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1716468

registered interest
date	08/05/2024
answering body	Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept id	216
answering dept short name	Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept sort name	Science, Innovation and Technology
hansard heading	Broadband
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how many premises were able to access a gigabit-capable broadband connection in each constituency in the period between March 2019 and March 2024.
tabling member constituency	Rhondda
tabling member printed	Sir Chris Bryant
uin	25182
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/05/2024 answer text <p>Constituency-level statistics detailing the percentage of premises with access to a gigabit-capable connection over this period are available from the independent website <a href="https://labs.thinkbroadband.com/local/index.php?tab=1&amp;council=2https://labs.thinkbroadband.com/local/index.php?tab=1&amp;council=2" target="_blank">Think Broadband.com</a>.</p><p> </p><p>As of March 2024, over 81% of premises across the UK are able to access a gigabit-capable connection, up from just 6% in March 2019.</p> answering member constituency Hornchurch and Upminster answering member printed Julia Lopez question first answered 15/05/2024 08:48:54 answering member 4647 label Biography information for Julia Lopez
tabling member	1446 label Biography information for Sir Chris Bryant

1674000

registered interest
date	29/11/2023
answering body	Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept id	216
answering dept short name	Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept sort name	Science, Innovation and Technology
hansard heading	Broadband
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what recent estimate her Department has made of the number of households in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England that do not have (i) broadband and (ii) mobile internet access.
tabling member constituency	Coventry North East
tabling member printed	Colleen Fletcher
uin	4442
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/12/2023 answer text <p>Ofcom collects coverage data as part of its reporting requirements, most recently published in its Connected Nations summer update, with data for the period to April 2023. Ofcom provides coverage data for premises, and we are unable to break this down between households and other premises.</p><p> </p><p>Ofcom estimates that around 30,000 premises in the UK (0.1%) and 13,000 premises in England (less than 0.1%) lack access to either a fixed broadband network with ‘decent broadband’ (at least 10 Mbit/s download and 1 Mbit/s upload speed) or good indoor 4G coverage.</p><p> </p><p>In the constituency of Coventry North East, 381 premises lack access to either a fixed broadband network with ‘decent broadband’ (at least 10 Mbit/s download and 1 Mbit/s upload speed). For the Coventry City Council area that figure is 1,137. Ofcom does not publish aggregated data for the region of the West Midlands, however more data can be found in Ofcom’s Connected Nations reports.</p><p> </p><p>In respect of mobile coverage, Ofcom reports that 132,383 premises across England do not have indoor 4G mobile coverage from any MNO. This falls to 11,222 premises for 4G outdoor coverage. With 2G and 3G coverage added in, 9,622 premises do not have indoor data coverage from any MNO, falling to 1,127 premises without outdoor data coverage. Unfortunately, Ofcom data does not enable us to make an assessment of the number of premises in the West Midlands, the Coventry North East constituency, or the Coventry local authority area that do not have coverage from any mobile network operator.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Maldon answering member printed Sir John Whittingdale question first answered 04/12/2023 13:59:58 answering member 39 label Biography information for Sir John Whittingdale
tabling member	4378 label Biography information for Colleen Fletcher

