Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress he has made allocating £5bn announced for Project Gigabit.

The 2021 Spending Review re-affirmed £1.2bn over four years as part of our landmark £5bn commitment to Project Gigabit. We are open to accelerating faster and further if the market can deliver more, building upon the 67% of gigabit-capable broadband coverage achieved to date, up from just 8% in July 2019. Project Gigabit will support the rollout of gigabit connectivity in the hardest to reach areas where we are working with industry to target a minimum of 85% coverage by 2025. We are making good progress; so far broadband providers have been invited to bid for contracts to upgrade up to 187,000 premises across Cumbria, Durham, Northumberland, Cambridgeshire, North Dorset and West Cornwall.