Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the Telecoms Supply Chain review, published in July 2019, what progress he has made on the diversification strategy to support the growth of new players in parts of the network that pose security and resilience risks.

The Government has been clear that it does not want to use any high risk vendors in our telecoms networks or have to rely on just a few suppliers. A more diverse supply chain is essential to reducing national dependency on individual suppliers and will drive competition, innovation and higher security standards in the telecoms supply market.

In developing this strategy the Government is considering a wide range of actions in the short, medium and long-term that support diversification by reducing barriers to entry, incentivising research and development in the UK telecoms sector and by growing capacity in the global supply market.

As part of this we are working with industry - including network operators and equipment vendors - and our international partners to find solutions that are sustainable and deliver against shared goals.