Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate his Department has made of the number of homes in (a) Cumbria and (b) Copeland constituency which do not have access to superfast broadband.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
Current superfast broadband coverage is over 80% of UK premises and the Government remains committed to providing 95% coverage to homes and businesses by December 2017.
The commercially-funded delivery of superfast broadband in Cumbria is expected to cover over 111,000 premises. Phase 1 of the Connecting Cumbria broadband project aims to provide superfast coverage to a further 116,000 homes and businesses in Cumbria. As of 31 March 2015, this project had provided superfast coverage to approximately 59,000 premises. Assuming completion of the commercial programme, this would leave approximately 85,000 premises within Cumbria which do not yet have access to superfast broadband.
Comparable data is not available at constituency level. However, by the end of Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the Connecting Cumbria project, coverage in Copeland constituency is expected to reach 92% of premises.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
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 encourage more young people in rural communities to pursue careers in the arts.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
Arts Council England works closely with stakeholders to engage young people in rural areas. Working with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs the Arts Council undertook a data and evidence review to identify strengths and challenges of the arts sector in rural England. Key findings from the report published in March 2015 were:
· People living in rural areas are more likely to be engaged with the arts than those living in urban areas (Taking Part Survey*)
· 19% of Grants for the Arts** activity; and 35% of National Portfolio Organisation*** touring in 2012/13 reached rural communities
· Applicants from rural areas made 13% of individual Grants for the Arts applications and 14% of organisational applications in the 2.5 years to August 2014.
*The Taking Part survey collects data on many aspects of leisure, culture and sport in England, as well as an in-depth range of socio-demographic information on respondents. In respect of the Arts, data is collected about the reasons for participating and not participating, barriers to participation, and the frequency of participation are also collected.
** Grants for the arts is the Arts Council's Lottery-funded grant programme for individuals, arts organisations and other people who use the arts in their work. Grants are available for activities carried out over a set period and which engage people in England in arts activities and help artists and arts organisations in England carry out their work.
***National Portfolio Organisations receive regular funding directly from the Arts Council.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will extend the Internet of Things competition for UK cities launched on 13 July 2015 to rural communities.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The competition will establish a demonstrator in a "city region" which can include less densely-populated areas and solutions will not necessarily all be based in the central urban area. The competition will also establish internet of things applications and solutions which are at scale and replicable in other areas.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will introduce a UK Community of Culture Award to allow non-cities to experience the same benefits as cities awarded UK City of Culture awards.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The UK City of Culture competition is open to areas that have a clear urban focus, which could include a city or large town, two or more neighbouring cities or towns, or a closely linked set of urban areas. While the Government has no plans to introduce a UK Community of Culture award, we recognise the importance of culture in rural communities: how it can impact on health, social cohesion and personal development, as well generating tourism, jobs, and wealth.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate his Department has made of the number of homes in (a) Cumbria and (b) Copeland constituency that will not have access to superfast broadband by 2020.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The Government remains committed to superfast broadband delivery. The Connecting Cumbria project is due to provide 92% of homes and businesses in both Cumbria and Copeland constituency with access to superfast broadband by the end of 2017. No estimate has been made of coverage by 2020 by constituency.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate his Department has made of the proportion of premises covered by (a) 2G voice and low data rate mobile coverage, (b) 3G high-speed data mobile coverage and (c) 4G very high-speed data mobile coverage in each local authority area in the latest period for which figures are available.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
Ofcom’s Infrastructure Report 2014 states that outdoor premises coverage from at least one mobile network operator is provided to 99.7% of premises for 2G, 99% for 3G and 72% for 4G. A breakdown of these figures at local authority level is available on Ofcom's website at: http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/research/infrastructure/2014/Mobile_local_authority.csv
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what proportion of children in (a) Copeland constituency and (b) Cumbria participated in at least one hour of sport per week in each of the last five years.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
Government does not hold the information requested. The Taking Part Survey, which measures child participation in sport, does not publish local level or weekly data. Government is committed to ensuring that everyone - including children - has the opportunity to regularly participate in sport. Sport England actively supports this aim, with over £1 billion of investment in the youth and community strategy over 5 years. Further, the School Games programme, which provides opportunities for competitive sport in schools has been a great success, with more than 19,000 schools now signed up. The Games aim to give every schoolchild, no matter their ability or disability, their chance to participate and offers inter-school, county festivals and national finals competition. We are also investing over £450 million of ring fenced funding for the PE and Sport Primary premium for all primary schools for the three academic years from 2013 to 2016 - which enables them to provide high quality PE. Interim findings of independent research of the Primary PE and sport premium show that it is having a positive impact on PE and school sport. Since the funding was introduced, time spent on curricular PE at primary level has increased by 13 minutes from 109 to 122 minutes.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate his Department made of the proportion of (a) Copeland and (b) Cumbria covered by (i) 2G voice and low data rate mobile coverage, (ii) 3G high-speed data mobile coverage and (iii) 4G very high-speed data mobile coverage.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
According to Ofcom's Infrastructure Report 2014 coverage from all four mobile network operators (MNOs) is the same for Copeland and Cumbria. Specifically, 90% of premises have 2G coverage, 61% have 3G coverage and none have 4G coverage. Improving mobile coverage is a priority for the Government and as a result of the Government's landmark agreement with the MNOs in December 2014 each MNO will provide voice and text coverage to at least 90% of the UK landmass by 2017. Furthermore, as part of its 4G licence condition Telefonica is required to provide indoor coverage to at least 98% of UK premises by 2017. These measures will significantly improve mobile coverage in the UK.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when he expects Phase 2 of Connecting Cumbria to be complete; and what estimate he has made of how many premises in Copeland will receive high speed broadband in that phase.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
Connecting Cumbria has not yet begun the contracting process for a phase 2 superfast broadband project. The government expects the contracting to be complete by June 2015. The coverage and timescale for delivery from this contract will be dependent on the outcome of the procurement process.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 17 July 2014 to Question 205697, whether the target of delivering superfast broadband to one million premises by the end of summer 2014 has been achieved; and how many premises which have been connected to superfast broadband by the end of summer 2014 are in (a) Cumbria and (b) Copeland constituency.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The Government announced on 8 August 2014 that BDUK-supported superfast broadband coverage had exceeded 1 million premises. In the press release of 8 August 2014, the number of premises enabled under the BDUK programme in Cumbria was 38,965. Coverage information for below unitary authority level is not available, however proposed coverage plans and details on expected roll-out are available from Connecting Cumbria, the local project, at: http://www.connectingcumbria.org.uk/final-coverage-guide