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1550490

registered interest
date	12/12/2022
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, how much funding has been allocated to upgrading broadband infrastructure in (a) Easington constituency, (b) the North East and (c) nationally in each of the last five years.
tabling member constituency	Easington
tabling member printed	Grahame Morris
uin	108151
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/12/2022 answer text <p>According to the independent website thinkbroadband.com, the estimated mean download speed in the Easington constituency during the third quarter of 2022 stood at 90 Mbps. This is slightly lower than the North East regional average of 96 Mbps and the UK average of 95. These averages are derived from crowd-sourced data and it is worth noting that users may not opt for the fastest speeds available when selecting a broadband package.</p><p>Further improvements to broadband speeds in the Easington constituency will be delivered as part of our £5 billion investment in Project Gigabit, which is upgrading and future-proofing network infrastructure for decades to come. Easington is included in Project Gigabit’s North East England regional procurement, which covers up to an estimated 53,000 premises and has an indicative contract value of £82 million. Building Digital UK (BDUK) plans to award a contract between April and May next year.</p><p>In addition to our Project Gigabit procurements, we are providing additional support through the Gigabit Broadband Voucher scheme to support rural communities across the UK with the cost of installing new gigabit-capable connections. Through the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme and its previous iterations, we have issued over 100,000 vouchers worth more than £214 million.</p><p>Projects under the previous Superfast Broadband Programme in the North East covering Durham, Northumberland and Newcastle benefitted from UK Government funding of £24 million, alongside £24 million from the local authorities, £2 million European funding and £26 million from suppliers, to upgrade over 170,000 premises to superfast speeds over the lifetime of the programme. BDUK also delivered a Local Full Fibre Networks (LFFN) project in the North of Tyne area, with more than £5.8 million in government funding.</p><p>At national level, spend through BDUK on broadband in each of the last five years is as follows:</p><table><tbody><tr><td rowspan="2"><p>£m</p></td><td colspan="5"><p>Year</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>18/19</p></td><td><p>19/20</p></td><td><p>20/21</p></td><td><p>21/22</p></td><td><p>22/23</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Nationally</p></td><td><p>38.6</p></td><td><p>29.9</p></td><td><p>9.6</p></td><td><p>10.0</p></td><td><p>12.5</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p> answering member constituency Hornchurch and Upminster answering member printed Julia Lopez grouped question UIN 108149 question first answered 15/12/2022 14:09:09 answering member 4647 label Biography information for Julia Lopez
tabling member	3973 label Biography information for Grahame Morris

1540830

registered interest
date	08/11/2022
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 her Department has made of the need for regulatory certainty for companies deploying full fibre broadband on meeting the Government's target of reaching 85 per cent of premises with gigabit connectivity by 2025.
tabling member constituency	Milton Keynes North
tabling member printed	Ben Everitt
uin	82483
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/11/2022 answer text <p>In 2018, the government published the Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review (FTIR), which set out our strategy to deliver nationwide gigabit-capable broadband. Central to this strategy is our desire to see a regulatory system which incentivises competition and investment in UK fixed telecoms. In this document, DCMS called for regulation that is limited to where it is necessary, and provides the longer-term stability and predictability that investors need.</p><p>We followed this with our 2019 Statement of Strategic Priorities for Ofcom. This document implemented the regulatory strategy we established in the FTIR, including through extending market review periods to at least five years.</p><p>In 2021, Ofcom published its Wholesale Fixed Telecoms Market Review (WFTMR) which set out Ofcom’s decisions for regulation of the fixed telecoms markets until 2026. The WFTMR makes explicit mention of the government’s desire for regulatory stability and certainty set out in the Statement of Strategic Priorities.</p><p>This approach is working; thanks to our stable regulatory environment, there are now over 80 companies investing over £35bn to connect premises all over the UK, and gigabit coverage has increased to over 70%, rising from just 6% in 2019.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Hornchurch and Upminster answering member printed Julia Lopez question first answered 14/11/2022 14:57:02 answering member 4647 label Biography information for Julia Lopez
tabling member	4836 label Biography information for Ben Everitt

