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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to increase broadband coverage and speed in Suffolk and the East of England.

The Government has committed £26.68 million to the Suffolk broadband project. The current contracted coverage is to provide superfast broadband access to 117,493 homes and businesses in the county, extending coverage to nearly 91% of premises. Procurement is still under way for part of the funding and coverage will be extended further once contracts are agreed. As 30 June 2015, the Suffolk project had covered 84,447 superfast premises.

Over £81 million of government funding has been committed to improving superfast broadband coverage in the East of England (including Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes). This will support delivery of superfast broadband to 642,160 homes and businesses in the region that would otherwise not have gained coverage.