Telecommunications (Security) Bill — New Clause 1 — OFCOM’s Annual Report — Security — 25 May 2021 at 16:30
The majority of MPs voted not to require OFCOM's annual report to cover the security of the telecommunications network.
MPs were considering the Telecommunications (Security) Bill[1][2][3]
The proposed new clause rejected in this vote was titled: OFCOM’s Annual Report and stated:
- (1) The Communications Act 2003 is amended as follows.
- (2) After section 105Z29 insert—
- “105Z30 OFCOM’s Annual Report
- (1) Every report under paragraph 12 of the Schedule to the Office of Communications Act 2002 (OFCOM’s annual report) must include a statement on—
- (a) the adequacy of OFCOM’s resourcing in fulfilling its functions under the amendments made to this Act by the Telecommunications (Security) Act 2021;
- (b) OFCOM’s determination of the adequacy of measures taken by network providers in the previous 12 months to comply with sections 105A and 105B of the Communications Act 2003 and regulations made thereunder; and
- (c) OFCOM’s assessment of emerging or future areas of security risk based on its interrogation of network providers’ asset registries.
- (2) The statement required by subsection (1)(a) must include an assessment of—
- (a) the adequacy of Ofcom’s budget and funding;
- (b) the adequacy of staffing levels in Ofcom;
- (c) any skills shortages faced by Ofcom.”
The rejected amendment was accompanied by the following explanatory statement from its proposer:
- This new clause introduces an obligation on Ofcom to report on the adequacy of their resources and assess the adequacy of the annual measures taken by telecommunications providers to comply with their duty to take necessary security measures. It also requires Ofcom to assess future areas of security risk based on its interrogation of network providers’ asset registries.
The Telecommunications (Security) Bill introduced: "a new security framework for the UK telecoms sector to ensure that public telecommunications providers operate secure and resilient networks and services and manage their supply chains appropriately."[3]
--
- [1] Parliament's webpage on the Telecommunications (Security) Bill, Parliament.uk
- [2] Telecommunications (Security) Bill, as introduced to the House of Commons on 12 May 2021, Parliament.uk
- [3] Explanatory notes to the Telecommunications (Security) Bill, as introduced to the House of Commons on 12 May 2021, Parliament.uk
Party Summary
Votes by party, red entries are votes against the majority for that party.
What is Tell? '+1 tell' means that in addition one member of that party was a teller for that division lobby.
What are Boths? An MP can vote both aye and no in the same division. The boths page explains this.
What is Turnout? This is measured against the total membership of the party at the time of the vote.
| Party | Majority (No) | Minority (Aye) | Both | Turnout |
| Alba | 0 | 2 | 0 | 100.0% |
| Alliance | 0 | 1 | 0 | 100.0% |
| Con | 356 (+2 tell) | 0 | 0 | 98.4% |
| DUP | 8 | 0 | 0 | 100.0% |
| Green | 0 | 1 | 0 | 100.0% |
| Independent | 1 | 4 | 0 | 100.0% |
| Lab | 0 | 194 (+2 tell) | 0 | 99.0% |
| LDem | 0 | 11 | 0 | 100.0% |
| PC | 0 | 3 | 0 | 100.0% |
| SDLP | 0 | 2 | 0 | 100.0% |
| SNP | 0 | 45 | 0 | 100.0% |
| Total: | 365 | 263 | 0 | 98.8% |
Rebel Voters - sorted by name
MPs for which their vote in this division differed from the majority vote of their party. You can see all votes in this division, or every eligible MP who could have voted in this division
Sort by: Name | Constituency | Party | Vote
| Name | Constituency | Party | Vote | |
| no rebellions | ||||