Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what measures her Department is taking to ensure that all mobile phone operators have sufficient spectrum to meet future demands for mobile data; and what steps her Department is taking to prevent a dominant company controlling the market on spectrum availability.
Answered by Matt Hancock
All mobile network operators face rapidly growing demand for data, and need spectrum to meet that demand. Since 2010 the Government has made 384 MHz of spectrum used by the public sector available for private sector use, including 190 MHz of spectrum suitable for mobile data. This mobile spectrum is being assigned by Ofcom through an auction; a consultation on the auction rules is expected soon.
Ofcom's duties include the promotion of competition and efficient use of spectrum, and it has indicated that it remains committed to the principle of a four-operator UK market – and therefore to four operators with sufficient spectrum to be credible. The Government therefore believes that Ofcom will set rules that ensure serious bidders approaching the forthcoming auction with realistic valuations of the scarce spectrum on offer can obtain the spectrum they need.
In the next 3-5 years the government and Ofcom will provide additional spectrum for mobile data including the 700 MHz band.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what guidelines his Department has issued on charging for entry into television and radio competitions by use of premium text, phone line or other means to ensure that such competitions are fair and honest; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
On 1 July Ofcom introduced a new system affecting telephone charging for service numbers commencing -084, -087, -09 and -118. The changes are intended to make the cost of using these services clearer and companies running competitions using such numbers will need to comply. In addition, freephone numbers commencing -0800 or -0808 will be made free for consumers to call from mobiles. Ofcom’s new system is called ‘UK Calling’ and guidance for consumers and businesses can be accessed via the website:http://www.ukcalling.info/
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what plans he has to review the effectiveness of the Telephone Preference Service.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The regulators carried out a review this year. The Office of Communications (Ofcom) and the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) reviewed the effectiveness of the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) and published their findings on 23 July 2014. This showed that TPS registration reduced the volume of live unsolicited marketing calls by about a third and had a wider benefit, as it also reduced other types of nuisance calls by an average of a third.
Consent and lead generation issues can also impact TPS registered consumers. In its report on this subject (published 8 December 2014), the consumer group Which? acknowledged the benefits of the TPS, as a tool for consumers looking to prevent or reduce nuisance calls. Which? also put forward recommendations to the regulators on how to improve the benefits of the TPS and create greater awareness of the service.
Tackling unsolicited marketing nuisance calls remains a priority for DCMS and we published the first ever Nuisance Calls Action Plan on 30 March 2014:https://www.gov.uk/government/news/nuisance-calls-action-plan-unveiled. This set out our achievements to date, work underway and proposed actions for the future, which included both legislative and non-legislative proposals. Taken together these measures will greatly benefit consumers now and in the future.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to promote holidays in the UK to British residents; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Helen Grant - Shadow Solicitor General
Supported by more than £8 million of investment by the Government, VisitEngland continues to run the biggest ever domestic tourism campaign, ‘Holidays at Home are GREAT’. The first two campaigns in 2012 and 2013 resulted in £380 million incremental spend generated by domestic visitors across Britain. A third campaign was launched at the end of March 2014. Supported by £19.8 million from the Regional Growth Fund, VisitEngland are also promoting and developing domestic tourism through its ‘Growing Tourism Locally’ campaign, which aims to increase visits and incremental tourism spend, and in doing so, grow jobs in the tourism sector.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what Arts Council funding has been allocated to East Yorkshire constituency in each of the last five years; and for what projects such funding was allocated.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The table shows the Arts Council England funding that has been allocated to the East Yorkshire constituency in each of the last five years:
Commitment Year | Grant in Aid | Lottery | Total |
2009/10 | £69,710 | £130,224 | £199,934 |
2010/11 | £133,605 | £147,703 | £281,308 |
2011/12 | £49,906 | £317,913 | £367,819 |
2012/13 | £491,002 | £71,949 | £562,951 |
2013/14 | £521,705 | £188,383 | £710,088 |
Total | £1,265,928 | £856,172 | £2,122,100 |
Recently supported arts organisations and projects in the East Yorkshire constituency, with amounts supported, include the following:
Beverly Folk Festival http://www.beverleyfestival.com (£15,000 and £10,000)
Hull Bach Choir http://www.hullbachchoir.org.uk/ (£2,970)
Pocklington Arts Centre http://www.pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk (£49,923)
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to tackle the sending of unsolicited SMS messages which seek to advance illegal money-making scams; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
Tackling nuisance calls and SMS text messages is a priority for the Department.
In May 2011, the Government provided the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) with a monetary penalty power of £500,000, under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) 2003 to enforce the PECR more effectively.
The ICO has issued monetary penalties totaling £315,000 for SMS text messages. Details about enforcement action taken to date by them can be viewed at: http://ico.org.uk/enforcement/action/texts.
On 15th July 2014, we amended Section 393 of the Communications Act 2003, which has enabled Ofcom to disclose information to ICO about organisations sending unsolicited texts.
On 25 October 2014, the Government published a consultation, which proposes to make it easier for ICO to take enforcement action against organisations, by lowering, or removing the legal threshold.
Additionally, the National Trading Standards Board (NTSB) and Trading Standards Scotland continue to support the fight against illegal money lenders. As well as arresting and prosecuting loan sharks, the teams work with community partners to provide access to advice and support for victims. Between April 2012 and June 2014, their Illegal Money Lending Team (IMLT) specialist work has resulted in 43 custodial sentences being handed down. In the same period, support has been provided to over 2800 victims. The IMLT works together with the new consumer credit regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), to police the market, and can prosecute those who are found to be lending illegally.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what analysis his Department has carried out of (a) mobile telephone network coverage and (b) high speed broadband coverage in East Yorkshire; and what steps his Department is taking and on what timescale to improve that coverage.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
Ofcom monitors and publishes broadband coverage data and it currently reports that superfast broadband coverage in the East Riding of Yorkshire stands at 21.6%. The Government has allocated over £10 million to support improvements to broadband infrastructure in East Riding, with phase 1 of the project scheduled for completion toward the end of 2015 and phase 2 scheduled to enter procurement in late summer of 2014. Ofcom also report that mobile voice coverage in the East Riding (2G) is available from at least one operator to over 99% of premises. Government is working to improve mobile voice coverage in poorly served areas through its £150m Mobile Infrastructure Project.