Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by  Baroness Sugg on 18 July 2018 (HL9238), what steps they are taking to ensure that towns, villages and hamlets affected by the HS2 railway line can access the optical fibre network being installed along the HS2 line of route.

HS2 Ltd is planning to install a trackside optical fibre network along the Phase One HS2 line to provide digital connectivity for its passengers. As part of work to design this network, HS2 Ltd is working with the Department for Transport and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to consider options for offering capacity to third parties, in order to share the benefit of HS2’s investment in optical fibre with local communities.

Separately from HS2, the Prime Minister has recently set out ambitions for accelerating the roll-out of gigabit capable broadband across the UK.