Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to help support rural households to receive broadband connections in Runcorn and Helsby constituency.

According to the independent website ThinkBroadband.com, over 98% of premises in the Runcorn and Helsby constituency have access to superfast broadband speeds (>=30 Mbps) and over 92% can access a gigabit-capable (>1000 Mbps) connection.

To extend gigabit-capable coverage further, Freedom Fibre is delivering a £43 million contract under Project Gigabit to bring fast, reliable broadband to premises across Cheshire, including in Runcorn and Helsby, that would otherwise miss out.