Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what mechanisms are in place to (a) monitor and (b) enforce compliance with the Broadband Infrastructure Code of Practice; and how many breaches of that code have been recorded in the last 12 months.

As the independent regulator for telecommunications operators, Ofcom is able to take enforcement action and have stated that they would investigate any complaints from local planning authorities about telegraph poles sited in a way which is not consistent with the requirements and guidelines in place, including where they block residents’ drives or where operators systematically fail to engage with local planning authorities’ suggestions. Ofcom has opened two investigations in the past 12 months into whether specific operators have failed to comply with their obligations when installing apparatus. These can be found on Ofcom’s enforcement page here: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/enforcement