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Broadband Rollout: Devon and Somerset
02 December 2020
Lead MP
Neil Parish
Tiverton and Honiton
Con
Responding Minister
Matt Warman
Tags
EconomyForeign AffairsScience & TechnologyAgriculture & Rural AffairsStandards & Ethics
Word Count: 7814
Other Contributors: 5
At a Glance
Neil Parish raised concerns about broadband rollout: devon and somerset in Westminster Hall. A government minister responded.
Key Requests to Government:
Neil Parish requests the Minister to explain why funding for broadband has been cut and asks if it will be replaced. He also seeks reassurances that the Government, through Connecting Devon and Somerset, have a workable plan that will deliver superfast broadband connections in rural areas like Tiverton and Honiton.
How the Debate Unfolded
MPs spoke in turn to share their views and ask questions. Here's what each person said:
Lead Contributor
The MP is concerned about the slow rollout of superfast broadband in Devon and Somerset, highlighting that only 82% of premises in Tiverton and Honiton have access to it. He points out that his constituency ranks 627th out of constituencies in the UK for superfast availability. Neil Parish mentions delays in Connecting Devon and Somerset's phase 2 rollout contracts awarded in 2016, which were then suspended by CDS in September 2018 due to Gigaclear's request for an extension beyond December 2020.
Anthony Mangnall
Con
Bury St Edmunds
Discussed the importance of digital connectivity in the south-west, highlighting that 52,000 premises in his constituency need to be connected and emphasised the role of Connecting Devon and Somerset (CDS) and Openreach. He expressed concern over delays in delivering broadband connections which have affected businesses and residents.
Chi Onwurah
Lab
Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West
Described the lack of digital infrastructure in Devon and Somerset, highlighting that North Devon's broadband ranking was as low as 627th. Mentioned that despite Devon and Somerset having only 1.5% of UK households, they account for 5% of notspots. Emphasized the need for effective competition in broadband roll-out to avoid over-building and monopoly providers. Cited concerns about regional productivity levels in Somerset County Council's economic development strategy and called for better full-fibre broadband roll-out. Asked the Minister about the commitment to universal gigabit broadband and its timeline for achievement.
David Warburton
Con
Totnes
Connecting Devon and Somerset has achieved some improvements, but many homes and businesses still lack decent broadband speeds. The pandemic highlighted the importance of digital connectivity as an essential utility for rural areas to bridge the productivity gap with urban regions.
Selaine Saxby
Lab/Co-op
North Devon
Highlighted the poor broadband speeds in her constituency, noting that nearly a fifth of residents do not receive the 10 Mbps universal service obligation and that average download speed is less than 37 Mbps compared to the UK average of 61. She also discussed the need for Government voucher schemes and community fibre partnerships.
Simon Jupp
Con
East Devon
Delivering superfast broadband across East Devon is crucial, especially due to more people working from home. The area faces delayed contracts and patchy upgrades, affecting villages like Feniton and Whimple with download speeds below 30 megabits per second.
Government Response
Matt Warman
Government Response
I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Tiverton and Honiton (Neil Parish) for securing this debate; I do not think that anyone has ever tried to duff up the Government in such a good-natured way. That spirit was shared by all hon. Members, for better or worse. I have had these conversations with all hon. Members present and other MPs across Devon and Somerset, because broadband now matters more than any other utility. Over the last year or so, we have learned how important digital connectivity is. It is not that useful for me to talk about how extensive the superfast programme has been or how 96% of the country is covered, because if people do not have it, they do not have it. I understand why hon. Members want to go back with good answers to parents trying to educate their children and to farmers trying to deal with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs—a whole host of people from every aspect of society. Digital is what we now rely on, and what we will continue to rely on for economic growth and for essential parts of everyday life. I completely understand why the debacle of the 13% of houses that Connecting Devon and Somerset has not managed to get connected is important to all hon. Members present. As my hon. Friend the Member for Somerton and Frome (David Warburton) generously pointed out, 87% of the programme has been delivered, but the fact remains that not far off 50,000 premises will be, at worst, nearly five years late. For what it is worth, I am sorry. It is important that, whether we blame Carillion for letting down Gigaclear, or Gigaclear for overpromising, the Government are sorry that we are in this position. That is an important starting point. We have teams in Building Digital UK that have covered commercial interest, state aid, value for money and delivery, all working intensively with CDS throughout the procurement process and supporting it at every stage. We could not have worked more closely, and that is in part because of the commitments that I made to Members when I came to the area to talk about CDS and we first made the decision that Gigaclear was not going to be in a position to revise its contract. We worked very closely with Gigaclear to try and get it to a point where we did not have to restart the process but, ultimately, I believe that restarting the process was the best way to secure the speed of connections that we need. It is this close management that has ensured that the procurement is on the very shortest path to delivery that we could possibly have envisaged. To give my hon. Friend the Member for Tiverton and Honiton an idea, one procurement might routinely take nine months. Those six lots—those six procurements—will have been completed in around 10 months. He rightly highlighted the fact that we had aimed to get them done by the end of November. I think he would accept that quite a lot has happened this year that we were not expecting, but it is my expectation that they will be done by Christmas. My hon. Friend is absolutely right. A crucial part of the future programme will be much greater communication with Members of Parliament, which is important up to a point, but also with the public. One of the most important things we can do is say to people, as he said, yes, the whole procurement will take several years, but there will be many shovels in the ground and many connections made well before the end of that period. We need to give people as much transparency as we possibly can, so that the entirely legitimate criticism that my hon. Friend made of the previous contract is not the case for the future contract. It was right that CDS gave Gigaclear the opportunity to make things work, because it could speed things up, but we are where we are. There are many problems, given the situation we are in today, but part of this is that we cannot lay them all at the door of any one entity. On the new procurement, while some may think it easier to award the contracts to a larger supplier, the fair and open process across six lots was intended to promote speed and competition. When my hon. Friend gets his Christmas present, I hope he will be able to greet that, and we will give him some of the transparency that we have talked about. It is also important to talk about the forthcoming UK gigabit programme that my hon. Friend mentioned and be absolutely clear that this remains a £5 billion programme with a 100% target. The judgment of industry and the Government is that the initial phasing of the spending reflects the maximum that can be delivered in the period up to 2025, but we will continue to work with industry so that if we can go any faster at all, then we will. If we can exceed that 85%, then we will. It is not an 85% maximum—it is a 100% ambition and we will go as far and as fast as we can.
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About Westminster Hall Debates
Westminster Hall debates are a chance for MPs to raise important issues affecting their constituents and get a response from a government minister. Unlike Prime Minister's Questions, these debates are more in-depth and collaborative. The MP who secured the debate speaks first, other MPs can contribute, and a minister responds with the government's position.