AQW 19754/17-22

Mr Andrew Muir
Alliance Party
North Down

Tabled Date: 01/06/2021
Answered On Date: 07/06/2021
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister for the Economy for an update on the work of the cross-sector group set up to develop a Mobile Action Plan for Northern Ireland.

Answer:

As you are aware, my officials are leading on the creation of a Mobile Action Plan (MAP) for Northern Ireland. The MAP is being developed by a cross government working group, which includes representatives from the relevant NI Departments (DAERA, DoF, DfC, DE, DfI), The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS), Ofcom and also from local government, with representatives from NILGA and occasionally, from a number of local councils..

To date, this working group has met four times and is due to meet again on 8 June 2021. So far the work of the group has focussed on evidence gathering and knowledge building around the main issues that impact on the roll-out of mobile technologies.

The next phase will be to analyse these issues and identify solutions that aim to remove these barriers which will, amongst other things, allow us to maximise the benefits of the SRN for citizens, businesses and visitors across Northern Ireland.

The target date to develop the MAP for Northern Ireland is December 2021.