Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps she is taking to ensure that households that have been informed by commercial providers that they are not part of their fibre broadband rollout schemes will be connected to fibre broadband.
Answered by John Whittingdale
Almost 97% of premises in the Arfon constituency are able to access a superfast connection (>= 30Mbps), more than enough for the vast majority of requirements such as high-definition streaming and video calling on multiple devices. Currently, 49% of premises in the Arfon constituency are able to access a full-fibre connection. Households can request a full-fibre connection from suppliers, but we do not hold the data regarding the number of premises that have requested full-fibre connections.
In March 2021, the government launched Project Gigabit, its £5 billion mission to deliver gigabit-capable (>1000Mbps) broadband to UK premises that are not included in suppliers' commercial plans.
We conduct extensive market reviews to identify the premises that do not currently have gigabit-capable infrastructure, or are not included in suppliers’ commercial plans. This enables us to identify the premises that are eligible for public subsidy and design the areas for Project Gigabit interventions.
We are on track to launch our first procurement covering large parts of Wales this summer, and this is likely to include some premises in the Arfon constituency.
On top of our Project Gigabit procurements, the Welsh Government’s Superfast Cymru programme is expected to complete this month, and in total the programme has provided over 100,000 premises in Wales with access to gigabit-capable infrastructure.
For the small number of very hard to reach premises which are unlikely to be connected to gigabit-capable infrastructure through Project Gigabit or suppliers’ commercial plans, the government is exploring all possible options for providing improved broadband connectivity.
Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what her Department's expected timescales are for the rollout of fibre broadband to all premises in Arfon.
Answered by John Whittingdale
Almost 97% of premises in the Arfon constituency are able to access a superfast connection (>= 30Mbps), more than enough for the vast majority of requirements such as high-definition streaming and video calling on multiple devices. Currently, 49% of premises in the Arfon constituency are able to access a full-fibre connection. Households can request a full-fibre connection from suppliers, but we do not hold the data regarding the number of premises that have requested full-fibre connections.
In March 2021, the government launched Project Gigabit, its £5 billion mission to deliver gigabit-capable (>1000Mbps) broadband to UK premises that are not included in suppliers' commercial plans.
We conduct extensive market reviews to identify the premises that do not currently have gigabit-capable infrastructure, or are not included in suppliers’ commercial plans. This enables us to identify the premises that are eligible for public subsidy and design the areas for Project Gigabit interventions.
We are on track to launch our first procurement covering large parts of Wales this summer, and this is likely to include some premises in the Arfon constituency.
On top of our Project Gigabit procurements, the Welsh Government’s Superfast Cymru programme is expected to complete this month, and in total the programme has provided over 100,000 premises in Wales with access to gigabit-capable infrastructure.
For the small number of very hard to reach premises which are unlikely to be connected to gigabit-capable infrastructure through Project Gigabit or suppliers’ commercial plans, the government is exploring all possible options for providing improved broadband connectivity.
Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how many and what proportion of households in Arfon constituency that have requested fibre to the premises broadband do not currently have it.
Answered by John Whittingdale
Almost 97% of premises in the Arfon constituency are able to access a superfast connection (>= 30Mbps), more than enough for the vast majority of requirements such as high-definition streaming and video calling on multiple devices. Currently, 49% of premises in the Arfon constituency are able to access a full-fibre connection. Households can request a full-fibre connection from suppliers, but we do not hold the data regarding the number of premises that have requested full-fibre connections.
In March 2021, the government launched Project Gigabit, its £5 billion mission to deliver gigabit-capable (>1000Mbps) broadband to UK premises that are not included in suppliers' commercial plans.
We conduct extensive market reviews to identify the premises that do not currently have gigabit-capable infrastructure, or are not included in suppliers’ commercial plans. This enables us to identify the premises that are eligible for public subsidy and design the areas for Project Gigabit interventions.
We are on track to launch our first procurement covering large parts of Wales this summer, and this is likely to include some premises in the Arfon constituency.
On top of our Project Gigabit procurements, the Welsh Government’s Superfast Cymru programme is expected to complete this month, and in total the programme has provided over 100,000 premises in Wales with access to gigabit-capable infrastructure.
For the small number of very hard to reach premises which are unlikely to be connected to gigabit-capable infrastructure through Project Gigabit or suppliers’ commercial plans, the government is exploring all possible options for providing improved broadband connectivity.
Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how much funding has been allocated to Arfon constituency to facilitate the (a) rollout of fibre to the premises broadband and (b) provision of infrastructure.
Answered by John Whittingdale
Almost 97% of premises in the Arfon constituency are able to access a superfast connection (>= 30Mbps), more than enough for the vast majority of requirements such as high-definition streaming and video calling on multiple devices. Currently, 49% of premises in the Arfon constituency are able to access a full-fibre connection. Households can request a full-fibre connection from suppliers, but we do not hold the data regarding the number of premises that have requested full-fibre connections.
In March 2021, the government launched Project Gigabit, its £5 billion mission to deliver gigabit-capable (>1000Mbps) broadband to UK premises that are not included in suppliers' commercial plans.
We conduct extensive market reviews to identify the premises that do not currently have gigabit-capable infrastructure, or are not included in suppliers’ commercial plans. This enables us to identify the premises that are eligible for public subsidy and design the areas for Project Gigabit interventions.
We are on track to launch our first procurement covering large parts of Wales this summer, and this is likely to include some premises in the Arfon constituency.
On top of our Project Gigabit procurements, the Welsh Government’s Superfast Cymru programme is expected to complete this month, and in total the programme has provided over 100,000 premises in Wales with access to gigabit-capable infrastructure.
For the small number of very hard to reach premises which are unlikely to be connected to gigabit-capable infrastructure through Project Gigabit or suppliers’ commercial plans, the government is exploring all possible options for providing improved broadband connectivity.
Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what the average salary for senior patent examiners employed by the UK Intellectual Property Office was in (a) 2010 and (b) 2022; and what the change in value of the 2022 salary was in real terms compared with the 2010 salary.
Answered by George Freeman
The IPO no longer holds average salary data for 2010. However, we have historic information on maximum salaries for the Senior Patent Examiner role and have provided a comparison based on these figures.
Grade | Max 2009/10 | Max 2021/22 | RPI adjusted 2009/10 Max* | Real terms change (%) |
Senior Patent Examiner (C2) | £53,478 | £59,274 | £80,691 | -36% |
* Adjusted for RPI: All items percentage change August 2009 to March 2022
Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what recent progress has been made on negotiations on Intellectual Property Office staff pay.
Answered by George Freeman
Formal pay negotiations with Intellectual Property Office Trades Unions concluded in December 2022. The 2022/23 pay award for IPO staff was implemented in January 2023.