Key Facts

• The Committee will hear oral evidence on multiple dates in March.
• Ruth Edwards declares her former work in cyber-security industry with techUK, BT (which owns Openreach), and MHR.
• James Grundy's father receives yearly payment for a mobile phone mast on the Grundy family farm.
• Anna Turley is chair of Protect and Connect Campaign.
• Eleanor Griggs represents 47,000 farming members as land management adviser for NFU.
• Dr Charles Trotman represents 28,000 members across England and Wales at CLA.
• Telecoms companies are offering rent reductions as low as 90% to 95%, impacting thousands of landowners.
• Cases have continued since 2017, with community groups, churches, and sports clubs particularly affected by such cuts.
• The new legislation will expand the number of people affected by changes in the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 and Business Tenancies (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 to include between 3,000 and 4,000 more individuals.
• The Law Commission's proposals of 2013 suggested a market-based valuation approach widely accepted as positive.
• Part 2 of the Bill could further skew the marketplace in favour of telecom companies, harming site providers.
• There is no evidence base to assess the impact of changes since 2017.
• Tenant farmers have been contacting the NFU over rent reductions since 2017.
• Rent reductions of around 90% or 95% affect a third of 33,000 site owners across the country.
• Approximately 4,000 people have reached out to Protect and Connect campaign for support.
• The Bill has resulted in more than 300 cases going through court since its implementation.
• Landowners are experiencing rent reductions ranging from 90% to 95%, with some local authorities seeing cuts of up to 85%.
• Leeds City Council faced a reduction of 85%, amounting to thousands of pounds lost.
• The Government's levelling-up White Paper mentions rural areas only 39 times out of 332 pages.
• A wayleave agreement with Openreach and Gigaclear has been in place since October 1, 2018 for fixed-line infrastructure in rural areas.
• Mobile signal reliability among NFU members increased from 29% in 2015 to 42% in 2017 but stagnated at 42% by 2020.
• The session includes witnesses John Moor, managing director of the IoT Security Foundation; Dave Kleidermacher from Google and the Internet of Secure Things Alliance; and Dan Patefield, head of programme at techUK.
• The time allocated for this session is until 11:25 am.
• It is a challenge for Government to manage a rapidly changing cybersecurity landscape.
• The legislation includes broad principles and basic requirements but relies heavily on secondary legislation for adaptability.
• Secondary legislation allows the government to keep up with changes in connected devices and their associated risks.
• John Moor was invited by the CEO of an IoT company to look at IoT cybersecurity seven years ago.
• Moor refers to the evolution of computing, mentioning desktops, laptops, mobile devices, and IoT.
• The speaker emphasizes the importance of software updating and vulnerability disclosure in IoT security.
• The UK Government has taken leadership in IoT security measures.
• Dave Kleidermacher has been working closely with DCMS and NCSC for two years prior to this statement.
• Google supports public commitments and transparency about third-party independent security lab testing of products.
• Dan Patefield suggests that the countdown should start when the regulator is known.
• The grace period is currently set at no less than 12 months by DCMS.
• Supply chains for some products can take up to 23 weeks, reducing effective manufacturing time.
• Longer-term requirements may need transparency rather than compliance checks.
• The session is part of the Public Bill Committee discussion on the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Bill.
• Stringer acknowledges techUK's input and expresses that committee members will find their comments helpful.
• The meeting is ordered to adjourn until later in the day.