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1137387

	registered interest
	date	08/07/2019
	answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
	answering dept id	10
	answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
	answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
	hansard heading	Broadband
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ashton of Hyde on 3 July (HL16507), where the UK’s rate of 53 per cent consumer access to 100Mbps places the UK in rankings of broadband accessibility of all EU countries; and what is their target for access to 100Mbps by 2020.
	tabling member printed	Lord Mendelsohn
	uin	HL16994
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/07/2019 answer text <p>The UK’s current ultrafast broadband coverage is currently low compared to European counterparts however the UK is amongst the leaders of superfast broadband coverage, ahead of Spain, France and Germany, thanks, in part, to over £1.8bn of public investment.</p><p> </p><p>Superfast broadband, which is delivered through part-fibre part-copper networks, meets the needs of most consumers today . However, it is full fibre networks that will be needed to meet expected future demands with the focus not purely on speed, but also resilience and reliability. The Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review published the Government’s targets for full fibre coverage.</p><p> </p><p>The last EU report on broadband coverage had the UK at 26th of all Member States for full fibre at just over 2% coverage. However, we have since started to increase deployment at pace and our current full fibre coverage is 8% which represents almost 2.5 million homes and businesses. Our target to reach 15 million premises by 2025 represents around half of the homes and businesses in the UK. We are driving take-up and demand for full fibre. Our £67 million Gigabit Voucher Scheme, launched in April 2018, provides small grants for residents and small businesses to upgrade to a gigabit-capable connection, and support the take up of faster services. Vouchers are also available under the Rural Gigabit Connectivity programme, with higher values to reflect the greater costs of connecting in rural and remote areas.</p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member printed Lord Ashton of Hyde grouped question UIN HL16995 question first answered 19/07/2019 10:47:52 answering member 4247 label Biography information for Lord Ashton of Hyde
	tabling member	4286 label Biography information for Lord Mendelsohn

1137388

	registered interest
	date	08/07/2019
	answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
	answering dept id	10
	answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
	answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
	hansard heading	Broadband
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ashton of Hyde on 3 July (HL16507), where the UK’s rate of eight per cent access to full fibre places the UK in rankings of broadband accessibility of all EU countries; and what proportion of consumers they estimate will have access to full fibre if the target of 15 million premises having access by 2025 is met.
	tabling member printed	Lord Mendelsohn
	uin	HL16995
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/07/2019 answer text <p>The UK’s current ultrafast broadband coverage is currently low compared to European counterparts however the UK is amongst the leaders of superfast broadband coverage, ahead of Spain, France and Germany, thanks, in part, to over £1.8bn of public investment.</p><p> </p><p>Superfast broadband, which is delivered through part-fibre part-copper networks, meets the needs of most consumers today . However, it is full fibre networks that will be needed to meet expected future demands with the focus not purely on speed, but also resilience and reliability. The Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review published the Government’s targets for full fibre coverage.</p><p> </p><p>The last EU report on broadband coverage had the UK at 26th of all Member States for full fibre at just over 2% coverage. However, we have since started to increase deployment at pace and our current full fibre coverage is 8% which represents almost 2.5 million homes and businesses. Our target to reach 15 million premises by 2025 represents around half of the homes and businesses in the UK. We are driving take-up and demand for full fibre. Our £67 million Gigabit Voucher Scheme, launched in April 2018, provides small grants for residents and small businesses to upgrade to a gigabit-capable connection, and support the take up of faster services. Vouchers are also available under the Rural Gigabit Connectivity programme, with higher values to reflect the greater costs of connecting in rural and remote areas.</p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member printed Lord Ashton of Hyde grouped question UIN HL16994 question first answered 19/07/2019 10:47:52 answering member 4247 label Biography information for Lord Ashton of Hyde
	tabling member	4286 label Biography information for Lord Mendelsohn

