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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what amount the Government has budgeted for the current media campaign on superfast broadband; and whether that campaign was discussed or co-ordinated with superfast broadband suppliers.

Based on DCMS insight and research the Government concluded that an advertising campaign would promote a greater take up of superfast broadband. For the areas to be covered by the Government's phase 1 Superfast Broadband Programme, we estimate that up to a further £120m will be generated for investment in further coverage for every 10 percentage point increase on the programme's 20% take-up baseline. The quicker people take up services in the areas delivered with public funding, the quicker funding is returned for reinvestment by the supplier; we therefore launched an £8 million national marketing campaign to raise awareness.

The budget for the campaign was based on evidence of previous government campaigns to reach the optimum amount of our target audience. The campaign was coordinated with suppliers and both BT and Virgin Media have linked their advertising to it.