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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, for what reason the Infrastructure Projects Authority has marked the (a) Local Full Fibre Networks and (b) Rural Gigabit Connectivity programmes with a red status.

At the time of the IPA report, these programmes received a red rating because Building Digital UK (BDUK) was awaiting a budget decision to support a funding extension beyond March 2021. The red status, therefore, is a reflection of budget rather than delivery risk, and was a “point in time” snapshot. Subsequent to this rating, the budgets for both programmes have been approved and are both now rated Amber. This rating is a reflection of COVID-19 impacts to both programmes.