Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland)
Question to the Scotland Office:
What steps the Government is taking to support the operation of the UK internal market.
Answered by Douglas Ross
The UK internal market is essential to promote growth, drive productivity and deliver an economy that works for all parts of the UK and the Government is committed to supporting this.
The Scottish Government’s own statistics make clear that 60% of Scottish exports go to the rest of the UK, 1.5 times higher than is exported to the EU and the rest of the world combined.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans he has to allocate funding from the £5 billion fund to support the rollout of full-fibre, 5G and other gigabit-capable networks to Broadland constituency.
Answered by Matt Warman
The ambition to invest £5bn for the rollout of full fibre and gigabit capable networks in the hardest to reach areas of the UK was announced in September 2019. This was reiterated in the Conservative Party Manifesto. In anticipation of the funding being announced in the March budget, mobilisation of the delivery programme is underway.
An application for State Aid approval has been submitted in parallel to both the European Commission and the UK Competition and Markets Authority.
Modelling of the Intervention Area (“the final 20% of premises / F20”) is underway.
The procurement approach is being designed in conjunction with Government Commercial Organisation and Crown Commercial Services
The delivery team is ramping up resources, processes and systems in preparation
Supplier and Local Authority engagement and workshops are underway
Plans are not yet at a sufficiently mature or at a sufficiently detailed stage to answer funding plans and dates at a constituency level, however we will provide more granular detail over the coming months. In the meantime our existing fibre delivery programmes continue to deliver further coverage. These include the Superfast, Local Full Fibre Networks, Rural Gigabit Connectivity Programmes as well as our Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme.