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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what the timescale is for the (a) procurement and (b) connections for the regional supplier procurements for Durham and Northumberland.

As highlighted in our Project Gigabit Autumn Update, Durham, Tyneside and Teesside areas and Northumberland (Lots 4 and 34) are included in Phase 1a of Project Gigabit. These particular Lots will see procurement start as early as December 2021 before an estimated contract commencement date of November 2022.

Furthermore, in North Northumberland and Teesdale in County Durham, we have incorporated two of the most challenging rural areas into Local Supplier procurements, designed to be attractive to rural specialists active in the area. These Local Supplier procurements have an estimated start date of December 2021 before an estimated contract commencement date of June 2022.