Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy to exempt community groups, charities and other not-for-profit organisations from the requirement to pay VAT on the installation of government-funded high-speed broadband cabinets; and if he will make a statement.

EU VAT law does not enable an exemption of VAT for the installation of high-speed broadband cabinets. However, the government has provided £1.7bn of direct funding to deliver superfast broadband to 95% of premises by 2017 with over 2 million homes reached so far. The broadband connection voucher scheme has also been extended to March 2016 and will be available in a total of 50 cities by 1 April 2015. The scheme provides vouchers of up to £3,000 to support broadband connection upgrades for small businesses, charities, social enterprises and sole traders.

At Budget we also announced a new ambition that ultrafast broadband of at least 100 Megabits per second should become available to nearly all UK premises, to be supported by market delivery and government action to remove barriers to investment and reduce red tape.