Asked by: Hugh Gaffney (Labour - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to help improve diversity in the charity sector.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
Encouraging greater diversity in the charity starts with ensuring that the sector’s leaders are truly representative of the communities they serve.
Last year we worked with the Charity Commission to carry out research into trustees. The Taken on Trust report found that there was a lack of diversity among boards of trustees. In the Civil Society Strategy published last month, the government committed to working with partners in the Charity sector to address this challenge. This work is getting started now and more detail will be available in due course.
Asked by: Hugh Gaffney (Labour - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of recent changes in the cost of train travel on sports fans.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
The Government sets the limit by which train operators can increase regulated rail fares in line with July’s retail price index (RPI). This limit will be 3.2% in 2019. The Government monitors how rail fares change, and keeps under review the way fare levels are calculated. We also welcome and encourage measures by sports clubs that acknowledge and take account of the wider financial burden on travelling supporters.
Asked by: Hugh Gaffney (Labour - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to improve mobile and broadband coverage.
Answered by Margot James
DCMS has already made superfast broadband available to more than 95% of the country through its Superfast programme, and at least a further 2% is likely to be achieved. Of which, 340,000 premises (over 1% of premises) are contracted to be delivered by March 2019. In those areas where decent broadband is not available, we are introducing a broadband Universal Service Obligation so that by 2020 everyone across the UK will have a clear, enforceable right to request high-speed broadband of at least 10 Megabits per second. We will keep the speed and quality parameters under review to make sure that it keeps pace with consumers' evolving needs.
My Department created the Barrier Busting Taskforce who are working closely with local authorities and suppliers on removing obstacles that are preventing the widespread commercial deployment of full fibre connectivity.
Working with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG ) we introduced 5-year business rates relief for new fibre installation. By enabling 100% business rates relief for operators who install new fibre on their networks, this will provide an incentive for operators to invest in the broadband network.
The Department also recently published a Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review, which sets out our strategy to enable the roll out full fibre networks to 15 million premises by 2025 and achieve nationwide coverage by 2033. This strategy follows the creation of the Local Full Fibre Networks Programme last year, which is designed to stimulate commercial investment in full fibre networks in both rural and urban locations across the whole of the UK.
On Mobile services, the Government is committed to ensuring that the UK has good quality, consistent mobile connectivity where people live, work and travel. My Department is also working across Government, and with others, to ensure delivery of our manifesto commitment to secure 95% geographic coverage of the UK by 2022.
Alongside this work, we welcome the opportunity that Ofcom's proposed 700MHz auction presents to improve mobile coverage across the UK, including in rural area.
On 5G the Government is committed to providing the world-class digital infrastructure the UK needs to compete and grow in the modern economy. The Government’s 5G aims are to be a world leader in and to ensure that the majority of the population have access to a 5G signal by 2027.
Asked by: Hugh Gaffney (Labour - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of the UK leaving the EU without a deal on the UK's digital technology sector.
Answered by Margot James
We are confident that the digital technology sector will continue to go from strength to strength. Research by Dealroom and Tech Nation showed that British tech businesses attracted $7.8bn of funding last year, which was almost double the amount received in 2016 and more than Germany, France and Sweden combined (https://technation.io/news/uk-tech-extends-lead-over-europe/).
It is the job of a responsible Government to prepare for all scenarios, including the unlikely event that we reach March 2019 without agreeing a deal. This does not reflect an increased likelihood of ‘no deal’.
We have engaged with the digital technology sector to understand the potential effect of all scenarios. As part of ‘no deal’ preparations we are now publishing a series of technical notices which will advise organisations on potential courses of action to take in the unlikely event of ‘no deal’ with the EU. With the first batch already published, areas such as data protection will follow shortly.
We firmly believe it is in the interests of both the EU and the UK to strike a deal. That remains the goal on both sides and we are confident that this will be achieved.