Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department has made an assessment of potential security implications of the proposed merger between Vodafone-Three.

Ministers and Departmental officials regularly meet with Ofcom to discuss a range of telecoms issues.

It is the responsibility of the Competition and Markets Authority to assess the impact on consumers and competition in the market of the proposed merger between Vodafone and Three, with input from sectoral regulators.

The Government does not comment on specific mergers or acquisitions, which are subject to the UK’s stringent legal and regulatory requirements.