Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what progress her Department has made on the rollout of Project Gigabit in Northumberland.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
GoFibre recently completed delivery of two Project Gigabit contracts, covering North Northumberland and Teesdale. These contracts have provided gigabit-capable coverage to 8,200 premises, including in Otterburn in the Hexham constituency.
In addition, Openreach is currently delivering a Project Gigabit contract across the North East, covering approximately 14,000 premises in the region, over 2,200 of which are in the Hexham constituency, including Ponteland and Darras Hall.
Approximately 2,900 premises in Hexham have also benefitted from the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme, with more included in live projects.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what progress her Department has made on the rollout of Project Gigabit in the Hexham constituency.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
GoFibre recently completed delivery of two Project Gigabit contracts, covering North Northumberland and Teesdale. These contracts have provided gigabit-capable coverage to 8,200 premises, including in Otterburn in the Hexham constituency.
In addition, Openreach is currently delivering a Project Gigabit contract across the North East, covering approximately 14,000 premises in the region, over 2,200 of which are in the Hexham constituency, including Ponteland and Darras Hall.
Approximately 2,900 premises in Hexham have also benefitted from the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme, with more included in live projects.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what progress her Department has made on the rollout of Project Gigabit in the North East.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
GoFibre recently completed delivery of two Project Gigabit contracts, covering North Northumberland and Teesdale. These contracts have provided gigabit-capable coverage to 8,200 premises, including in Otterburn in the Hexham constituency.
In addition, Openreach is currently delivering a Project Gigabit contract across the North East, covering approximately 14,000 premises in the region, over 2,200 of which are in the Hexham constituency, including Ponteland and Darras Hall.
Approximately 2,900 premises in Hexham have also benefitted from the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme, with more included in live projects.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what conversations the Department has had with relevant stakeholders regarding improving connectivity in hard-to-reach areas across the country as part of the Shared Rural Network.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department and its delivery partner Mova have engaged with relevant stakeholders across the country through frequent progress meetings targeted at key stakeholders from Wales, Scotland and England. Relevant stakeholders include the UK's mobile network operators, devolved governments, local authorities in rural areas, planning departments, statutory organisations, representative bodies, and key enabling stakeholders such as SSE. The Department regularly engages with MPs, MSPs and MSs on the progress of the programme through written updates and MP drop in events. Furthermore, the Department and Mova also regularly respond to enquiries from local stakeholders, including Councillors, and Parish and Community Councils.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what conversations the Department has had with relevant stakeholders in the North East regarding the Shared Rural Network.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
In the North East, the Shared Rural Network is currently planning to upgrade nine Home Office Emergency Services Network sites across the regions of Durham and Northumbria. The programme has primarily engaged with Northumberland County Council who the department has met with twice in the last six months. Previously the Department and its delivery partner Mova have engaged with the Borderlands Partnership and spoken to key audiences at Connected North. The Department and Mova have also responded to enquires from local stakeholders, including elected members.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps the Department is taking to improve mobile telephone signal in (a) Hexham constituency, (b) Northumberland, (c) Newcastle, (d) the North East and (e) England.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Communities and business across the country rightly expect to have the mobile connectivity they need to participate in the modern digital economy.
Through the Shared Rural Network programme, there have already been improvements in 4G mobile coverage across rural England. This includes two masts that have been upgraded using government funding in Hexham, with a further mast having been upgraded in North Northumberland. The programme continues to deliver 4G coverage improvements across Great Britain.
But we want to go further, our ambition is for all populated areas to have access to higher quality standalone 5G by 2030. Government continues to work closely with the mobile network operators, ensuring that we have the right policy and regulatory framework in place to support investment into mobile networks and competition in the market. This includes removing barriers to deployment where they exist.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what discussions her Department has had with stakeholders in the North East on the protection children and young people from harmful content online.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
This Government is committed to keeping people safe online, so that they can seize all the opportunities that the internet brings.
Is it essential that policy is shaped by people with lived experience and we engage regularly with a range of stakeholders to understand how best to protect children and young people from harmful online content. Ofcom, the independent regulator for online safety, also engaged with children across the country in developing its safety codes.
Details of ministerial engagement are published quarterly on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
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 tech innovation in (a) Hexham constituency and (b) the North East.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
As set out in the Digital and Technologies Sector Plan, part of the UK’s modern Industrial Strategy, the department is committed to supporting the UK’s city regions and clusters.
UKRI invested £355 million in the North East in 2023-24. UKRI’s funding is supporting projects such as the North East Digital Technologies Launchpad that has funded innovative technology businesses such as RareCan in Hexham, who are using AI to support recruitment for rare cancer clinical trials.
Building on this we have earmarked at least £30 million for the North East through our new Local Innovation Partnerships Fund. This will empower local leaders to grow high-potential innovation clusters and unlock their potential to create the businesses and jobs of the future.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
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 help tackle digital exclusion in (a) Hexham constituency, (b) Northumberland, (c) Newcastle, (d) the North East and (e) England.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
We know that digital exclusion is a complex issue and the evidence base is significant but fragmented. Ofcom data from 2025 reports that 5% of households in the UK do not have access to the internet and that, in the North East of England, 10% of households do not have access to the internet. That is why we launched the Digital Inclusion Action Plan in February, which sets out our immediate actions to boost digital inclusion across the UK, including the North East of England.
Alongside our actions to widen access to devices, drive digital upskilling, break down barriers to participation and get support to people in their own communities, we are also developing robust headline indicators to monitor progress and inform future digital inclusion interventions.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment the her Department has made of the potential impact of the AI Growth Zone in the North East on economic growth in the Hexham constituency.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
I refer my Hon. friend to the answer given on 2nd October 2025 to Question UIN HL10718.