Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that all new build properties can access superfast broadband immediately from completion of the property.

The Government is committed to delivering the world’s most dynamic digital economy, supported by measures such as fibre infrastructure investment to ensure consumers and businesses have access to the digital infrastructure that they need. This includes changing the Building Regulations in January 2017 to require all new build and major refurbishment residential buildings to make provision for copper or fibre infrastructure capable of delivering high-speed communications.

We have consulted in the Housing White Paper, 'Fixing our broken housing market' on amending national planning policy to require local authorities to have policies in place which set out how high quality digital infrastructure will be delivered in their area and will be accessible from a range of providers. We will set out how these proposals are to be taken forward shortly.