Oral Answers to Questions

John Robertson Excerpts

Thursday 18th April 2013 Commons Chamber

[Nic Dakin (Scunthorpe) (Lab)]

3. What assessment she has made of progress towards rolling out superfast broadband to 90% of premises by 2015.

[John Robertson (Glasgow North West) (Lab)]

10. What assessment she has made of progress towards rolling out superfast broadband to 90% of premises by 2015.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Vaizey]

I know that the hon. Gentleman will welcome the contract that was signed on 8 March with Onlincolnshire, the brand for the delivery of broadband in Lincolnshire, with £14 million of investment from the Government and £8.5 million coming from BT. At the end of that contract, the coverage will be not just 90% but 94.5%.

[John Robertson]

Following the supplementary question of my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Camberwell and Peckham (Ms Harman) on Question 2, access to broadband and superfast broadband is one thing, but uptake is another. At a time when the Government are trying to make people use broadband to access benefits, what are they doing to ensure that such people have access to broadband and that it is rolled out, considering that, as a written reply they gave me demonstrates, they do not even know the numbers?

[Mr Vaizey]

I treat any question asked by the hon. Gentleman with great respect, given his long and distinguished career with BT. [Interruption.] I would like to answer the question, but I am being heckled by the hon. Member for Rhondda (Chris Bryant). Perhaps when he stops heckling me, I can get on with answering that important question. The previous Government appointed Martha Lane Fox to run the Race Online 2012 campaign, which has become Go ON UK. She has brought together charities and businesses to encourage people to get online, which is very important. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills also has a campaign to encourage small businesses to get online and learn to use e-commerce.