§ Ross CranstonTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what information she has collated on the take-up of broadband in each of the last five years in(a) Dudley North, (b) the West Midlands and (c) England; and if she will make a statement. [143893]
§ Mr. TimmsInformation on the take-up of broadband by Parliamentary Constituency is not available. The take-up of broadband in the West Midlands based on historical data from operators, the 109W number of households and businesses and availability by technology to the post sector level have been estimated by Analysys Consulting Ltd. as:
West Midlands Number 2002 Q4 122,914 2003 Q1 130,289 2003 Q3 186,249 On the same basis, the estimated combined total for all English regions for the same periods is:
English regions Number 2002 Q4 1,226,767 2003 Q1 1,590,945 2003 Q3 2,355,737 Data for earlier years have not been collated.
Oftel has collated data on the estimated number of UK broadband subscribers since November 2000. Updated figures are published regularly on the Oftel website http://www.oftel.gov.uk From 29 December 2003, data will be published on the Ofcom website.
§ Michael FabricantTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what her estimate is of the number of broadband connected personal computers in the UK which have, unknown to the owner of the computer, been hijacked by computer programmes written by internet criminals and which also have the potential to serve as a platform for the spread of fraud, spam, paedophile images and organised crime over the internet; and what steps she is taking to counter this problem. [144391]
§ Mr. Timms[holding answer 17 December 2003]: We do not collect data on this and are not aware of reliable estimates. We do undertake a regular survey of information security breaches in the business community based on a sample of one thousand companies. We use the results of this survey to inform our message to business about the importance of protecting information assets and the advice we give, particularly to smaller companies, about techniques and technologies to prevent problems. The Home Office, as a supplement to the British Crime Survey, surveys households" experience of breaches of this kind, though obviously victim surveys only identify those who are aware their machine has been used in this way. The activities described are criminal acts and should be reported to the police when users become aware of them.