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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to increase the average internet speed for properties in Morley and Outwood constituency.

It is the Government's view that the best way to achieve nationwide gigabit coverage is to create a competition-friendly environment in areas where deployment is commercially viable while focussing government funds on the 20% of the country where commercial deployment is unlikely. As a result of this approach, there is now a thriving market of over 80 providers rolling out gigabit broadband all over the UK.

Our strategy is working and this is no more evident than in the Morley and Outwood constituency with total Gigabit coverage now standing at 68.6% (significantly higher than the national average of 45%) according to figures from ThinkBroadband. Indeed, since January 2020, Gigabit coverage across the constituency has almost doubled which is testament to the competitive market we have facilitated.

This has a significant impact on average internet speed for properties in your constituency. In Q1 of 2019, average download speed in Morley and Outwood stood at 34Mbps, and today it stands at 58Mbps. Across the country today, over two in five premises can access gigabit-capable networks, up from just one in ten in November 2019. By the end of the year, 60% will have access, and by 2025 the Government is targeting a minimum of 85% gigabit-capable coverage. The Government is also investing £5bn as part of Project Gigabit to ensure the hardest-to-reach areas in the UK receive coverage.