1650486

registered interest
date	05/07/2023
answering body	Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept id	216
answering dept short name	Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept sort name	Science, Innovation and Technology
hansard heading	Broadband
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what support her Department has provided to businesses to support the rollout of improved broadband services in (a) urban, (b) rural and (c) semi-urban areas.
tabling member constituency	Stirling
tabling member printed	Alyn Smith
uin	192666
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/07/2023 answer text <p>Currently, 97.6% premises across the UK have access to a superfast connection (&gt;=30 Mbps) and 76.4% have gigabit-capable coverage. In Scotland, these figures are 95.7% and 70.2% for superfast and gigabit-capable respectively. Through Project Gigabit the Government aims to reach at least 85% gigabit-capable coverage across the UK by 2025 and then to reach near-universal coverage as soon as possible.</p><p>For urban areas, a key part of the Government’s approach is to promote increased competition in broadband delivery. We have made it as easy and attractive as possible for firms to build their networks in the UK, and we now have a thriving market of over 80 providers investing nearly £35bn rolling out gigabit broadband all over the UK.</p><p>To support coverage in rural areas, 31 local and regional procurements have now been launched within England, with 12 of these now in the contract delivery stage.</p><p>Within Scotland, the Scottish Government undertook a Public Review during March and April 2023 to seek responses from broadband suppliers and other interested parties on current and planned commercial coverage of gigabit broadband. The Scottish Government has also undertaken initial market engagement with suppliers on their potential interest in Project Gigabit contracts in Scotland, prior to procurements commencing later this year.</p><p>The Scottish Government’s Reaching 100% (R100) project is also providing gigabit broadband coverage to 115,000 premises that do not have access to superfast broadband, with £49.5 million funding from the UK government. This project has covered over 24,000 premises to date.</p><p>Premises in Scotland can also benefit from support through the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme, which provides up to £4,500 towards the cost of installing gigabit-capable infrastructure for homes and businesses, while remaining sub-superfast premises are also eligible for support from the Scottish Government’s Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme.</p> answering member constituency Pudsey answering member printed Stuart Andrew grouped question UIN 192664 192665 question first answered 12/07/2023 07:47:23 answering member 4032 label Biography information for Stuart Andrew
tabling member	4738 label Biography information for Alyn Smith

1646019

registered interest
date	20/06/2023
answering body	Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept id	216
answering dept short name	Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept sort name	Science, Innovation and Technology
hansard heading	Broadband
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps she is taking to ensure that households that have been informed by commercial providers that they are not part of their fibre broadband rollout schemes will be connected to fibre broadband.
tabling member constituency	Arfon
tabling member printed	Hywel Williams
uin	190270
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/06/2023 answer text <p>Almost 97% of premises in the Arfon constituency are able to access a superfast connection (&gt;= 30Mbps), more than enough for the vast majority of requirements such as high-definition streaming and video calling on multiple devices. Currently, 49% of premises in the Arfon constituency are able to access a full-fibre connection. Households can request a full-fibre connection from suppliers, but we do not hold the data regarding the number of premises that have requested full-fibre connections.</p><p>In March 2021, the government launched Project Gigabit, its £5 billion mission to deliver gigabit-capable (&gt;1000Mbps) broadband to UK premises that are not included in suppliers' commercial plans.</p><p>We conduct extensive market reviews to identify the premises that do not currently have gigabit-capable infrastructure, or are not included in suppliers’ commercial plans. This enables us to identify the premises that are eligible for public subsidy and design the areas for Project Gigabit interventions.</p><p>We are on track to launch our first procurement covering large parts of Wales this summer, and this is likely to include some premises in the Arfon constituency.</p><p>On top of our Project Gigabit procurements, the Welsh Government’s Superfast Cymru programme is expected to complete this month, and in total the programme has provided over 100,000 premises in Wales with access to gigabit-capable infrastructure.</p><p>For the small number of very hard to reach premises which are unlikely to be connected to gigabit-capable infrastructure through Project Gigabit or suppliers’ commercial plans, the government is exploring all possible options for providing improved broadband connectivity.</p> answering member constituency Maldon answering member printed Sir John Whittingdale grouped question UIN 190266 190271 190273 question first answered 26/06/2023 16:56:57 answering member 39 label Biography information for Sir John Whittingdale
tabling member	1397 label Biography information for Hywel Williams

1644199

registered interest
date	13/06/2023
answering body	Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept id	216
answering dept short name	Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept sort name	Science, Innovation and Technology
hansard heading	Broadband
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what guidance her Department issues on whether Building Digital UK vouchers are transferable assets if a broadband company falls into administration.
tabling member constituency	Carmarthen East and Dinefwr
tabling member printed	Jonathan Edwards
uin	189228
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/06/2023 answer text <p>Building Digital UK (BDUK) monitors the general health of the voucher suppliers it works with on the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme. Any vouchers issued under the scheme are owned by the beneficiary, rather than the supplier assigned to the project, however only the supplier assigned to the project by BDUK can claim the funding.</p><p>If a voucher supplier goes into administration, BDUK will review options for ensuring premises included in any of their voucher projects can be covered through one of our programmes. If the supplier is acquired by another company, the new owner may retain the vouchers projects through formal, mutual agreement. Alternatively, the premises covered by the vouchers could be incorporated into a Project Gigabit procurement or existing contract.</p> answering member constituency Maldon answering member printed Sir John Whittingdale question first answered 19/06/2023 12:12:57 answering member 39 label Biography information for Sir John Whittingdale
tabling member	3943 label Biography information for Jonathan Edwards

1613097

registered interest
date	20/04/2023
answering body	Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept id	216
answering dept short name	Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept sort name	Science, Innovation and Technology
hansard heading	Broadband
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that full fibre broadband is available to all properties.
tabling member constituency	Waveney
tabling member printed	Peter Aldous
uin	904667
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/04/2023 answer text <p>I am pleased to share that more than 98% premises in Waveney can access a Superfast connection, which is above the national average. Almost 61% of premises in Waveney have access to a full fibre, gigabit-capable connection.</p><p>The competitive and pro-growth regulatory environment we have created is enabling suppliers to expand their networks to reach more homes and businesses. Over 75% of UK premises now have access to a gigabit-capable broadband connection, up from just 6% in January 2019.</p><p>The Government is committed to working with broadband suppliers to ensure 85% of UK premises can access gigabit-capable broadband by 2025, and then for nationwide coverage by 2030. We are on track to achieve our target.</p><p>Project Gigabit is the Government’s £5 billion mission to deliver lightning-fast, reliable broadband across the UK. More than £1.2 billion of public subsidy has already been made available to broadband suppliers to extend their gigabit-capable networks to rural and hard to reach parts of the country. We have awarded eight contracts to date, and we have launched a further 18 procurements, which combined will deliver fast, reliable broadband to up to 850,000 premises that would not be reached by suppliers’ commercial rollout plans alone.</p><p>Support is also available through the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme, which provides a subsidy of up to £4,500 for residents and businesses in rural areas towards the cost of installing gigabit-capable broadband via local community broadband projects.</p> answering member constituency Hornchurch and Upminster answering member printed Julia Lopez question first answered 27/04/2023 09:28:13 answering member 4647 label Biography information for Julia Lopez
tabling member	4069 label Biography information for Peter Aldous

1602378

registered interest
date	08/03/2023
answering body	Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept id	216
answering dept short name	Science, Innovation and Technology
answering dept sort name	Science, Innovation and Technology
hansard heading	Broadband
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what recent estimate she has made of when at least 85 per cent of households in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland will have access to gigabit-capable broadband.
tabling member constituency	East Londonderry
tabling member printed	Mr Gregory Campbell
uin	161241
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/03/2023 answer text <p>The Government is committed to working with broadband suppliers so that 85% of UK premises can access gigabit-capable broadband by 2025.</p><p>We are on track to achieve our target. At present, over 74% of UK premises can access a gigabit-capable connection, up from just 6% in January 2019.</p><p>In Northern Ireland, 90.6% of premises already have access to gigabit-capable broadband. This is the highest percentage of any of the four UK nations, followed by England (75.5%), Scotland (68.3%) and Wales (59.5%).</p> answering member constituency Hornchurch and Upminster answering member printed Julia Lopez question first answered 13/03/2023 11:21:54 answering member 4647 label Biography information for Julia Lopez
tabling member	1409 label Biography information for Mr Gregory Campbell

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

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

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