Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when his Department plans to publish its response to the civil society strategy consultation, which closed on 22 May 2018.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
The engagement exercise for the Civil Society Strategy closed on Tuesday 22 May 2018. We are grateful to all that took part. We are now busy drafting the Civil Society Strategy in collaboration with departments across government and are aiming to publish later this Summer.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
What steps his Department is taking to improve broadband and mobile phone coverage in rural areas.
Answered by Margot James
I refer the hon member to my answers to the hon members from Copeland and Banbury during Departmental Oral Questions today.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture Media and Sport, what steps the Government is taking to prevent the sale of Polish art which was looted during World War 2.
Answered by Michael Ellis
The Government provides guidance for the UK art market to assist them in determining the history of cultural objects in which they deal. Additionally, Arts Council England provides a Cultural Property Advice website which offers advice to the art trade, museums and private individuals on the buying and selling of art. The trade associations for the UK art market publish codes of ethics for their members which the Government expects to see enforced.
In September 2017, DCMS hosted an international Conference, attended by the major auction houses, which explored ways of speeding up the identification and return of cultural objects lost during the Nazi era. The Government established the Spoliation Advisory Panel in 2000 to advise on claims for the return of items lost during the Nazi era (1933-1945). The Panel can consider claims for items that are privately owned at the joint request of the claimant and the current owner.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to improve broadband and mobile phone coverage in rural areas.
Answered by Matt Hancock
We are taking a wide range of initiatives that will improve broadband and mobile phone coverage in rural areas.
We have reformed the Electronic Communications Code to make it easier and cheaper to install digital infrastructure. Our ambition is to extend mobile coverage to 95% of the UK’s landmass by 2022 and this will benefit rural areas as well. Ofcom has identified the 700 MHz band as suitable for coverage obligations and we will work with Ofcom to determine the best options.
95% of UK premises will have access to superfast speeds by the end of 2017 and we expect coverage will be extended beyond that to reach at least a further 2% of premises.
All homes and businesses which are unable to receive a speed of at least 2Mbps can benefit from support from the Better Broadband Scheme. Further information on the Scheme can be found on our website (https://basicbroadbandchecker.culture.gov.uk/guide-to-better-broadband-subsidy-scheme.pdf).
As confirmed in our announcement yesterday, we are pushing ahead with our plans for a Universal Service Obligation so that by 2020 everyone across the UK will have a clear, enforceable right to high speed broadband.
As part of the Local Full Fibre Network programme, a £4.66 million pilot project has begun to deliver fibre connections to public buildings across West Sussex, including Chichester.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the effect on (a) technological development and (b) minimum speeds of the proposal by BT to deliver the Universal Service Obligation.
Answered by Matt Hancock
The Department is looking at two approaches for delivering universal broadband of at least 10Mbps - a regulatory USO and BT's voluntary proposal. Assessment of both approaches is ongoing, and a decision will be made in due course on which approach best meets consumers' needs.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what progress has been made by (a) the National Trust and (b) National Parks England in providing proposals to her Department that outline better engagement with communications providers to tackle mobile not spots, as requested at her Department's not spot summit in February 2016.
Answered by Matt Hancock
I refer the Hon Gentleman to my answer to PQ 56388.