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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether he plans to take steps to accelerate the roll-out of ultrafast broadband in (a) Burton constituency and (b) the UK.

The Government is committed to delivering nationwide gigabit capable broadband as soon as possible, including in the Burton constituency. Gigabit broadband will provide consumers with faster download speeds of 1Gbps compared to ultrafast broadband, which provides download speeds of at least 300 Mbps. Much progress has already been made across the UK, with full fibre coverage doubling in the past year to reach 10% of UK premises, according to the latest Ofcom figures.

This Government will continue to take action to remove barriers to network rollout and to ensure that those in the hardest to reach areas are not left behind. We have introduced legislation to make it easier for operators to deploy broadband in blocks of flats, will be legislating to mandate gigabit connectivity in new builds and will invest £5 billion of funding to support gigabit rollout in hard to reach areas.

In the Burton constituency, there is 97% superfast coverage, up from 57% in 2012 and compared to the current UK average of 96%. Full fibre coverage in Burton is 21.8%, according to the latest Ofcom figures, more than double the UK average.