Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what recent progress her Department has made on the Project Gigabit procurement process for work in East Devon constituency.

Over 95% of premises in East Devon already have access to a superfast broadband connection (over 30Mbps) and over 71% have access to gigabit-capable broadband (>1000 Mbps). This is slightly below the national average of 97% for superfast coverage and 79% for gigabit coverage respectively.

As part of Project Gigabit, in September 2023 we launched a procurement to invite suppliers to bid for a contract to bring gigabit-capable broadband to the remaining premises in Mid and East Devon and West Somerset that are unlikely to be reached by broadband suppliers' commercial rollout plans. We aim to award a contract to the successful supplier in summer 2024.