Written Question·Department for Science, Innovation and Technology·UIN 120460

Emergency Calls: Rural Areas

Tabled: 12 March 2026

Answered: 20 March 2026

Question

Rachel Gilmour

Liberal Democrat — Tiverton and Minehead

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the ability of rural communities to contact emergency services in the event of a prolonged power cut following BT’s move from copper landlines to digital

Answer

Kanishka Narayan

The Government is committed to ensuring that any risks from the industry-led migration of the copper based Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) are mitigated for everyone across the UK, including rural communitie...

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