Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much and what proportion of the funding for Project Gigabit has been allocated in (a) England, (b) Wales, (c) Scotland and (d) Northern Ireland.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
Project Gigabit funding for the planned procurements across each nation will be determined following thorough market reviews and using a modelled estimate of the costs involved in providing gigabit coverage.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many properties have been connected to gigabit broadband as a direct result of Project Gigabit funding.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
We are making excellent progress with Project Gigabit. By the end of March 2022, we had delivered gigabit-capable broadband to 741,000 premises, ahead of our target of 720,000 premises. Combined with commercial gigabit delivery, we remain on track to hit our target of 85 per cent gigabit coverage by 2025.
We recently signed our first Project Gigabit contracts in North Dorset and Teesdale, and in total we have launched procurements to connect up to 520,000 premises to date.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many public sector hubs have been set up as part of Project Gigabit; if she will publish a list of those hubs; and what estimate she has made of the number of addressable premises that have been connected as a result of each of those hubs.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
Since 2019, we have connected 6,600 public sector buildings and assets through our Local Full Fibre Network, Rural Gigabit Connectivity, and GigaHubs programmes. Our delivery figures are updated in Building Digital UK's quarterly Project Gigabit progress updates and will be confirmed in its 2023 Performance Report. We are considering how and where to publish further hub details.
As part of Project Gigabit, the government has made up to £110 million available to connect up to 7,000 rural public buildings such as schools, GP surgeries and libraries. Each hub is expected to result in at least one premises passed by a gigabit-capable connection - this is a conservative assumption as hubs are intended to stimulate local build from suppliers.
In June 2022, we announced a joint £82 million investment with the Department for Education (DfE) to connect up to 3,000 primary schools with gigabit broadband over the next three years.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many vouchers her Department has issued as part of Project Gigabit in each (a) region and (b) nation of the UK; and what proportion of those vouchers were distributed to (i) homes and (ii) businesses.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The following table shows the number of premises that were connected to broadband under the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme between 2017/18 and 2021/22, by (a) region and (b) nation of the UK and by (i) homes and (ii) businesses:
Year | 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | TOTAL | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
England | North East | of which business | 0 | 120 | 540 | 330 | 290 | 1280 |
of which residential | 0 | 0 | 170 | 520 | 1680 | 2370 | ||
North West | of which business | 0 | 810 | 1530 | 890 | 920 | 4150 | |
of which residential | 0 | 80 | 790 | 1100 | 3600 | 5560 | ||
Yorkshire and The Humber | of which business | 30 | 1000 | 1270 | 470 | 260 | 3020 | |
of which residential | 0 | 60 | 300 | 320 | 910 | 1580 | ||
East Midlands | of which business | 0 | 280 | 730 | 340 | 340 | 1680 | |
of which residential | 0 | 10 | 50 | 320 | 1420 | 1800 | ||
West Midlands | of which business | 0 | 390 | 790 | 640 | 470 | 2290 | |
of which residential | 0 | 0 | 110 | 730 | 1920 | 2750 | ||
East of England | of which business | 0 | 310 | 700 | 540 | 490 | 2040 | |
of which residential | 0 | 0 | 130 | 1150 | 4540 | 5820 | ||
London | of which business | 0 | 900 | 1780 | 800 | 60 | 3540 | |
of which residential | 0 | 20 | 340 | 280 | 80 | 730 | ||
South East | of which business | 0 | 860 | 1810 | 1060 | 1280 | 5010 | |
of which residential | 0 | 130 | 420 | 2330 | 9070 | 11940 | ||
South West | of which business | 10 | 570 | 980 | 630 | 540 | 2730 | |
of which residential | 0 | 650 | 1320 | 2670 | 3580 | 8210 | ||
Northern Ireland | of which business | 0 | 430 | 950 | 900 | 140 | 2420 | |
of which residential | 0 | 0 | 170 | 1940 | 2370 | 4480 | ||
Scotland | of which business | 0 | 230 | 580 | 420 | 100 | 1330 | |
of which residential | 0 | 0 | 40 | 490 | 680 | 1210 | ||
Wales | of which business | 0 | 60 | 270 | 320 | 510 | 1170 | |
of which residential | 0 | 0 | 100 | 630 | 2030 | 2750 | ||
Source:
BDUK (as of Oct 2022)
Notes:
1. Rounded to the nearest 10
2. Includes Vouchers Connected and Vouchers Issued that are yet to be connected. Vouchers issued can subsequently be cancelled, meaning the figures above are the maximum number of vouchers that could be connected in each country/region
3. Encompasses 3 different schemes: Gigabit Voucher Scheme (GBVS), Rural Gigabit Connectivity (RGC) and UKGV (UK Gigabit Voucher). Each scheme had a different set of eligibility criteria
4. Business vouchers include sole traders, of which there were 31 vouchers issued and/or connected