1133472

	registered interest
	date	19/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
	answering dept id	10
	answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
	answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
	hansard heading	Broadband
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Digital Economy and Society Index 2019, published by the European Commission in June, in particular its finding that the UK (1) has fallen from 7th to 10th on the measure of Digital Connectivity, and (2) ranks 26th out of 28 countries for full fibre (FTTP) coverage.
	tabling member printed	Lord Mendelsohn
	uin	HL16507
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/07/2019 answer text <p>The UK compares well on superfast connectivity and it is currently available to over 96% of UK premises, following over £1bn of public investment. This is above European counterparts like Spain, France and Germany. Demand for these services is also increasing with 45% of households now opting for a superfast service. This deployment is also supported by competition from ultrafast services of at least 100Mbps, currently available to 53% of UK premises.</p><p> </p><p>We are now focussing on full fibre. Published last year, the Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review set out our national strategy for ensuring 15m premises are able to connect to full fibre by 2025, with a nationwide network by 2033. Coverage is increasing quickly, and is now approaching 8% with around half of this coverage achieved in the last 12 months.</p> answering member printed Lord Ashton of Hyde grouped question UIN HL16509 question first answered 03/07/2019 12:37:15 answering member 4247 label Biography information for Lord Ashton of Hyde
	tabling member	4286 label Biography information for Lord Mendelsohn

1133474

	registered interest
	date	19/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
	answering dept id	10
	answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
	answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
	hansard heading	Broadband
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportion of UK customers have access to 100Mbps broadband; and whether they intend to ensure that the UK meets the European Commission’s target for 50 per cent of all broadband customers to have 100Mbps by 2020.
	tabling member printed	Lord Mendelsohn
	uin	HL16509
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/07/2019 answer text <p>The UK compares well on superfast connectivity and it is currently available to over 96% of UK premises, following over £1bn of public investment. This is above European counterparts like Spain, France and Germany. Demand for these services is also increasing with 45% of households now opting for a superfast service. This deployment is also supported by competition from ultrafast services of at least 100Mbps, currently available to 53% of UK premises.</p><p> </p><p>We are now focussing on full fibre. Published last year, the Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review set out our national strategy for ensuring 15m premises are able to connect to full fibre by 2025, with a nationwide network by 2033. Coverage is increasing quickly, and is now approaching 8% with around half of this coverage achieved in the last 12 months.</p> answering member printed Lord Ashton of Hyde grouped question UIN HL16507 question first answered 03/07/2019 12:37:15 answering member 4247 label Biography information for Lord Ashton of Hyde
	tabling member	4286 label Biography information for Lord Mendelsohn

1167384

	registered interest
	date	30/10/2019
	answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
	answering dept id	10
	answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
	answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
	hansard heading	Broadband
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she has taken since her Department's consultation on the standard of connectivity in new build developments to improve connectivity for new builds.
	tabling member constituency	Ogmore
	tabling member printed	Chris Elmore
	uin	7756
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/11/2019 answer text <p>Ensuring new homes are built with the future in mind, ready to accept the next generation of digital infrastructure, remains vitally important. My Department consulted last year on proposals to ensure that all new build homes have gigabit-capable connectivity.</p><p> </p><p>In the Queen’s Speech the government committed to legislate to mandate the installation of gigabit capable connections in new build developments. This legislation would amend the Building Act 1984 so that Building Regulations require all new build developments to have the infrastructure to support gigabit-capable connections. It will also require developers to work with broadband companies, and to contribute financially, to install gigabit-capable connections in virtually all new build developments, up to a cost cap.</p> answering member constituency Boston and Skegness answering member printed Matt Warman grouped question UIN 7754 question first answered 05/11/2019 13:50:52 answering member 4361 label Biography information for Matt Warman
	tabling member	4572 label Biography information for Chris Elmore

1166697

	registered interest
	date	28/10/2019
	answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
	answering dept id	10
	answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
	answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
	hansard heading	Broadband
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 24 October 2019 to Question 2799 on broadband, to what (a) proportion and (b) number of premises does the Government aim to deliver full fibre to the premise by 2025.
	tabling member constituency	West Bromwich East
	tabling member printed	Tom Watson
	uin	6289
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/10/2019 answer text <p>As set out in the answer of 24 October 2019, the Government is determined to secure nationwide coverage of gigabit capable broadband as soon as possible through the deployment of full fibre broadband, upgraded gigabit networks and, potentially, other technologies such as 5G fixed wireless access. The Government has not set targets for the proportion, or number of premises to be covered by these different technologies, as we are focussed on the outcome of better broadband connectivity for consumers, and we wish to encourage innovation and increased network competition in this market.</p> answering member constituency Boston and Skegness answering member printed Matt Warman grouped question UIN 6290 question first answered 31/10/2019 12:16:04 answering member 4361 label Biography information for Matt Warman
	tabling member	1463 label Biography information for Lord Watson of Wyre Forest

