Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many broadband connection vouchers have been awarded in each month since March 2014; who the beneficiaries are; and in what regions those beneficiaries are located.

There have been 6,030 vouchers issued to small and medium sized businesses across the UK in the 22 Super Connected Cities.

280 vouchers were issued as part of the Market Test Pilot Phase, which commenced last summer, and a further 77 vouchers were issued by cities before March 2014. From March 2014 to November 2014 5,673 vouchers have been issued.

The monthly issue rate is as follows:

Mar-14 104

Apr-14 187

May-14 323

Jun-14 387

Jul-14 530

Aug-14 644

Sep-14 925

Oct-14 1476

Nov-14 1097

Voucher numbers are not collated on a regional basis. However, the breakdown of vouchers issued across the four nations of the UK since March is as follows:

England 4904

Scotland 250

Wales 209

Northern Ireland 310