Oral Answers to Questions

Lord Vaizey of Didcot Excerpts

Tuesday 28th June 2016 Commons Chamber

[Alex Chalk (Cheltenham) (Con)]

T7. A significant amount of public money has been allocated to bring superfast broadband to areas missed out by the commercial roll-out, but because of a bureaucratic logjam it remains unspent while a significant number of small businesses in Cheltenham are left frustrated and unable to grow. What more can be done to unlock that money and get the remaining premises connected?

[The Minister for Culture and the Digital Economy (Mr Edward Vaizey)]

May I say how pleased I am to see you in the Chair, Mr Speaker? A rock of stability as the stormy seas of change crash around us—[Interruption.] I was considered the thinking woman’s Boris Johnson—my hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip—but I now see that I am my right hon. Friend the Member for South Holland and The Deepings (Mr Hayes).

One great benefit of Brexit is that in the past 24 hours not a single colleague has bent my ear about broadband, and it is a sign of things returning to normal that we are now discussing that important subject. I hear what my hon. Friend says. There are often problems on the ground, and I would like to go to Cheltenham and meet those businesses, plus the council, and see whether we can work together. We often find that on the ground wayleave rights are not being granted, or that something like that is holding back the investment that we need in places such as Cheltenham, which is home to so many high-tech businesses that are now free to trade around the globe.

[Mr Speaker]

I think the hon. Gentleman would like his own dedicated and exclusive Question Time.

--- Later in debate ---

[Maggie Throup (Erewash) (Con)]

Small and independent retailers in my constituency have, over recent months, experienced extreme difficulty in accessing telephone and broadband services when moving into new premises. I, too, experienced this when I moved into my new community office in Ilkeston. Will the Minister agree to talk to service providers to ensure that the installation of these services, which are so vital in the 21st century, are carried out in a reasonable timeframe?

[Mr Vaizey]

I have made no secret of my concerns about Openreach’s quality of service. We have had a very successful rural broadband programme, but there seems to be a particular unit in Openreach that targets MPs and makes them extremely angry. They take it out on me and I take it out on Openreach. It needs to improve its terms and conditions, and its new chief executive has made supplying businesses his priority.

[Mr Speaker]

We are blessed to have a second dose of the hon. Gentleman this morning.