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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many properties have been connected to gigabit broadband as a direct result of Project Gigabit funding.

We are making excellent progress with Project Gigabit. By the end of March 2022, we had delivered gigabit-capable broadband to 741,000 premises, ahead of our target of 720,000 premises. Combined with commercial gigabit delivery, we remain on track to hit our target of 85 per cent gigabit coverage by 2025.

We recently signed our first Project Gigabit contracts in North Dorset and Teesdale, and in total we have launched procurements to connect up to 520,000 premises to date.