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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what progress he has made on delivering (a) broadband and (b) wifi to church halls.

On 9 February 2015 the Government announced that 2 million premises have been passed by its Superfast Broadband Programme, meaning that superfast broadband is now available to almost 80% of UK premises, up from 45% in 2010. Church halls which are included within this coverage will be able to gain access to superfast broadband services.

Small and medium sized enterprises, including places of worship which are registered as charities, are eligible for a grant of up to £3,000 under the Government’s Broadband Connection Vouchers scheme which runs in 22 UK cities. The Chancellor recently announced that £40 million will be made available to extend the scheme to more cities from April 2015.