Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what progress his Department has made on the roll-out of gigabit broadband (a) nationally and (b) in West Bromwich constituency.

Earlier this month, we announced the signature of four Project Gigabit contracts with Openreach to roll out gigabit-capable broadband to over 130,000 premises in rural and hard-to-reach areas.

This announcement marks another significant step towards achieving our goal of nationwide gigabit coverage by 2030. More than £2 billion of contracts have now been signed to bring fast, reliable broadband to over a million more premises.

According to the independent website Thinkbroadband.com, almost 93% of premises in the West Bromwich constituency can already access a gigabit-capable broadband connection. We anticipate that the majority of the premises in West Bromwich will receive a gigabit-capable connection through the commercial market. Any remaining premises will be considered for support through Project Gigabit.