Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Gigabit Broadband Roll-out

Thursday 10 December 2020 · 3 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 0 Partly answered 3 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Government investing 5 billion to roll out gigabit broadband in hard-to-reach areas
  • Government interested in new ideas for digital innovation in smaller UK cities like Stoke-on-Trent
  • Ofcom examining universal service obligation for broadband rollout in rural areas

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Rob Roberts
Science & Technology
Context

The question addresses the government's efforts to roll out nationwide gigabit broadband and its progress in hard-to-reach areas.

Question

What steps his Department is taking to roll out gigabit broadband. The Government are investing £5 billion to support roll-out in hard-to-reach areas of the country, but constituents face high costs for installation.

Answer from Matt Warman (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)

The Government are investing £5 billion to support roll-out in the hardest-to-reach areas of the country. We are engaging closely with industry to support its efforts by incentivising investment and removing barriers to roll-out.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Specific costs for constituents were not addressed

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Q2 Jonathan Gullis
Economy Brexit Business & Trade
Context

The question addresses the potential for smaller UK cities like Stoke-on-Trent to match digital innovation hubs in other European countries and seeks government support.

Question

Does he agree that Stoke-on-Trent would be the perfect test bed to show how, post Brexit, smaller UK cities can more than match up to similar-sized centres of digital innovation such as Eindhoven, Karlsruhe and Aalborg? Will he commit the Government to help make my Silicon Stoke vision a reality?

Answer from Matt Warman (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)

The Government are interested in new ideas as part of the levelling up commitment. I look forward to continuing our conversations with Stoke.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Commitment to support Silicon Stoke was not explicitly provided

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Q3 Rob Roberts
Business & Trade Agriculture & Rural Affairs Environment
Context

The question addresses the high cost faced by Mrs Sharp and her neighbours for installing full-fibre broadband in a rural community, questioning the fairness of levelling up.

Question

Mrs Sharp, who lives in Delyn in my constituency, has just had a quote for £131,638 to install full-fibre broadband for her and her 18 neighbours. That works out at about £7,000 per property. When I queried this with Openreach, it said “Well, she lives in a rural community. Perhaps she could dig her own trenches to reduce the cost of the groundwork.” Given that levelling up should not only be for people in towns and cities and those who happen to own heavy machinery, can my hon. Friend look into this case and others like it?

Answer from Matt Warman (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)

Ofcom is looking at the universal service obligation, one of the routes to getting broadband into rural areas. I encourage my hon. Friend to ask his constituents to look at the voucher schemes supported by the Welsh Government.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Specific commitment or action for Mrs Sharp's case was not provided

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