Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to help protect residents in Hamilton and Clyde Valley constituency who rely on telecare devices during the digital landline switchover.

The Government is committed to ensuring that any risks from the industry-led migration from the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) are mitigated for everyone. Over 95% of customers have already been migrated.

In November 2024 and March 2026, the industry agreed safeguards with Government to protect consumers, in particular vulnerable people and telecare users, during the PSTN migration to modern digital networks. These include providing vulnerable, including telecare, customers with the offer of a free engineer visit as well as a battery back-up solution for use in the event of a power outage.