Political monitor 02/10/2020

2 October 2020

Broadband

Ofcom publish update to their annual Plan of Works

Ofcom have published an updated annual Plan of Works. The paper serves as a half-yearly update to the activities and milestones in their 2020/21 work programme following the first quarterly update, published in July. Ofcom are on track to deliver the majority of their 2020/21 work plan; however, some changes are as follows:

• Broadband performance measurement – Home broadband performance report has now been completed.
• Review of the General Conditions and Universal Service Conditions to implement EECC. Statement further delayed from Q2 to Q3
• Simpler Switching (EECC) process consultation delayed to Q3, switching process statement expected Q4.
• Price comparison service accreditation scheme statement delayed from Q2 to Q3.

Education Minister’s statement highlights need for digital skills

Education Minister Gavin Williamson MP announced plans for a lifetime skills guarantee to help young people and adults retrain and upskill during their working lives. The scheme will fund technical courses equivalent to A-levels which teach skills that are in high demand in the economy. Williamson highlighted the digital sector saying, “technology is one area with an ever-growing need for skills”. Robert Largan MP (Con) responded to Williamson’s statement urging the Minister to ensure the lifetime skills scheme focussed on skills needed in vital areas such as telecommunications and broadband roll out which could deliver infrastructure investment which was so badly needed in constituencies like his own.

Oral question on broadband roll out

Shadow Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Minister, Stephanie Peacock MP asked what steps they were taking to support the roll-out of superfast broadband to communities in South Yorkshire. DCMS Minister, Matt Warman MP replied that the department had invested over £10 million in broadband rollout across South Yorkshire. 98% of premises in South Yorkshire now have access to superfast broadband and nearly 14% of premises can also access gigabit-capable connectivity – up from 0% in February 2016. Parts of South Yorkshire without broadband also qualified for the voucher scheme offered by DCMS and ‘Top up’ schemes run by local authorities.

Cyber Security

Science and Technology Committee session on UK telecommunications infrastructure and the UK’s domestic capability

The Science and Technology Committee held their fourth evidence session as part of their inquiry into UK telecommunications infrastructure and the UK’s domestic capability. Witnesses included Ciaran Martin, the former CEO of the National Cyber Security Centre and Marcus Weldon, President of Bell Labs and Nokia Chief Technology Officer. Some key points include:

• Martin believed that although removing Huawei had been the right thing to do, it had left the UK in the “uncomfortable position” of having only two radio access providers.
• Martin said that neither Nokia nor Erikson have a “China free supply chain” but he believed the Telecoms Security Requirements would address this.
• On why there were so few vendors for 5G, Weldon said financial constraint had been caused by the increased value in web players and device players. This was due to the Telecoms sector becoming more consumer facing- a factor which meant 5G which would deliver infrastructure and industry critical capability- had been overlooked.
• On vendor diversity, Weldon said having two major vendors was not problematic if allowed new entrants to build on an existing network.
• Weldon advised against Government trying to pick a “winning” technology, he believed this should be determined by the market.
• Weldon explained that because cloud based infrastructure was constantly changing, this would make it hard to regulate openRAN.

Government publish Huawei cyber security evaluation centre report

The sixth annual report for the National Security Adviser from the Huawei Cyber Security Evaluation Centre (HSCEC) Oversight Board has been published. The report covers the period January 2019 to December 2019 and therefore does not cover the changes in Government policy that happened in 2020. Some key points include:

• HCSEC fulfilled its obligations by providing software engineering and cyber security assurance artefacts to the NCSC and the UK operators as part of the strategy to manage risks to UK national security from Huawei’s involvement in the UK’s critical networks.
• The Oversight Board has limited assurance that the long-term security risks can be managed in Huawei equipment currently deployed in the UK.
• The Oversight Board can only provide limited assurance that all risks to UK national security from Huawei’s involvement in the UK’s critical networks can be sufficiently mitigated long-term.
• The amount of vulnerabilities reported in 2019 were “significantly beyond” the number found in 2018, but this is partly due to the increasing effectiveness of the checks rather than an overall decline in standards.

Online Safety

Written question on the online harms Bill

Shadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities, Marsha de Cordova Shadow MP asked what the timescale is for bringing forward an Online Harms Bill. DCMS Minister Caroline Dinenage did not provide a concrete date but responded that a full Government response to the Online Harms White Paper consultation would be published later this year. This will be followed by legislation, which will be ready early next year.

Subgroup news

Please find an update on our ongoing policy work below

Liability

ISPA sent a briefing paper to Holly Lynch MP (Lab) who has tabled a Westminster Hall debate on online harms next week. We have offered to brief her on key themes including DoH as well as online harms more generally. We will also be sending out a doddle poll for dates for the next Liability subgroup call so keep your eyes peeled for these!

Broadband

A call regarding the GigaTAG Call for evidence into boosting consumer take up will take place on Monday 5^th October at 2.30pm. For more information and to attend, please contact Emma Shearer (emmas@ispa.org.uk)

ISPA events

ISPA Awards Online Ceremony

You are invited to the 22nd annual ISPA Awards ceremony, which will take place on a very engaging online platform on Wednesday 18th November from 4.30pm-5.30pm. Please add this date to your diaries and RSVP to awards@ispa.org.uk if you would like to secure your free ticket. More information will be revealed soon but rest assured that although we can’t meet in person this year, we will make the ceremony exciting and fun as always. Keep your eyes peeled for future announcements!