Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
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 potential impact of Ofcom's proposal to make Regional Secondary Locators optional for amateur radio licensees on the awareness of the (a) diversity and (b) unique nature of the nations of the UK by international audiences.
Answered by John Whittingdale
Ofcom has assured us that it does recognise that Regional Secondary Locators (RSLs) have strong significance for some radio amateurs. Given this, Ofcom proposes to amend the licence and make the use of an RSL optional for licensees, while retaining the right for those that wish to use an RSL to continue to do so. This will avoid situations in which RSL users could breach their licence when crossing borders between nations.
Internationally, the use of an RSL is not mandated or provided for by the overarching regulatory framework set out by the International Telecoms Union Radio Regulations.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what the cost to the public purse was for the UK Spaceflight Programme as of 9 November 2023.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade
As of November 2023, the total cost to the Exchequer of the UK Spaceflight Programme is £54.7 million.
This funding has contributed to growing the UK’s launch capability, which is bringing new jobs and economic benefits to communities and organisations right across the UK, supporting the ambitions of the National Space Strategy, the Government’s levelling up agenda, and our vision for Global Britain.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to the Answer of 26 October 2023 to Question 204064 on Broadband: Rural Areas, whether her Department plans to provide support to people who are ineligible for the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme because they are in plan to have superfast broadband installed but do not have a timescale for this process.
Answered by John Whittingdale
Eligibility for the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme is dependent on premises meeting the relevant criteria, such as not being included in any suppliers’ commercial rollout plans for a gigabit-capable connection, nor in any other government-funded contract - planned or in place - to improve the network.
Eligibility for the voucher scheme is also dependent on the premises’ rurality status and only being able to access speeds less than 100Mbps. Therefore, commercial plans to provide superfast speeds (>=30Mbps) would not result in ineligibility for the scheme, assuming the premises met the wider requirements.
Although premises that are included in suppliers’ plans to receive a gigabit-capable connection are ineligible for vouchers, we still keep commercial plans under review. If these plans change, we will explore whether the premises can be connected through Project Gigabit.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the Answer of 30 June 2023 to Question 190639 on Kidney Diseases, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of ring-fencing funding for kidney disease research.
Answered by George Freeman
UK Research and Innovation funds research and innovation on a competitive basis, with individual applications being assessed by independent experts. In general, funding is not ring-fenced for specific conditions partly because the causes, treatments and cures for different diseases often overlap. No assessment has therefore been made of the potential merits of ring-fencing funding for kidney disease research.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
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 support the growth of the human-specific technology sector.
Answered by George Freeman
The pace of technology in bioscience and AI is creating exciting opportunities to replace, reduce, and refine the use of animals in research (the 3Rs). We are committed to support UK leadership in this field which we do primarily through funding from UKRI for the National Centre for the 3Rs (NC3Rs). Since its launch, the NC3Rs has committed £100 million in research to develop new 3R technologies. £86million has already been invested with 73% on reducing use of animal testing. The UK HMG focus on AI & Engineering Biology as 2 of our 5 strategic technologies will also provide significant underpinning technological support for the acceleration of 3R technologies.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether she plans to consult (a) the Cystic Fibrosis Trust and (b) other patient organisations in the implementation update for the O’Shaughnessy review recommendations.
Answered by George Freeman
The Government appointed Lord O’Shaughnessy to carry out an independent review into UK commercial clinical trials. Following publication of Lord O’Shaughnessy’s review on May 26, the Government made five headline commitments to improve the commercial clinical trials system and make it easier for revolutionary healthcare treatments to get to NHS patients, backed by £121 million.
An update on implementation will be provided in Autumn, which will outline progress against these commitments as well as responding in full to the review recommendations. The O’Shaughnessy review was informed by leaders from across the UK clinical trials sector, including medical research charities, regional and national NHS leaders and national delivery partners including regulators. Implementation of the five headline commitments and the full review response will be informed by consultation with the UK clinical trials community including individual medical research charities and the Association of Medical Research Charities, of which the Cystic Fibrosis Trust is a member.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department plans to increase funding for research into kidney disease.
Answered by George Freeman
Through UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), DSIT is responsible for biomedical and biological research, whilst DHSC is responsible for the NIHR, focused on health and health care system research.
UKRI funds research into the detection, prevention, treatment and underpinning biology of kidney disease, allocated primarily through the Medical Research Council (MRC). Over the period of 2019/20 to 2021/22, MRC has invested over £20 million in funding and support for kidney disease research with £7.7 million in 2019/20, £7.8 million in 2020/21 and £6.7 million in 2021/22.
UKRI funds research and innovation on a competitive basis, with individual applications being assessed by independent experts. In general, funding is not ring-fenced for specific conditions, and so an estimate for future spend on kidney disease research is unavailable.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department has made an assessment with Cabinet colleagues of the potential impact of a merger between Three UK and Vodafone on national security.
Answered by John Whittingdale
On June 14, Vodafone and Three announced their intentions to merge their UK businesses. As an open economy, we welcome investment where it supports UK growth and jobs, meets our stringent legal and regulatory requirements, and does not compromise our national security. We will not hesitate to use our powers, under the National Security and Investment Act, to protect national security if we identify concerns.
The Government does not have a role in the review of mergers on competition grounds. It is the responsibility of Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to assess the impact on consumers and competition in the market, with input from sectoral regulators - in this case Ofcom.
At present Vodafone UK have not announced any job cuts in relation to the merger. On 16 May, Vodafone Group, which operates across 21 countries, announced its annual financial results and strategy to improve performance. The announcement included an indication that Vodafone Group plans to cut 11,000 jobs globally over 3 years. Any redundancies are a commercial decision for Vodafone Group.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
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 impact of the proposed merger between Three UK and Vodafone on (a) mobile phone and (b) broadband costs.
Answered by John Whittingdale
On June 14, Vodafone and Three announced their intentions to merge their UK businesses. As an open economy, we welcome investment where it supports UK growth and jobs, meets our stringent legal and regulatory requirements, and does not compromise our national security. We will not hesitate to use our powers, under the National Security and Investment Act, to protect national security if we identify concerns.
The Government does not have a role in the review of mergers on competition grounds. It is the responsibility of Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to assess the impact on consumers and competition in the market, with input from sectoral regulators - in this case Ofcom.
At present Vodafone UK have not announced any job cuts in relation to the merger. On 16 May, Vodafone Group, which operates across 21 countries, announced its annual financial results and strategy to improve performance. The announcement included an indication that Vodafone Group plans to cut 11,000 jobs globally over 3 years. Any redundancies are a commercial decision for Vodafone Group.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of the proposed merger between Three UK and Vodafone on the security of jobs in the UK.
Answered by John Whittingdale
On June 14, Vodafone and Three announced their intentions to merge their UK businesses. As an open economy, we welcome investment where it supports UK growth and jobs, meets our stringent legal and regulatory requirements, and does not compromise our national security. We will not hesitate to use our powers, under the National Security and Investment Act, to protect national security if we identify concerns.
The Government does not have a role in the review of mergers on competition grounds. It is the responsibility of Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to assess the impact on consumers and competition in the market, with input from sectoral regulators - in this case Ofcom.
At present Vodafone UK have not announced any job cuts in relation to the merger. On 16 May, Vodafone Group, which operates across 21 countries, announced its annual financial results and strategy to improve performance. The announcement included an indication that Vodafone Group plans to cut 11,000 jobs globally over 3 years. Any redundancies are a commercial decision for Vodafone Group.