Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have for reviewing the social tariff for broadband subscriptions, given Ofcom’s report of the low update of the current scheme.

The Government continues to work closely with Ofcom on the affordability of telecoms services, including social tariffs.

In December, Ofcom’s Pricing Trends report, showed that 380,000 UK households now take up a social tariff, an almost 160% increase from the previous September, but just 8.3% of the total number of eligible households.

The Government accepts that more is needed to ensure that low-income households are aware of social tariffs as well as other support that is available. However, it is also important to recognise that social tariffs may not be suitable for every household on Universal Credit, and commercial bundled packages - offering TV, broadband, landline and mobile services - may represent overall better value for money.

The Government and Ofcom continue to press operators to do more to raise awareness of social tariffs to their customers, with the regulator recently publishing research into the barriers to communicating offers to eligible households.