Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what processes her Department has put in place to (a) monitor, (b) collate cost information on, (c) review and (d) respond to requests to amend or revoke regulations introduced by her Department.
Answered by Margot James
The European Union (Withdrawal) Bill will retain EU law as it applies in the UK on exit day. We expect between 800 and 1000 statutory instruments will be required across Government to correct this retained EU law to ensure the statute book functions appropriately outside the EU. All Departments are engaged in this process. As we leave the EU, the Government’s EU exit legislative programme is designed to cater for the full range of negotiated and non-negotiated outcomes.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, which EU (a) Directives, (b) Regulations and (c) other legislation affecting her Department she is planning to propose (i) revocation and (ii) amendment of after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Margot James
The changes to regulations affecting business during the 2010-15 Parliament are recorded in Statements of New Regulation that were published every six months. These are available on https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/one-in-two-out-statement-of-new-regulation.
For the 2015-17 Parliament, the Government will shortly publish its final report on the savings to business delivered during that Parliament.
For the current Parliament, the Government is committed to maintaining a proportionate approach to regulation to enable business growth while maintaining public protections. This will be monitored through the target that the Government is required to set under the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what the title was of each set of regulations introduced by her Department in each month since May 2010; which of those regulations have been (a) subject to the (i) one in one out and (ii) one in two out procedure and (b) (i) revoked and (ii) amended; and what the net cost to (A) the public purse; and (B) business of those regulations is.
Answered by Margot James
The changes to regulations affecting business during the 2010-15 Parliament are recorded in Statements of New Regulation that were published every six months. These are available on https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/one-in-two-out-statement-of-new-regulation.
For the 2015-17 Parliament, the Government will shortly publish its final report on the savings to business delivered during that Parliament.
For the current Parliament, the Government is committed to maintaining a proportionate approach to regulation to enable business growth while maintaining public protections. This will be monitored through the target that the Government is required to set under the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans her Department has to provide funding for the (a) latest broadband technologies and (b) 5G technologies to support (i) businesses and (ii) households in Essex.
Answered by Matt Hancock
We have invested heavily in Essex with over £13 million of central government funding allocated to support superfast rollout; local bodies and European funds have also matched this with over £13 million to the project. On the ground, delivery is managed on a day-to-day basis by Superfast Essex (http://www.superfastessex.org/) our local delivery partner. Superfast coverage in Essex has risen from under 35% in 2010 to over 91%, with current delivery continuing until March 2020 and a further procurement underway.
At Autumn Budget 2017, the Government launched a £190 million Local Full Fibre Networks challenge fund to stimulate commercial investment in full fibre networks. Local bodies in Essex are able to bid for funding in the current round until 26th January 2018.
We also announced £160 million at Budget for the next phase of funding for the 5G Testbeds & Trials Programme, including projects to test 5G applications and deployment on roads and the security of 5G networks. In October 2017, the Government launched a £25 million competition to select a number of 5G projects to be funded in 2018-19. We believe that we will see the best outcome for the UK if we fund the strongest projects wherever they are. The Government is engaging widely with industry, academic institutions and local areas to encourage them to submit ambitious proposals.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much public money from the Heritage Lottery Fund has been awarded to each local authority area for activities to commemorate the First World War.
Answered by Helen Grant - Shadow Solicitor General
Since April 2010, across various programmes, the Heritage Lottery Fund has allocated over £56 million pounds to projects throughout the United Kingdom marking the First World War centenary. This includes awards from the First World War: Then and Now programme for smaller, community-led, projects. The breakdown of this funding by local authority area will be placed in the libraries of both Houses.