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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to improve broadband connectivity in Oxford West and Abingdon constituency.

Broadband is a modern necessity and the Department is working hard to ensure that everyone in Britain has the connection they need to be involved in our digital society. The Government has invested £1.7 billion of public money to support vital improvements in broadband services across the UK. This funding has created more than four million new superfast connections to date. Over 93% of UK premises are now able to access superfast speeds and we are on track to reach our target of 95% by the end of the year.

The constituency of Oxford West and Abingdon falls within the area covered by Better Broadband for Oxfordshire (http://www.betterbroadbandoxfordshire.org.uk/cms/). The government has invested over £8 million in the Better Broadband for Oxfordshire project, with local funds contributing over £13 million further. Over 4,600 premises in the constituency have received superfast broadband coverage as a result of this project. Superfast coverage in the constituency sits at over 98.8% according to third party monitoring by ThinkBroadband http://labs.thinkbroadband.com/local/oxford-west-and-abingdon,E14000874.