Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what progress her Department has made on the rollout of Project Gigabit in the North East.

GoFibre recently completed delivery of two Project Gigabit contracts, covering North Northumberland and Teesdale. These contracts have provided gigabit-capable coverage to 8,200 premises, including in Otterburn in the Hexham constituency.

In addition, Openreach is currently delivering a Project Gigabit contract across the North East, covering approximately 14,000 premises in the region, over 2,200 of which are in the Hexham constituency, including Ponteland and Darras Hall.

Approximately 2,900 premises in Hexham have also benefitted from the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme, with more included in live projects.