🗣️ Speeches and Debates
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I am answering today on behalf of my right hon. Friend the Minister for Digital Government, who is away on other duties. As of September 2025, more than 1.3 million premises in rural and hard-to-reach communities across the UK have already been upgraded to gigabit-capable broadband through Government-funded programmes. More than 1 million premises are included in the £2.4 billion-worth of...
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My hon. Friend is absolutely right to press this issue. Project Gigabit delivers gigabit-capable broadband to parts of the UK that are unlikely to be reached by the commercial market alone. However, as Project Gigabit extends its coverage, it will increasingly also cover properties that already have superfast availability. For premises located in very hard-to-reach areas, we are continuing to...
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As I said to my hon. Friend the Member for Na h-Eileanan an Iar (Torcuil Crichton), we are currently looking at how we can further enable alternatives to fibre access, such as satellites and fixed wireless access. I am sure that the Minister for Digital Government will be happy to meet the hon. Lady to discuss the specific issues in her constituency, as he would be for my hon. Friend the...
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A new digital identity system is a vital part of the infrastructure that the UK needs to transform public services and accelerate digital government. As my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister said this week, our goal is simple: to make government work better for people by joining up public services so that people do not have to fight to get the support that they need....
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We are building a digital ID system because it is the infrastructure that we need for the foundation of the British state and better public services in years to come. I am proud that we as a Government are investing the time and resources to improve government and make it work better for people so that it is easier to access public services. We are doing the hard work that Government should...
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Absolutely. By the end of this Parliament, every UK citizen who wants a digital ID will be able to get one free of charge. To deliver that, we will launch a huge digital inclusion drive across the UK, and I look forward to working with hon. Members from across the House on that, including my hon. Friend. Like Estonia, we will build the UK system to earn citizens’ trust, adhering to the...
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My hon. Friend has deep experience of these challenges, and she is absolutely right: the reason why digital ID is so vital to the future of our public services and government is all about data. That will become ever more important in the future age of artificial intelligence. When I worked in AI, we had a saying: “garbage in, garbage out”. Bad data management produces bad public services,...
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It has not been. Digitising right-to-work checks is a vital part of how we will toughen up our illegal labour market enforcement regime. It will mean that this Government are cracking down on illegal working, reducing the pull factors and delivering on one of our key commitments, which is to crack down on illegal migration.
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✍️ Written Questions and Answers
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As the Prime Minister has stated in the House of Commons, there will be checks. They will be digital and they will be mandatory. We will consult on the technical detail of how this will be implemented.
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As the Prime Minister has recently stated in the House of Commons, there will be checks. They will be digital and they will be mandatory. We will consult on the technical detail of how this will be implemented.
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As the Prime Minister has recently stated in the House of Commons, there will be checks. They will be digital and they will be mandatory. We will consult on the technical details of how this will be implemented.
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The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. A response to the Hon lady’s Parliamentary Question of 5th February is attached. Letter from the Permanent Secretary of UKSA (pdf, 147.6KB)
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The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. A response to the Hon lady’s Parliamentary Question of 5th February is attached. Letter from the Permanent Secretary of UKSA (pdf, 138.7KB)
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The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. A response to the Rt Hon. gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 4th February is attached. Letter from the Permanent Secretary of UKSA (pdf, 158.7KB)
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The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. A response to the Rt Hon. gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 3rd February is attached. Letter from the Permanent Secretary at the ONS (pdf, 156.7KB)
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The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. A response to the Hon lady’s Parliamentary Question of 3rd February is attached. Letter from the Permanent Secretary at the ONS (pdf, 147.5KB)
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