1166699

	registered interest
	date	28/10/2019
	answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
	answering dept id	10
	answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
	answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
	hansard heading	Broadband
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 24 October 2019 to Question 2799, what proportion of gigabit broadband connections will be delivered by (a) fibre to the premise and (b) other technologies.
	tabling member constituency	West Bromwich East
	tabling member printed	Tom Watson
	uin	6290
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/10/2019 answer text <p>As set out in the answer of 24 October 2019, the Government is determined to secure nationwide coverage of gigabit capable broadband as soon as possible through the deployment of full fibre broadband, upgraded gigabit networks and, potentially, other technologies such as 5G fixed wireless access. The Government has not set targets for the proportion, or number of premises to be covered by these different technologies, as we are focussed on the outcome of better broadband connectivity for consumers, and we wish to encourage innovation and increased network competition in this market.</p> answering member constituency Boston and Skegness answering member printed Matt Warman grouped question UIN 6289 question first answered 31/10/2019 12:16:04 answering member 4361 label Biography information for Matt Warman
	tabling member	1463 label Biography information for Lord Watson of Wyre Forest

1156090

	registered interest
	date	24/10/2019
	answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
	answering dept id	10
	answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
	answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
	hansard heading	Broadband
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what provisions are in place to reimburse communities which have had to self-fund superfast broadband schemes as a consequence of having been promised but not received connection by Openreach.
	tabling member constituency	Romsey and Southampton North
	tabling member printed	Caroline Nokes
	uin	4990
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/10/2019 answer text <p>The Government does not have any powers to impose penalties on network providers like Openreach, should they decide against connecting premises to superfast broadband for commercial reasons.</p><p> </p><p>If, however, a provider like Openreach has been contracted to rollout superfast broadband under the Government’s Superfast Broadband programme, there will be a contract between that provider and the Local Authority responsible for running the programme in the local area. Normally, a decision not to connect a property, which was originally in scope for the programme, is one that would be taken jointly by the Local Authority in consultation with the provider. If, however, a provider arbitrarily decided not to connect a property, this would represent a breach of that contract and the Local Authority would be able to take action under that contract. In the most serious circumstances, this could result in termination.</p><p> </p><p>The Government does not provide retrospective funding for communities that are self-funding superfast broadband in their local area. However, many communities are utilising the government’s £67 million Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme to contribute towards the cost of their project.</p><p> </p><p>In addition, the Government continues to take action to improve the connectivity of those without access to superfast broadband. Our Superfast Broadband programme is continuing to connect premises to superfast broadband, following the target of 95% coverage being hit by the end of 2017, and expects to hit 97% coverage by March 2020. In addition, the Government has introduced the broadband Universal Service Obligation (USO). This will give everyone in the UK the right to request decent broadband providing download speeds of at least 10 megabits per second from a designated provider up to a reasonable cost threshold of £3,400 per premise.</p><p> </p><p>Government is also funding the rollout of next generation gigabit broadband in less commercial areas of the country, including through the £200 million Rural Gigabit Connectivity programme, as well as the Gigabit Voucher Scheme. On 30 September, the Government announced a further £5 billion of new funding to subsidise the rollout of gigabit capable broadband to premises in the least commercial 20% of the country, including those areas that currently do not have access to superfast broadband.</p> answering member constituency Boston and Skegness answering member printed Matt Warman grouped question UIN 4991 question first answered 31/10/2019 12:21:51 answering member 4361 label Biography information for Matt Warman
	tabling member	4048 label Biography information for Caroline Nokes

