Asked by: Norman Lamb (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans she has to appoint a Chief Scientific Adviser.
Answered by Matt Hancock
I refer the Hon member to my answer to PQ 9586.
Asked by: Norman Lamb (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential threat to the effectiveness of digital hearing aids of devices such as smartphones and tablets that operate within the 2.3 GHz and 2.5 GHz bands; and if she will take steps to protect the bandwidth frequency used by hearing aids.
Answered by Matt Hancock
We are engaged with stakeholders on this important issue. Determining and reacting to interference to wireless devices is a matter for Ofcom, the independent regulator for spectrum. Ofcom made an initial assessment that there was no issue with the use of adjacent bands but after representations from the assisted listening community have performed additional extensive and rigorous testing, using scenarios suggested by that community. The results of that testing are expected to be published soon, alongside a statement on the auction of 2.3 and 3.4 GHz spectrum.
Asked by: Norman Lamb (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many working days were lost due to mental illness in her Department in each of the last three years.
Answered by Matt Hancock
The number of working days lost in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport due to all illness reported under the Mental & Behavioural Disorders category in each of the last three years is shown in the table below:
Year | Working days lost |
1 March 2013 to 31 March 2014 | 305 |
1 March 2014 to 31 March 2015 | 189 |
1 March 2015 to 31 March 2016 | 79 |
We provide support to help all employees to stay well and manage their health conditions at work. This support includes a variety of programmes like occupational health support, the Employee Assistance Programme and the Civil Service reasonable adjustments service.
We signed up to level 2 of the Disability Confident Scheme and the “Time to Change” pledge and have been actively working with line managers to support individuals with mental health conditions. We introduced Mental Health First Aiders who are trained to recognise the symptoms of mental health and guide the individual towards appropriate professional help.
These actions have led to a continued decrease in the number of working days lost due to mental health sickness absence.
Asked by: Norman Lamb (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what role her Department played in drafting the Government's childhood obesity plan.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
I refer my honourable friend to my response to PQ 44972, answered on 8th September.
Asked by: Norman Lamb (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much has been spent on the Mobile Infrastructure Project as of the end of November 2015; and what proportion of that figure was spent on (a) construction, (b) planning permission, (c) administration and (d) other costs.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
As at the end of November 2015, spend on the Mobile Infrastructure Project is £9.1 Million. The breakdown of this spend is not in the format requested but the following information can be provided:
Site Builds - £0.9 Million.
Site Searches and acquisitions, which includes obtaining planning permission - £5.1 Million.
Supplier management and programme management costs and one-off supplier deliverables - £3 Million
The above spend relates to concluded and ongoing activities to enable identification of suitable locations to build masts. The spend in respect of Site Builds includes payments for some of the masts that are already on air.
Asked by: Norman Lamb (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what the (a) location is of each mast which has been erected and (b) status is of further masts currently in planning as part of the Mobile Infrastructure Project.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
There are 15 live MIP masts as at the end of November 2015. These masts are in the following locations:
Grantham and Stamford, Lincolnshire
Weaverthorpe, North Yorkshire
North Molton, Devon
Portesham, West Dorset
Roadwater, Somerset
Ipswich, Suffolk
Rattlesden, Suffolk
Seaton, Cornwall
Peakswater, Cornwall
Calstock, Cornwall
Weston Green, Cambridgeshire
Rothwell, Lincolnshire
Manaccan, Cornwall
Londonderry, Derry and Strabane - Northern Ireland
Fermanagh, Fermanagh and Omagh - Northern Ireland
Over 50 other potential mast sites are currently being progressed by our supplier with the aim of delivering as many of these as possible by the project end date of 31 March 2016.
Asked by: Norman Lamb (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what the (a) average and (b) maximum length of time taken by his Department is to carry out a public interest case to determine whether certain information will be disclosed in response to a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The Government publishes annual statistics on Freedom of Information on GOV.UK, including detailed statistics on public interest cases. This includes information relating to DCMS. Please see the latest annual figures for 2014 at: