Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to the Answer of 26 October 2023 to Question 204064 on Broadband: Rural Areas, whether her Department plans to provide support to people who are ineligible for the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme because they are in plan to have superfast broadband installed but do not have a timescale for this process.
Eligibility for the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme is dependent on premises meeting the relevant criteria, such as not being included in any suppliers’ commercial rollout plans for a gigabit-capable connection, nor in any other government-funded contract - planned or in place - to improve the network.
Eligibility for the voucher scheme is also dependent on the premises’ rurality status and only being able to access speeds less than 100Mbps. Therefore, commercial plans to provide superfast speeds (>=30Mbps) would not result in ineligibility for the scheme, assuming the premises met the wider requirements.
Although premises that are included in suppliers’ plans to receive a gigabit-capable connection are ineligible for vouchers, we still keep commercial plans under review. If these plans change, we will explore whether the premises can be connected through Project Gigabit.