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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many small businesses in the North West can access broadband.

According to Ofcom’s Connected Nations Report, 89% of UK homes and small and medium-sized businesses are now able to receive superfast download speeds of 30 Megabits or higher, and all homes and businesses can now access broadband speeds of 2 Megabits per second. This is fast enough for everyone to gain access to every government service available online.

ThinkBroadband’s latest figures indicate that superfast coverage of 30 Megabits or higher is currently available to 94.7% of premises across the North West.

We are determined to ensure even better digital connectivity in the UK, and we announced a package of measures worth £1.1 billion at Autumn Statement 2016. This includes The Local Full Fibre Networks (LFFN) programme, which will support local bodies in stimulating the market for fibre connectivity in their areas. The six local test projects were announced on 3rd September.

The Super Connected Cities Programme, which closed in 2016, offered vouchers to SMEs to help with connectivity. Interest in connection voucher scheme was very high in the North West which resulted in over over 5590 connections being made in the region.