Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what support her Department makes available to communities seeking to contribute financially towards the delivery of Fibre to the Premises broadband infrastructure where commercial rollout is not planned; and what assessment she has made of the adequacy of that support.

Project Gigabit is the Government’s programme to deliver gigabit-capable broadband to UK premises that are not included in suppliers' commercial plans. This supports the objective of reaching at least 99% gigabit coverage of UK premises by 2032.

Building Digital UK (BDUK) collects and analyses information from suppliers about their completed and planned broadband infrastructure to identify which premises are likely to require public subsidy to receive a gigabit-capable connection. Informed by this process, BDUK works with broadband suppliers to deliver gigabit capable connections to premises that might otherwise miss out.

There is currently no mechanism for communities to contribute financially towards the delivery of gigabit capable broadband through Project Gigabit contracts.

In some circumstances, broadband suppliers may consider self-dig or self-contribution options, where residents are willing to undertake some civil works to help reduce delivery costs. However, such arrangements are a commercial matter for the supplier and would be subject to technical, safety and contractual considerations.