Asked by: Lee Pitcher (Labour - Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme)
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 Online Safety Act 2023 does not result in unintended consequences for (a) freedom of expression and (b) access to (i) supportive and (ii) archival online content.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Under the Act, both Ofcom and in-scope companies will have duties relating to freedom of expression, for which they can be held to account. Platforms will not be able to arbitrarily remove content and users will have access to effective complaints procedures to appeal instances when content is unduly taken down. This will ensure that UK users can express themselves freely online and participate in pluralistic and robust debate.
Asked by: Lee Pitcher (Labour - Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme)
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 that (a) remote and (b) other hard-to-reach properties are provided access to reliable fibre broadband.
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. Our goal is for nationwide gigabit coverage by 2032, ensuring at least 99% of UK premises can access a gigabit-capable connection.
More than £2.4 billion of Project Gigabit contracts have already been signed to connect over one million more premises with gigabit-capable broadband. These premises fall predominantly in rural areas.
However, our expectation is that some remote premises will remain too expensive to build a gigabit connection to. We continue to consider what can be done to further enable alternatives to fibre connections.