Once the core area of the ruins is clearly defined and reburied, the Secretary of State will consider the case for designating them as a Scheduled Monument in order to help secure their protection and long-term preservation.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when he plans to publish proposals to tackle the online advertising of products that are high in fat, sugar and salt to ensure equivalence between traditional broadcasting platforms and online content providers.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Government published on 24 June 2021 its response to the 2019 and 2020 consultations on introducing restrictions for high fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) advertising across TV and online. The response outlined our intentions to introduce a 9pm TV watershed for HFSS products and a restriction of paid-for HFSS advertising online. These restrictions are being legislated for in the Health and Care Bill currently in Parliament. The restrictions are intended to come into force at the end of 2022.
The Government will appoint Ofcom as the statutory regulatory authority who will then be able to appoint a day-to-day regulator to carry out frontline regulation. Enforcement of advertising standards by front-line and statutory regulators is an arrangement already established for broadcast advertising. In order to ensure that HFSS advertising policy is proportionate and there is parity across media, we will introduce the same enforcement arrangement online.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
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 Advertising Standards Agency on making digitally altered images of a human body or body part in advertisements clearly labelled as such for consumers.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The ASA’s existing rules on social responsibility and misleading advertising are already applied to advertising of cosmetic interventions and advertising featuring digitally altered images.
The ASA held a public consultation on cosmetic interventions in 2020 and are following this up with a call for evidence on body image this year. The Government will remain closely in touch with the ASA as they undertake this consultation. The government will be launching the Online Advertising Programme (OAP) later this year which will explore how to address harms in the content and placement of advertising online, and to ensure the regulatory regime for the online advertising ecosystem is coherent, clear and effective. As part of this work, the Government will be considering whether any additional measures should be brought forward to address body image concerns.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether it is his policy to require all user generated content on social media that has been filtered or altered to be identifiable as such.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The government does not require all filtered or altered content to be identifiable as such on social media.
However, the Online Safety Bill will impose new duties on social media companies to address the harm that may be caused by user-generated content, including altered or filtered content, on their services. These duties will apply to illegal content and other content that may have a serious adverse physical or psychological impact on children and, in the case of the largest social media companies, on adults.
The Government has committed to publishing the Online Media Literacy Strategy which will complement the regulatory regime to support online safety. The Strategy will empower users with the skills and knowledge they need to make safer and more informed decisions online. This will include promoting critical thinking skills, and understanding that the online environment is not always reflective of reality.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what the legal position is that informed the decision to exclude fans who were (a) under 18 years old, (b) vulnerable adults and (c) pregnant from the World Snooker Championship that took place at Sheffield Crucible Theatre from 17 April to 3 May 2021.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Ministerial Direction for the World Snooker Championships relaxed a number of Covid restrictions, including rules on capacity limits culminating in up to 4,000 people at an indoor seated venue for the Final.
For each pilot event a Public Sector Equality Duty impact assessment was carried out to consider the impact of this scientific study on groups with protected characteristics, including under 18s, those with disabilities, and pregnant people.
Under 18s were excluded from the World Snooker Championship as participants were asked to consent on the basis of the increased risk of COVID 19 transmission due to the relaxation of some risk mitigation factors (social distancing and capacity limits). It was considered that the disproportionate impact on under 18s not attending was justified.
It was considered that those defined as Clinically Extremely Vulnerable, including those who are disabled or pregnant may have been more at risk where the restrictions on social distancing and capacity limits were removed. The Science Board agreed that given the nature of the pilot programme it would not be possible to permit clinically vulnerable people to safely participate. The disproportionate impact of clinically vulnerable people not attending was considered justified on the basis that the policy only applies to pilot events in the programme.
Throughout the Events Research Programme (ERP) processes have been reviewed and adapted. After the World Snooker Championship, following stakeholder consultation and feedback from a number of disability groups, the ERP Science Board reviewed the approach of the ERP with respect to Clinically Extremely Vulnerable individuals attending pilot events. The current position is that the decision to attend an ERP pilot event lies with the individual. All attendees are required to fill out a consent form as part of the sign up process for the research programme. This takes into account the increased risk of COVID 19 transmission due to the relaxation of some risk mitigation factors (including removing social distancing).
Although those under the age of 16 may be competent to agree to provide consent to medical treatment (known as Gillick competence), the Programme's Science Board has recommended that most ERP events will not allow under 16s.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
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 proportion of savings made in rent reductions as a result of the 2017 changes to the Electronic Communications Code that have been reinvested into telecommunications infrastructure in rural areas.
Answered by Matt Warman
There has been no formal assessment of rent reductions received by site providers since the 2017 reforms came into effect. We were clear at the time the 2017 legislation was introduced that the changes would take time to achieve their intended effect, not only because the market would require time to adapt, but also because case law would need to be developed and the new provisions would not be immediately applied to existing agreements.
The government has committed a record £5 billion of funding through Project Gigabit to ensure hard to reach communities in rural areas are not behind and get access to world class broadband infrastructure. This has already started to be deployed and is not waiting for the end of the commercial rollout, building on the half a million rural homes and businesses already given coverage through our support.
In addition the government is investing £1 billion alongside the major mobile operators in the Shared Rural Network programme. This will mean that all four mobile network operators will provide 95 per cent combined coverage across the whole of the UK by the end of 2025, delivering strong 4G coverage irrespective of what network provider people use.