1524489

registered interest
date	20/10/2022
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 her Department is taking to deliver full-fibre and gigabit-capable broadband by 2025 in (a) Kettering constituency, (b) north Northamptonshire and (c) England.
tabling member constituency	Kettering
tabling member printed	Mr Philip Hollobone
uin	901749
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/10/2022 answer text <p>88 percent of premises in the Kettering constituency and 83 percent of premises in North Northamptonshire are able to access gigabit-capable broadband.</p><p>The Government has now launched market engagement exercises in all Project Gigabit intervention areas in England and are making excellent progress on our Project Gigabit procurements covering premises in Kettering and North Northamptonshire, with contracts expected to be awarded next year.</p><p>More immediate support for premises in rural areas is also available through the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme.</p> answering member constituency Hornchurch and Upminster answering member printed Julia Lopez question first answered 20/10/2022 11:11:16 answering member 4647 label Biography information for Julia Lopez
tabling member	1537 label Biography information for Mr Philip Hollobone

1522496

registered interest
date	14/10/2022
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, how many premises have been connected via the Superfast Broadband Programme since 2020.
tabling member constituency	Barnsley East
tabling member printed	Stephanie Peacock
uin	63306
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/10/2022 answer text <p>Since its recent establishment as an Executive Agency, Building Digital UK will report on its performance and spending annually, alongside the publication of quarterly delivery updates highlighting the progress of Project Gigabit.</p><p>In BDUK’s most recent Performance Report, we reported that over 625,000 premises have received a gigabit-capable connection as a result of the Superfast Broadband Programme. 95,300 premises were passed between April 2021 and March 2022, and 529,900 had previously been passed by 31 March 2021.</p> answering member constituency Hornchurch and Upminster answering member printed Julia Lopez question first answered 24/10/2022 14:29:40 answering member 4647 label Biography information for Julia Lopez
tabling member	4607 label Biography information for Stephanie Peacock

1507747

registered interest
date	22/09/2022
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, whether it is her policy to rolling out greater broadband access in the UK; and whether her Department is on track to reach the 85 per cent connectivity target by 2025.
tabling member constituency	York Outer
tabling member printed	Julian Sturdy
uin	54515
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/10/2022 answer text <p>Project Gigabit is the government’s £5 billion mission to deliver lightning-fast, reliable broadband across the UK. Its objective is to level up the UK by giving hard-to-reach areas access to gigabit-capable internet speeds and, coupled with commercial gigabit delivery, ensuring almost all of the UK has access to gigabit-capable internet as soon as possible.</p><p>Across the UK, over 70% (ThinkBroadband) of premises can now access gigabit-capable broadband, and we remain on track to meet the target of at least 85% gigabit-capable coverage by 2025.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Hornchurch and Upminster answering member printed Julia Lopez question first answered 11/10/2022 12:56:02 answering member 4647 label Biography information for Julia Lopez
tabling member	4079 label Biography information for Julian Sturdy

1486683

registered interest
date	05/07/2022
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 her Department is taking to deliver full-fibre and gigabit-capable broadband by 2025.
tabling member constituency	Woking
tabling member printed	Mr Jonathan Lord
uin	31105
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/07/2022 answer text <p>The Government is delivering the biggest broadband upgrade in UK history. Currently, 69% of UK premises can access gigabit-capable broadband, continuing a rate of incremental growth in line with meeting the target of at least 85% gigabit-capable coverage across the country by 2025. This is not the limit of our ambitions and we will continue to work closely with the industry to get close to complete gigabit coverage as quickly as we can thereafter.</p><p>To support this, we are investing £5 billion through Project Gigabit so hard-to-reach areas can get ultra-reliable gigabit speeds. We have already upgraded coverage to over 600,000 premises, and we have over half a billion of pounds of contracts out for tender right now.</p><p>In addition to our Project Gigabit contracts, we are investing up to £210 million in the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme to support rural communities with the cost of installing new gigabit-capable connections.</p><p>We are also providing funding to connect rural public buildings like schools, GP surgeries and libraries. We recently announced a joint £82 million investment with the Department for Education (DfE) to connect up to 3,000 eligible schools to lightning-fast gigabit broadband.</p> answering member constituency Boston and Skegness answering member printed Matt Warman question first answered 11/07/2022 14:47:38 answering member 4361 label Biography information for Matt Warman
tabling member	4090 label Biography information for Mr Jonathan Lord

1470670

registered interest
date	15/06/2022
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, whether she has had discussions with the Home Secretary on the effect of rules for recruiting and hiring workers from the EU on the roll out of superfast broadband.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Selly Oak
tabling member printed	Steve McCabe
uin	18771
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/06/2022 answer text <p>The Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has regular discussions with the Home Secretary about the Points-Based Immigration System to ensure that our Skilled Worker route provides generous catering for the telecommunications sector to attract the workers it needs, provided that skills, salary and English language requirements are met.</p> answering member constituency Hornchurch and Upminster answering member printed Julia Lopez question first answered 21/06/2022 12:07:15 answering member 4647 label Biography information for Julia Lopez
tabling member	298 label Biography information for Steve McCabe

