Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department plans to introduce technological standards on the use of AI.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The use of AI varies by sector, and sector specific standards are starting to take shape, for example self-driving cars will now be in the UK from next year thanks to new standards from DFT.
The Government supports the development and adoption of technical AI standards through international processes such as the ISO and IEC, driven by an inclusive multistakeholder community, in a way that can provide practical guidance for organisations deploying AI, reduce barriers to innovation and help unlock the opportunities AI offers.
At the same time, some AI systems are more general-purpose. For these AI systems, we have built a strong AI group in DSIT, including the world-class AI Security Institute that tests frontier AI models before release.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to ensure the safety of children online in South Suffolk constituency.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Online Safety Act requires services to protect children in the UK, including South Suffolk, from illegal and harmful content online.
Services regulated by the Act are required to use highly effective age assurance to prevent children from encountering the most harmful content including pornography, and put in place age-appropriate protections from other harmful content, including violence and bullying. These protections have been in force since July 2025. We continue to monitor the Act’s effectiveness and will not hesitate to take further action to protect children online if evidence shows this is necessary.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department has considered recommending changes to Ofcom’s Passive Infrastructure Access pricing structure as part of the Telecoms Access Review.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
We recognise competition is key to promote investment and will help ensure low prices and more choice for consumers in the long term. As the independent regulator for telecommunications, Ofcom is responsible for making regulatory decisions in the fixed telecoms sector, including on the Physical Infrastructure Access (PIA) product.
We are engaging with Ofcom on this issue.
In July, we published a consultation on our draft Statement of Strategic Priorities for telecommunications, the management of radio spectrum, and postal services that sets out the Government’s view on infrastructure sharing in the fixed telecoms sector, including asking Ofcom to demonstrate greater transparency in how they calculate and set PIA prices. We are reviewing responses to the consultation and will publish our response in due course.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to support fair competition in the broadband market between national ISPs and alternative network operators in rural areas.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Under the Communications Act 2003, Ofcom’s principal duty is to further the interests of citizens and consumers, where appropriate by promoting competition.
In July, we published a consultation on a draft updated Statement of Strategic Priorities to Ofcom that sets out the government’s view on the importance of competition to promote investment in broadband deployment across the UK, including in rural areas. We are currently reviewing responses to the consultation and will publish our response in due course.
Ofcom has powers to identify markets, determine whether a firm has significant market power (SMP) on those markets, and impose remedies as appropriate. Ofcom has not found any internet service provider to have SMP in the retail broadband market. However, in the wholesale fixed telecoms market, BT was found to have SMP and a range of pricing and non-pricing remedies were imposed on the company in order to promote network competition.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether she has had recent discussions with Ofcom on the economic viability of rural broadband in South Suffolk using Openreach’s Passive Infrastructure Access.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
We recognise competition is key to promote investment and will help ensure low prices and more choice for consumers in the long term.
As the independent regulator for telecommunications, Ofcom is responsible for making regulatory decisions in the fixed telecoms sector, including on the Physical Infrastructure Access (PIA) product.
For this reason, while officials are engaging with Ofcom on this issue, the Department has not made any formal assessment of the impact of the current PIA rental charges on investment in rural areas, including in South Suffolk. We have also not made any formal assessment of the economic impact of introducing changes to PIA rental charges.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment her Department has made of the potential economic impact of changes to Passive Infrastructure Access pricing models on private and public investment in rural broadband in South Suffolk.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
We recognise competition is key to promote investment and will help ensure low prices and more choice for consumers in the long term.
As the independent regulator for telecommunications, Ofcom is responsible for making regulatory decisions in the fixed telecoms sector, including on the Physical Infrastructure Access (PIA) product.
For this reason, while officials are engaging with Ofcom on this issue, the Department has not made any formal assessment of the impact of the current PIA rental charges on investment in rural areas, including in South Suffolk. We have also not made any formal assessment of the economic impact of introducing changes to PIA rental charges.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether she has made an assessment of the impact of current Passive Infrastructure Access pricing models on private investment in rural broadband infrastructure in South Suffolk.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
We recognise competition is key to promote investment and will help ensure low prices and more choice for consumers in the long term.
As the independent regulator for telecommunications, Ofcom is responsible for making regulatory decisions in the fixed telecoms sector, including on the Physical Infrastructure Access (PIA) product.
For this reason, while officials are engaging with Ofcom on this issue, the Department has not made any formal assessment of the impact of the current PIA rental charges on investment in rural areas, including in South Suffolk. We have also not made any formal assessment of the economic impact of introducing changes to PIA rental charges.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to support investment in rural gigabit broadband networks in South Suffolk.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Project Gigabit is the government’s programme to deliver gigabit-capable broadband to UK premises that are not included in suppliers' commercial plans.
As part of Project Gigabit, CityFibre is delivering a contract across Suffolk. This contract currently includes approximately 5,800 premises in the South Suffolk constituency, predominantly in rural areas.
We will aim to cover the remaining premises that are not currently included in Project Gigabit or suppliers’ commercial delivery plans as far as possible as funding becomes available, in line with the objective of achieving nationwide gigabit coverage by 2032.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether she has made an assessment of using the Price Per Premise model rather than the Passive Infrastructure Access model with regard to rural broadband infrastructure pricing.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
We recognise competition is key to promote investment and will help ensure low prices and more choice for consumers in the long term. As the independent regulator for telecommunications, Ofcom is responsible for making regulatory decisions in the fixed telecoms sector, including on the Physical Infrastructure Access (PIA) product.
We are engaging with Ofcom on this issue.
In July, we published a consultation on our draft Statement of Strategic Priorities for telecommunications, the management of radio spectrum, and postal services that sets out the Government’s view on infrastructure sharing in the fixed telecoms sector, including asking Ofcom to demonstrate greater transparency in how they calculate and set PIA prices. We are reviewing responses to the consultation and will publish our response in due course.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether his Department plans to include recommendations relating to Passive Infrastructure Access pricing structures in the next Statement of Strategic Priorities to Ofcom.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
We recognise competition is key to promote investment and will help ensure low prices and more choice for consumers in the long term. As the independent regulator for telecommunications, Ofcom is responsible for making regulatory decisions in the fixed telecoms sector, including on the Physical Infrastructure Access (PIA) product.
We are engaging with Ofcom on this issue.
In July, we published a consultation on our draft Statement of Strategic Priorities for telecommunications, the management of radio spectrum, and postal services that sets out the Government’s view on infrastructure sharing in the fixed telecoms sector, including asking Ofcom to demonstrate greater transparency in how they calculate and set PIA prices. We are reviewing responses to the consultation and will publish our response in due course.