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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to paragraph 10.11 of the National Infrastructure Plan 2014, what the basis is for the assessment that £500 million will be needed for superfast broadband to reach an additional five per cent of the UK.

The £500 million figure quoted in the National Infrastructure Plan is the estimated total public sector funding required to offset the commercial funding gap. It is therefore the estimated public sector contribution that combined with commercial investment would be needed to make deliver the additional 5% superfast broadband coverage viable for commercial investors.