Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - North Tyneside)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to support the cancer research sector.
Answered by Michelle Donelan - Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The government is one hundred percent committed to tackling cancer. This is why we made cancer one of our eight healthcare missions, bringing together government, research funders, industry, NHS, and charities to tackle this critical challenge. Working together, the cancer mission will drive earlier diagnosis and improved therapies for UK cancer patients.
We also fund cutting-edge cancer research. The National Institute for Health and Care Research supports clinical research into all aspects of the disease, while UKRI spend on cancer research is in the region of £200M annually.
As well as academic research, we work with industry to bring the latest treatments to UK patients. Our strategic collaboration agreement with BioNTech aims to provide up to 10,000 UK patients with cutting-edge cancer immunotherapies by 2030. Through this partnership we have ensured UK patients are among the first to access clinical trials for ground-breaking cancer vaccines, with multiple trials already underway across the country.
Through my recent visits to Astra Zeneca and Bicycle Therapeutics in Cambridge, I have heard first-hand about some of the latest technologies for cancer diagnosis and treatment. As a government, we are committed to bringing cutting-edge innovations to our cancer patients.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - North Tyneside)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the prevalence of house builders refusing to allow broadband Internet Service Providers other than one they have chosen onto their estates.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The Government has legislated to make sure that new homes will have gigabit connectivity as standard, amending the Building Regulations 2010 to place obligations on housing developers to work with network operators to install gigabit broadband, where this can be done within a commercial cost cap. This ensures that connectivity of new homes is prioritised by housing developers at the outset.
Under this legislation, housing developers are free to work with whichever Internet Service Provider (ISP) they choose, with the terms and conditions under which they enter into agreements being a commercial matter. Many Communications Providers (CPs)s offer wholesale access to their networks, but it is ultimately a choice for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to decide which networks they use to serve customers.
Ofcom, as the independent regulator for telecoms, is responsible for regulating monopolies in the telecoms market. Where it determines a provider has significant market power (SMP), it can impose a number of remedies aimed at opening up levels of competition, including requiring them to allow competitors to offer services over their infrastructure at regulated prices. Currently, Ofcom has determined that BT Group and KCOM have SMP in the UK, but to date it has not done so with other providers.