Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of properties with access to ultrafast broadband in Barnsley.

According to figures published by ThinkBroadband, which defines ultrafast as >100Mbps, Barnsley currently has 78.08% ultrafast coverage.

The government has made a commitment to increase gigabit capable connectivity across the country and as part of this the Local Full Fibre Networks (LFFN) Programme launched a £190m Challenge Fund in November 2017. The fund will operate successive waves of bidding, which local bodies are invited to bid into to increase full fibre coverage in their local areas. We expect the next wave of funding to open in summer 2018.

The government is also currently trialling a Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme which makes full fibre connection vouchers available to SMEs and some residential premises in four areas across the country. We are currently reviewing how we might extend this scheme on a national basis following our market trial, in response to the 2017 Conservative Manifesto commitment to ‘introduce a full fibre connection voucher for companies across the country by 2018’.