Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when his Department plans to introduce a mandatory requirement for fibre optic infrastructure to be included in all new developments.

Ensuring that every new home is built with fast, reliable and resilient broadband is a priority for this Government. We announced in March 2020 that we will amend the Building Regulations to require the provision of gigabit-capable connectivity such as fibre optic infrastructure to new homes. We plan to publish a technical consultation this Winter and to introduce the new requirements in 2021.