Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how much and what proportion of the funding released for Project Gigabit has been spent on projects in Wales.

We are currently completing the market engagement that will enable us to develop the intervention areas for our Project Gigabit procurements in Wales, with the aim of launching these by the summer.

Projects under the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme continue to deliver in Wales, and in February 2023, Building Digital UK contacted all suppliers to identify and propose potential voucher projects where delivery could be faster and provide better than procurements.

As reported in our most recent Project Gigabit quarterly update, almost 2,800 vouchers have already been used to deliver gigabit-capable connections to homes and businesses in hard-to-reach areas of Wales. The combined value of these vouchers amounts to £7 million in public subsidy.

Our earlier Superfast contract in Wales is also delivering gigabit-capable infrastructure in Wales. The project is nearing completion and will lead to up to a further 37,000 premises getting access to gigabit-capable broadband.