1156091

	registered interest
	date	24/10/2019
	answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
	answering dept id	10
	answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
	answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
	hansard heading	Broadband
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what penalties are enforced by Government on Openreach when it fails to adequately connect communities to superfast broadband.
	tabling member constituency	Romsey and Southampton North
	tabling member printed	Caroline Nokes
	uin	4991
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/10/2019 answer text <p>The Government does not have any powers to impose penalties on network providers like Openreach, should they decide against connecting premises to superfast broadband for commercial reasons.</p><p> </p><p>If, however, a provider like Openreach has been contracted to rollout superfast broadband under the Government’s Superfast Broadband programme, there will be a contract between that provider and the Local Authority responsible for running the programme in the local area. Normally, a decision not to connect a property, which was originally in scope for the programme, is one that would be taken jointly by the Local Authority in consultation with the provider. If, however, a provider arbitrarily decided not to connect a property, this would represent a breach of that contract and the Local Authority would be able to take action under that contract. In the most serious circumstances, this could result in termination.</p><p> </p><p>The Government does not provide retrospective funding for communities that are self-funding superfast broadband in their local area. However, many communities are utilising the government’s £67 million Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme to contribute towards the cost of their project.</p><p> </p><p>In addition, the Government continues to take action to improve the connectivity of those without access to superfast broadband. Our Superfast Broadband programme is continuing to connect premises to superfast broadband, following the target of 95% coverage being hit by the end of 2017, and expects to hit 97% coverage by March 2020. In addition, the Government has introduced the broadband Universal Service Obligation (USO). This will give everyone in the UK the right to request decent broadband providing download speeds of at least 10 megabits per second from a designated provider up to a reasonable cost threshold of £3,400 per premise.</p><p> </p><p>Government is also funding the rollout of next generation gigabit broadband in less commercial areas of the country, including through the £200 million Rural Gigabit Connectivity programme, as well as the Gigabit Voucher Scheme. On 30 September, the Government announced a further £5 billion of new funding to subsidise the rollout of gigabit capable broadband to premises in the least commercial 20% of the country, including those areas that currently do not have access to superfast broadband.</p> answering member constituency Boston and Skegness answering member printed Matt Warman grouped question UIN 4990 question first answered 31/10/2019 12:21:51 answering member 4361 label Biography information for Matt Warman
	tabling member	4048 label Biography information for Caroline Nokes

1156172

	registered interest
	date	24/10/2019
	answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
	answering dept id	10
	answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
	answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
	hansard heading	Broadband
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential contribution of (a) FTTP, (b) DOCSIS, (c) xDSL and (d) G.fast technology in supporting (i) smart city applications, (ii) fourth industrial revolution innovations and (iii) 5G backhaul.
	tabling member constituency	East Ham
	tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
	uin	4913
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/10/2019 answer text <p>Copper based ADSL (asymmetric digital subscriber lines), FTTC (fibre to the cabinet), and G.fast cannot provide gigabit speeds, although performance between these services varies. ADSL is capable of delivering maximum download speeds of 24Mbps, compared to FTTC (VDSL/virtual digital subscriber line) which can deliver download speeds of up to 80Mbps and G.fast which is currently capable of providing speeds of up to 330Mbps. However, with all these services, the speed achievable declines with distance, with the highest speeds only available to premises closest to the cabinet.</p><p> </p><p>FTTP (fibre to the premises or full fibre) and DOCSIS (data over cable service interface specification) 3.1 are both capable of gigabit download speeds. However, unlike DOCSIS 3.1, FTTP can also offer symmetrical upload speeds, and can therefore deliver gigabit upload as well as download. High upload speeds are especially important to businesses in sectors where large files need to be transferred e.g. media production, as well as for certain domestic uses, such as online gaming.</p><p> </p><p>All gigabit capable networks also offer increased reliability and resilience compared to copper, with FTTP providing the most reliable and resilient service. As well as improved quality of service, full fibre networks requires much lower maintenance compared to copper networks, with five times fewer faults. The reduction in fault rate means FTTP networks are cheaper to run than copper, and the National Infrastructure Assessment estimated that this could save £5bn in operating costs over 30 years.</p><p> </p><p>The department has not made specific assessments of the differences in energy efficiency. However, FTTP has lower energy requirements than copper and cable technologies and requires the use of fewer exchanges, and will therefore likely lead to reduced emissions for similar bandwidths.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>In addition, the Government is investing £167m into Made Smarter, the UK’s key industrial digitalisation programme, to put UK at forefront of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.</p><p> </p><p>Fibre is a key requirement for 5G networks, providing high speed and capacity mobile backhaul to match the capacity of 5G mobile networks. It is important that mobile operators and infrastructure providers have access to the key inputs for network densification, including sufficient fibre backhaul capacity.</p> answering member constituency Boston and Skegness answering member printed Matt Warman grouped question UIN 4914 question first answered 29/10/2019 17:12:33 answering member 4361 label Biography information for Matt Warman
	tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms