Political Monitor 21/02/2020

21 February 2020

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DCMS Ministerial Responsibilities

Caroline Dinenage MP, Minister of State for Digital and Culture:

John Whittingdale OBE MP, Minister of State for Media and Data:

Matt Warman MP: Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Digital Infrastructure:

Baroness Barran MBE: DCMS Lords Minister, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Civil Society and DCMS

Broadband

DCMS announcement of a £65million package for 5G trails

As part of the Government’s £200million investment into 5G testbeds and trials across the UK, Oliver Dowden MP, the Secretary of State for DCMS, has announced that rural areas will benefit from government funded trials to help seize the potential of modern technology. A rural and industrial 5G competition (Rural Connected Communities) will provide a total of £35 million to nine research and development projects. Two of these projects will be led by Ford Motor Company and Zeetta Networks which will fund research into how 5G can boost productivity in the manufacturing sector. A further £30million competition (5G Create) will look at how 5G can create opportunities in a variety of industries.

Written Question on Broadband and mobile data connectivity

John Whittingdale MP, Minister of State for Media and Data, has responded to a written question from David Duguid MP (Con) regarding the progress of the  broadband and mobile data connectivity roll-out in Banff and Buchan constituency. Whittingdale highlighted the Government’s £50million funding for the Rest of Scotland project and that superfast coverage in his constituency was at 84.8%. He also provided statistics stating that the constituency had 84.8% 4G geographic coverage from all four mobile network operators in the constituency.

Online Safety

Barnardo’s highlight the underestimation of child sexual abuse

Using the results of a YouGov survey, Barnado’s highlighted that there is widespread underestimation of the prevalence of child sexual abuse in the UK. Barnado’s estimates that 1 in 6 of 11-17-year-olds have experienced sexual abuse at some point in their lives and more than half of respondents underestimated this figure.

Barnado’s further highlighted that because of “advancements in technology, abusers have increased mechanisms to access children, often in environments like gaming and social media where children’s’ defences are down as they relax and enjoy time with their peers.”

Barnardo’s Chief Executive, Javed Khan, also called on the Government’s upcoming child sexual abuse strategy to focus on ‘hidden victims, including boys, children under 10, disabled and LGBTQ young people and those from BAME communities’

ISPA Events

Cyber Security Working Group

The first ISPA Cyber Security Working Group meeting of 2020 is taking place on the afternoon of Wednesday March 18th from 2-5pm at ISPA’s offices, 69 Wilson Street, EC2A 2BB.

The meeting will include an update on the various live cyber security policy initiatives, plan ISPA activity and feature speakers from our partners SonicWall.

A full agenda will be sent round in due course but will include the following:

SonicWall demonstration of Managed Security Services and how to grow your customer base

This event is for ISPA members only, if you wish to attend, please RSVP to admin@ispa.org.uk

Distributed Core Network and Network Automation Workshop with DCN Professional Solutions.

The Distributed Core Network and Network Automation Workshop will be taking place on 31st March from 1pm to 5pm (with lunch and refreshments) in ISPA offices, 69 Wilson street, London, EC2A 2BB, this workshop is aimed at CTOs, Network Service Engineers, and Product Managers. During this workshop our partners Salumanus will suggest solutions to obtain a network architecture that provides seamless connectivity. They will take a closer look at each level of Distributed Core Network and show how different network faults are dealt with by Network Automation mechanisms inside and between switches. Their Wavelength Division Multiplexing will also give you an overview on how to use this technology to implement Distributed Core Network as well as provide seamless connectivity with your existing network infrastructure. They will suggest where else in your network you could benefit from WDM advantages.

This workshop is free to attend, please RSVP to admin@ispa.org.uk to secure your place.

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