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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to raise awareness of social tariffs on broadband packages for consumers in receipt of benefits.

Raising awareness of social tariffs amongst eligible households is a key priority for DCMS.

We are working closely with other departments including the Department for Education, and the Department for Work and Pensions, to share information on the availability of social tariffs with libraries, local authorities, schools and regional job centres. We have also engaged a number of charities to circulate social tariff messaging to help reach those who may qualify for support.

On 27 June, the Secretary of State secured a set of public commitments from the UK’s major mobile and broadband providers to support families through the rise in the cost of living, which includes increasing efforts to promote their social tariff offers. To support the sector, the government is developing eligibility checking software which will allow a more efficient application process. We expect this work to conclude over the summer.