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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, by when he expects all households and businesses to have access to fibre optic broadband.

The Government will launch a public consultation early next year in preparation for the implementation of a new broadband Universal Service Obligation by 2020, with the ambition to give people the legal right to request a connection to broadband with speeds of 10 Mbps, no matter where in the country they live. Almost 90% of households and businesses in the UK currently have access to superfast broadband - and we are on target for this to reach 95% by the end of 2017.