Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he plans to take to support rural households in Tiverton and Minehead constituency with gaining broadband connections, in the context of (a) Connecting Devon and Somerset and (b) Airband deciding to scale back Airband’s contract agreements to deliver full fibre to properties in the region.

We are considering how Project Gigabit can support the rollout of fast, reliable broadband to premises that have been descoped from Airband’s contracts with Connecting Devon and Somerset. This may include bringing more premises into the scope of Project Gigabit contracts in the region or supporting suppliers to deliver more projects through the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme. In some cases, premises that were set to be connected by Airband have since been included in suppliers’ commercial plans, so will no longer require public subsidy to receive access to a gigabit-capable broadband connection.