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 - Shadow Secretary of State 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 - Shadow Secretary of State 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 of her Department's (a) laptops, (b) mobile phones, (c) memory sticks and (d) external hard drives have been lost or stolen in each of the last five years.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The following table includes the number of lost/stolen devices in the Department for Digital, Culture Media & Sport (DCMS) in the last five years.
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
Laptops | 34 | 15 | 199 | 17 | 4 |
Mobile Phones | 13 | 29 | 3 | 12 | 18 |
Memory Sticks | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
External Hard Drives | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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, if she will work with Arts Council England to commission a strategic review of opera provision.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
I refer the Hon Member for Richmond Park to my previous answers on this matter, including 97388 and 97389 to the Rt Hon Member for Camberwell and Peckham.
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 steps she is taking to support the English National Opera.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
I refer the Hon Member for Richmond Park to my previous answers on this matter, including 97388 and 97389 to the Rt Hon Member for Camberwell and Peckham.
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 assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the proposed merger between BBC News and the BBC World Service on the quality of news.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The Government wants to see the BBC continue to serve both UK and international audiences with high quality, accurate and impartial news and information, which is an essential part of its Mission and Public Purposes.
The BBC is operationally and editorially independent from the government and the government cannot intervene in the BBC’s day-to-day operations. It would therefore be inappropriate for the government to intervene in their decision to merge BBC News and BBC World News.
Ofcom, as the independent regulator of the BBC, is responsible for ensuring that the BBC continues to meet the public service obligations set out in the BBC Charter, Agreement, and Operating Licence. In response to the BBC's announcement, Ofcom has said that it expects the BBC to be clear about how it plans to ensure that BBC News will continue to provide high quality UK news. Ofcom has also stated that it will continue to develop its understanding of the detail of the BBC’s proposals, and that if issues of concern arise Ofcom will work with the BBC to address them, and if necessary, take steps to ensure the BBC continues to deliver for audiences in the UK.
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 much her Department has spent on consultancy fees in each of the last five years.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 28th June 2022 to Question UIN 22551.
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, pursuant to the Answer of 25 April 2022 to Question 154260 on Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Aviation, how many rail journeys officials in her Department made between (a) London and Edinburgh, (b) London and Glasgow and (c) Southampton and Newcastle in 2019-2020.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The total number of rail journeys to and from requested locations taken by Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport officials between April 2019 and March 2020 is broken down below:
London and Edinburgh: 15
London and Glasgow: 66
Southampton and Newcastle: 0