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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of provision of broadband in the rural areas of Ashford constituency; and if he will make a statement.

Superfast broadband coverage in the Ashford constituency is expected to be around 92 per cent at the end of phase 2 of the superfast broadband programme, subject to agreement of a phase 2 contract by Kent County Council. It is also dependent on the extent of any practical delivery issues encountered during deployment of both publicly-funded and privately-funded superfast broadband networks.

In addition, 1,975 premises in rural Ashford and Shepway will gain coverage as a result of an additional £1,593,509 of government funding to Kent for rural community projects.