1455492

registered interest
date	29/03/2022
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, how many (a) applications were received and (b) grants allocated to which organisations as part of the Fibre in the Water competition.
tabling member constituency	Manchester Central
tabling member printed	Lucy Powell
uin	149271
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/04/2022 answer text <p>Two bids were received and evaluated as part of the Fibre in Water competition. The Government has allocated £1.2 million to the winning consortium to proceed with the design stage of the project. The remaining £2 million funds will be granted once this stage has been reviewed.</p><p>It comes from HM Treasury’s Shared Outcomes Fund which is used to fund pilot projects to test innovative ways of working across the public sector.</p><p>The project is led by Yorkshire Water, with Arcadis and University of Strathclyde. Additional partners will be announced shortly.</p><p>Please see the full press release announcement <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/water-pipes-in-yorkshire-to-deliver-high-speed-broadband-in-new-trial" target="_blank">here</a>.</p> answering member constituency Hornchurch and Upminster answering member printed Julia Lopez question first answered 19/04/2022 10:12:30 answering member 4647 label Biography information for Julia Lopez
tabling member	4263 label Biography information for Lucy Powell

1452131

registered interest
date	18/03/2022
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 estimate she has made of the average proportion of homes and business that have high speed broadband availability in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland.
tabling member constituency	East Londonderry
tabling member printed	Mr Gregory Campbell
uin	141922
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/03/2022 answer text <p>The vast majority of the United Kingdom (96.7%) has access to superfast broadband. Superfast broadband allows households to work or learn from home and stream a high definition film simultaneously. Additionally, the government is committed to delivering nationwide gigabit connectivity as soon as possible. Today, over 66% of premises can access gigabit-capable networks, up from just one in ten in November 2019. By 2025 the government is targeting a minimum of 85% gigabit-capable coverage.</p><p>According to ThinkBroadband, as of 21/03/2022 coverage statistics were as follows:</p><ol><li><p>England - (Superfast 97.5%) and (Gigabit 67.9%)</p></li><li><p>Scotland - (Superfast 94.9%) and (Gigabit 60.8%)</p></li><li><p>Wales- (Superfast 96%) and (Gigabit 49%)</p></li><li><p>Northern Ireland - (Superfast 91.5%) and (Gigabit 82.3%)</p></li></ol><p> </p> answering member constituency Hornchurch and Upminster answering member printed Julia Lopez question first answered 22/03/2022 16:24:10 answering member 4647 label Biography information for Julia Lopez
tabling member	1409 label Biography information for Mr Gregory Campbell

1451760

registered interest
date	16/03/2022
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 her Department is taking to help deliver full-fibre and gigabit-capable broadband to every home and business across the UK by 2025.
tabling member constituency	Stockton South
tabling member printed	Matt Vickers
uin	141331
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/03/2022 answer text <p>The Government is committed to delivering nationwide gigabit connectivity as soon as possible. Our target is a minimum of 85% gigabit-capable coverage by 2025, but this is not the limit of our ambitions and we will continue to work closely with the industry to get close to complete gigabit coverage as quickly as we can thereafter.</p><p>We are investing £5 billion so hard-to-reach areas can get ultra-reliable gigabit speeds, have already upgraded 600,000 premises, and in three years national coverage has rocketed from six per cent to 66 per cent.</p><p>We are making excellent progress on Project Gigabit. Broadband providers have so far been invited to bid for Project Gigabit contracts worth up to £292 million to upgrade up to 187,000 premises across Cumbria, Durham, Northumberland, Cambridgeshire, North Dorset and West Cornwall - with initial work expected to commence later this year.</p><p>Up to 2.5 million premises are included in the Project Gigabit procurement pipeline within England, with further details published in our latest <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/project-gigabit-delivery-plan-winter-update/project-gigabit-winter-update" target="_blank">Project Gigabit Delivery Plan</a>.</p><p>In addition to our procurement pipeline, we are investing up to £210 million in the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme to support rural communities with the cost of installing new gigabit-capable connections. To date, more than 63,500 households and small to medium businesses have benefited from an upgrade through the voucher scheme.</p><p>We are also providing funding of up to £110 million to connect up to 7,000 rural public buildings like schools, GP surgeries and libraries, which will act as hubs for connecting nearby homes and businesses.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Hornchurch and Upminster answering member printed Julia Lopez question first answered 22/03/2022 16:56:50 answering member 4647 label Biography information for Julia Lopez
tabling member	4844 label Biography information for Matt Vickers