Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans she has for the roll-out of 5G in rural areas in Suffolk.
Answered by Matt Warman
The Government remains committed to becoming a world leader in 5G and providing a 5G signal to a majority of the population by 2027.
Towards this aim, the Government has taken steps to ensure that we build the right conditions for commercial investment in 5G. As a part of this, we have invested in a nationally coordinated 5G Testbeds and Trials Programme which continues to build the business case for 5G in Britain.
Two of the Phase 1 programmes funded through this scheme, 5GRIT and 5G RuralFirst, are specifically focussed on building a market for 5G use cases in rural areas. We are also providing funding for up to 10 rural-based 5G research and development projects over the next two years through the Rural Connected Communities initiative. We expect these projects to do important work in building the business case for 5G investment in rural areas, such as those within South Suffolk.
It is important to note that the vast majority of commercial rollout of 5G services will be delivered by industry, according to their own timeframes. All four Mobile Network Operators have already begun launching their 5G offerings and coverage is expected to be available in 50 major towns and cities by summer 2020.
In the interim, Government is working closely with the Mobile Network Operators on the Shared Rural Network proposal to provide high quality 4G coverage to 95 percent of the UK. This proposal will help tackle both partial not spots - area where this is currently only coverage from at least one, but not all operators - and total not spots - areas with no coverage from any operator, ensuring good 4G signal wherever people live, work and travel.
It is expected that harder to reach locations, such as rural areas within Suffolk, will see the greatest benefit from this proposal.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has issued guidance to parish councils on compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation.
Answered by Matt Hancock
The Government and the Information Commissioner recognise the challenges facing organisations across the UK in their preparations for the Data Protection Bill and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). There are already resources on the Commissioner's website (ico.org.uk) to help organisations employing fewer than 250 people, including parish councils, prepare. The Commissioner has launched a dedicated helpline service for smaller organisations and has updated its 'SME toolkit' to reflect the requirements of the GDPR. The Commissioner will also be simplifying her "12-step" GDPR preparation guidance in response to feedback from small and micro-enterprises and will continue to develop further guidance on both the Bill and GDPR.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate she has made of the potential cost to parish councils of complying with the General Data Protection Regulation.
Answered by Matt Hancock
Parish Councils, like other data controllers, are currently required to adhere to the Data Protection Act 1998. Although the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) does change the requirements on data controllers, the Government's view is that the step up to these new standards will not be a disproportionate burden. For example, to assist with the transition, the Information Commissioner has launched a dedicated helpline service for smaller organisations and has updated its 'SME toolkit' to reflect the requirements of the GDPR.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what her policy is on the provision of 5G services in rural areas.
Answered by Matt Hancock
The Government set out its views in its 5G strategy that was published at Spring Budget 2017. 5G networks will have a role to play, alongside existing technologies, in delivering connectivity in rural areas, for example to support new use cases such as smart farming. The Government will use its new 5G Testbeds & Trials programme to test use cases in both rural and urban areas, to improve our understanding of the economics of infrastructure deployment in different scenarios and locations, and how infrastructure can be deployed in a cost-effective way.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what role he plans small and medium-sized enterprises and smaller communications providers will have in delivering superfast broadband access to remote premises in his Department's superfast broadband roll-out programme.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
Three projects supported through the Rural Community Broadband Fund, are being delivered through small suppliers, and eight contracts have been awarded by local bodies to suppliers other than BT to cover some or all of their project area as part of Phase 2 of the Government’s programme to provide superfast broadband to 95% of homes and businesses in the UK. The Rural Community Broadband Fund allowed communities to apply for funding to support locally delivered superfast broadband projects over 3 separate bidding rounds.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many additional premises in South Suffolk constituency were connected to high speed broadband services in each of the last three years.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
In South Suffolk constituency commercial broadband delivery is estimated to cover 19,252 (45%) of homes and businesses. By the end of the Better Broadband for Suffolk project, coverage is expected to have increased to over 36,800 (86%) of premises.
In the Better Broadband for Suffolk project over 117,000 homes and businesses across the county will benefit from public investment. As of March 2015, the project had already reached over 70,600 premises.
The Department deposited data in the House of Commons Library which estimates commercial coverage and coverage supported by public investment in constituencies by the end of 2017. The table can be found here: http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/business-papers/commons/deposited-papers/?house=1&search_term=Department+for+Culture%2c+Media+and+Sport&itemId=122028#toggle-163
The Department does not monitor roll-out at constituency level. However, Ofcom publishes annual data on coverage at county level. The following data taken from Ofcom Infrastructure Reports indicates coverage in Suffolk between 2012 and 2014. Ofcom calculated 2012-14 coverage figures using different methodologies and in 2014 produced two sets of figures. Further details can be found on the Ofcom website: http://maps.ofcom.org.uk/
County | Proportion of households in postcodes served by NGA networks 2012 | Proportion of premises in postcodes served by NGA networks 2013 | Proportion of premises able to receive NGA broadband services 2014 | Availability of superfast broadband (30+Mbit/s) 2014 |
Suffolk | 45% | 59% | 68% | 64% |
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent steps he has taken to improve mobile telephone coverage in rural areas.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The Government secured a landmark agreement with mobile network operators (MNOs) in December 2014 that locks in £5 billion investment from the MNOs to deliver improved mobile coverage across the UK. The coverage obligation has since been made legally binding on MNOs by a licence variation and will guarantee voice and SMS text coverage for 90% of the UK landmass from each MNO by 2017. As a result complete not-spots, where there is no mobile signal from any operator, will be cut by nearly two thirds. Additionally, Telefonica has a licence obligation to provide 4G coverage to 98% of UK premises by 2017.
Through the Mobile Infrastructure Project, the Government is extending mobile coverage to the 0.3-0.4% of UK premises who currently have none. Work is underway in the constituency of South Suffolk to identify whether masts could be sited near Assington Green, Bildeston and Boxford.