Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department has made an estimate of the percentage of properties in Westmorland and Lonsdale which will have Gigabit availability by the end of Project Gigabit.

As part of Project Gigabit, in November 2022 we awarded a £109 million contract to the supplier Fibrus to deliver gigabit-capable broadband to up to 59,000 premises across Cumbria that are not included in suppliers’ commercial plans.

By the end of the contract, it is expected that over 99% of premises in the Westmorland and Lonsdale constituency will have access to a gigabit-capable connection, through both subsidised and commercial delivery. This is a huge leap in gigabit-capable coverage across the constituency, which currently stands at slightly over 48%.