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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to her Department's news story of 22 December 2016, how the £440 million made available for superfast rural broadband will be (a) allocated between and (b) managed by local authorities.

The money will be returned to local authorities through their existing broadband contracts, based on the levels of savings achieved and levels of take-up, and will be available for them to reinvest in further superfast rollout.