Written questions by Davies.

Innovation and Technology, whether mobile signal improvements in West Sussex will contribute to the Government’s connectivity targets.

Government’s ambition is for all populated areas to have access to higher quality standalone 5G by 2030. This is a UK wide ambition, coverage improvements in the East Grinstead and Uckfield constituency will therefore contribute to the achievement of this ambition.Government wants to see high quality digital infrastructure available right across the UK, whether this is fixed or mobile, allowing people to participate in the modern digital economy.

Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that mobile operators improve signal reliability in rural and semi rural areas of West Sussex.

Our ambition is for all populated areas to have access to higher quality standalone 5G by 2030. This ambition includes villages and rural communities as well as towns and cities.Standalone 5G is a more reliable, secure, generation of technology which has the potential to deliver significant benefits to communities across the UK.Government continues to work closely with the mobile network operators to ensure that continued investment into the expansion and improvement of mobile networks translates into benefits for communities right across the UK. We are also addressing barriers to deployment where they exist and recently launched a call for evidence to help determine where planning rules could be relaxed to support the deployment of digital infrastructure.There are statutory obligations on communications providers to take appropriate and proportionate steps to ensure their networks and services remain available, and Ofcom has powers to investigate, rectify and penalise communications providers for any infringement of their duties. Ofcom is undertaking a review of the resilience of mobile services to power cuts and considering whether to update the expectations on mobile operators on the level of power back up required.

Innovation and Technology, whether mobile signal improvements in East Sussex will contribute to the Government’s connectivity targets.

Government’s ambition is for all populated areas to have access to higher quality standalone 5G by 2030. This is a UK wide ambition, coverage improvements in the East Grinstead and Uckfield constituency will therefore contribute to the achievement of this ambition.Government wants to see high quality digital infrastructure available right across the UK, whether this is fixed or mobile, allowing people to participate in the modern digital economy.

Innovation and Technology, what steps she is taking to improve mobile phone and broadband access in East Grinstead and Uckfield constituency.

Our ambition is for all populated areas to have higher quality standalone 5G by 2030 and we have a target to deliver nationwide (99%) gigabit broadband coverage by 2032.The Government continues to work closely with the mobile network operators to ensure their continued investment into the expansion and improvement of mobile networks and that investment translates into benefits for communities right across the UK.To improve broadband coverage in the area CityFibre is delivering a Project Gigabit contract across East and West Sussex, which includes premises in the East Grinstead and Uckfield constituency.We are also working to identify and address barriers to deployment of both mobile and broadband infrastructure. This includes recently launching a call for evidence to help determine where planning rules could be relaxed to support the deployment of digital infrastructure.

Innovation and Technology, what assessment her Department has made of the level of mobile signal coverage gaps in East Grinstead and Uckfield constituency.

Ofcom is responsible for reporting on mobile network coverage across the UK and their data provides Government with information on mobile coverage gaps.Ofcom do not publish mobile coverage data on a regional basis such as for East Sussex and West Sussex. However, in their Connected Nations Annual Report 2025, published on 19 November 2025, it is reported that 1% of the East Grinstead and Uckfield constituency has no 4G geographic coverage from any operator.10% of premises in this constituency have no 5G (combined standalone and non-standalone) outside from any mobile operator, 68% of premises in the constituency do not have standalone 5G outside from any mobile operator.

Innovation and Technology, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for her policies of the 40 safety measures that Ofcom has set out for social media platforms to tackle misogyny.

The Online Safety Act puts new duties on social media companies and search services, making them responsible for their users’ safety. These include new duties tackling illegal content and activity which affects women and girls, including intimate image abuse, exploitation and other forms of abuse.Ofcom will publish draft guidance in February, detailing measures services can take to tackle violence against women and girls (VAWG) online.The government has set an unprecedented mission to halve VAWG in a decade by improving the police and criminal justice system response, relentlessly pursuing perpetrators, and providing victim support. The steps Ofcom is taking helps supports this mission by tackling harmful content online.