Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 31 January 2024 to Question 11396 on Department for Culture, Media and Sport: Ministers' Private Offices, what the cost of the refurbishment was.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The cost of the refurbishment in 2022 was £15,336.92.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many ministerial red boxes belonging to her Department have been reported (a) lost and (b) stolen in each of the last three years.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
No ministerial red boxes belonging to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport were reported lost or stolen between 2021 and 2023.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether any refurbishments have been made to ministerial offices in her Department in each of the last two years.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
No refurbishments were made to ministerial offices in 2023. A refurbishment was carried out in 2022 following an office move.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many settlement payments her Department issued following claims of (a) bullying, (b) harassment and (c) discrimination in the (i) 2019-20, (ii) 2020-21, (iii) 2021-22 and (iv) 2022-23 financial years.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department has made no settlement payments for the financial years 2020-21, 2021-22 and 22-23. Due to data retention policies we do not hold information for 2019-20.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether there have been any power cuts on their Department's property in each of the last three years.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
DCMS does not maintain a central register of power cuts.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what data their Department holds on the (a) number and (b) total cost of replacing (i) laptops, (ii) mobile phones, (iii) memory sticks and (iv) external hard drives that have been (A) lost and (B) stolen in the last year.
Answered by John Whittingdale
The following table includes the number of lost/stolen devices in the Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) from 1 January 2023 to 31 October 2023.
|
|
|
Laptops | 1 | 6 |
Mobile phones | 2 | 4 |
Memory sticks | 0 | 0 |
External hard drives | 0 | 0 |
Lost and Stolen devices are not replaced on an individual basis, all assets are managed as part of a pooled resource model and replenished as part of their end to end lifecycle.
All departmental IT has device encryption enabled, at rest and is fully security encrypted, to prevent unauthorised access.
The departmental security unit, records and investigates each reported loss from the department. If appropriate, the police are invited to undertake further inquiries.
Any mobile device reported as lost is immediately and remotely deactivated and the contents deleted. The user account on any laptop reported as lost is immediately and remotely locked.
There has been no data loss or compromise resulting from these losses.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many agreements were reached to install 5G masts on private property in each of the last five years; and what proportion of those agreements were concluded consensually.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Digital connectivity is important now more than ever and the Government is committed to providing good quality digital infrastructure and mobile coverage, including 5G, across the UK. This will ensure that people are able to stay connected and businesses are able to grow. The Government’s ambition for the majority of the UK population to have access to 5G by 2027 was met 5 years early with basic “non-standalone” 5G. Non-standalone 5G is available outside up to 77% of UK premises.
However, Government policy in this area consistently aims to maintain a proportionate balance between the public benefits of digital rollout, and the rights of individual landowners. This is reflected in the legal framework underpinning rights to install and keep electronic communications apparatus on public and private land, contained in the Electronic Communications Code (“the Code”).
5G network rollout and the acquisition and management of masts, mobile sites and network infrastructure is, ultimately, a matter for the mobile network operators (MNOs), operating within that legal framework. The Government therefore does not routinely collate comprehensive data on site acquisitions.
However, you may find it useful to note that information provided by mobile operators and infrastructure providers during passage of the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act showed that the number of agreements being concluded on new and existing sites has increased year on year since 2020. This data shows that in 2022, at least 107 agreements were reached in relation to new sites, with heads of terms agreed on a further 66 sites. That is in addition to the 533 renewal agreements which have concluded this year, along with heads of terms being agreed on a further 119 renewals.
To be clear however, this data does not represent a complete picture of the number of agreements agreed during 2022, but rather a snapshot provided by some mobile operators. We do not have any additional data breaking down these figures into agreements concerning the installation of 5G masts on private property, or how many agreements were completed consensually. However, as you may be aware, measures contained in the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure (PSTI) Act aim to encourage consensual negotiations.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what rights private landowners have to oppose the installation of 5G masts on their property.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government is committed to providing good quality digital infrastructure and mobile coverage, including 5G, across the UK. This will ensure that people are able to stay connected and businesses are able to grow. Digital connectivity is important now more than ever. The Government’s ambition for the majority of the UK population to have access to 5G by 2027 was met 5 years early with basic “non-standalone” 5G. Non-standalone 5G is available outside up to 77% of UK premises.
At all times, however, government policy in this area works to keep a proportionate balance between public benefits of digital rollout, and the rights of individual landowners.
Rights to install and keep electronic communications apparatus on public and private land are regulated by the Electronic Communications Code (“the Code”). Rights relating to apparatus on private land are normally agreed through negotiation between a landowner and communications operator.
Where a consensual agreement cannot be reached, the operator can ask a court to consider whether rights should be imposed. It is important to note, however, that the imposition of those rights is not automatic.
In these cases, the court will take into account whether the proposed installation is in the public interest and whether the landowner can be adequately compensated in deciding whether or not the requested rights should be imposed.
In addition to the need to comply with the requirements of the Code, the installation of apparatus must also comply with any planning requirements. Most telecommunications infrastructure, such as new masts and base stations, now benefit from nationally set permitted development rights. Permitted development rights enable certain types of development to be undertaken without the need for a full planning application, where the need to apply for permission would be out of proportion with the impacts of development. However, new ground-based masts still require the prior approval of local planning authority on certain matters, such as siting a design, before deployment can take place.
Local planning authorities are the decision makers for local planning decisions and must ensure that they are satisfied with things such as siting and appearance of the proposed development, before the permitted development rights are applied.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many 5G masts have been installed in each region in the last two years.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
5G network rollout and the management of masts, mobile sites and network infrastructure is a matter for the mobile network operators (MNOs), and this information is not held by the government.
However, local authorities must grant planning permission for building masts and therefore some local authorities keep mast site registers which may contain installation information.
When deploying masts, the MNOs will consider consumer demand and how any mobile site fits with their network deployment plans.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many 5G masts have been installed on residential properties in each of the last two years.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
5G network rollout and the management of masts, mobile sites and network infrastructure is a matter for the mobile network operators (MNOs), and this information is not held by the government.
However, local authorities must grant planning permission for building masts and therefore some local authorities keep mast site registers which may contain installation information.
When deploying masts, the MNOs will consider consumer demand and how any mobile site fits with their network deployment plans.