Written questions by McDougall.

Innovation and Technology, if he will hold discussions with X.com on the potential impact of the output of its Grok AI on community safety.

The Government’s commitment to tackling online harms applies across all social media companies, and we engage with all major platforms in this regard. Many generative AI services have functionalities that bring them into scope of the Online Safety Act – services in scope will be required to assess the risk of harm to users from illegal content and content that is harmful to children on their services and implement measures to manage and mitigate this risk. Online platforms, including X, will need to fulfil these duties. Ofcom has strong enforcement powers where platforms fail to comply.

Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking to fill gaps in mobile telephone coverage ahead of the phasing out of landlines by service providers.

The Government is committed to improving mobile coverage across the UK. The Shared Rural Network will increase 4G geographic coverage throughout the UK to 95% by the end of 2025.In September, Ofcom reported that 94.9% of the UK landmass now has 4G coverage from at least one mobile operator, with over 78% having 4G coverage from all four.Non-standalone 5G is available outside 92% of UK premises from at least one mobile operator. Our ambition is for all populated areas to have high-quality standalone 5G by 2030.Landlines are not being removed. It would be more accurate to say that providers are moving from the old and failing analogue network - the Public Switched Telephone Network - to Voice over Internet Protocol technology. We are focused on ensuring that this industry-led transition causes minimum inconvenience to residents and businesses.

Innovation and Technology, what steps he plans to take with providers to help ensure the resilience of the telephone network, in the context of trends in the number of power cuts.

Although most power cuts are brief, the impact they can have on the telephone network is significant, particularly in rural communities. We are working closely with the regulator, communications providers and the power sector to improve resilience and minimise disruption to the public and businesses as much as possible.Communications providers have statutory responsibilities to take all appropriate and proportionate steps to minimise disruption to services and must ensure at least one back-up form of communication is available for contacting emergency services for a minimum of one hour during a power outage. On 6 September 2024, Ofcom published detailed resilience guidelines specifying the measures that providers are expected to meet throughout their networks, including resilience to power cuts, and set out the analysis they are completing to consider whether additional resilience is required for mobile services.