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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what involvement they have in Community Fibre Partnerships; and what assessment they have made of the impact of that scheme on the cost to consumers of better broadband connections.

Community-led schemes, including Community Fibre Partnerships, allow a group of premises to work together to upgrade their broadband connection through a joint funding arrangement with any broadband supplier who offers it. Community Fibre Partnerships can be successful in lowering the cost of improving broadband connections across a community, such schemes are not government run or administered. A Community Fibre Partnership is specifically only offered by Openreach and is but one example of a community-led broadband scheme. Such community-led schemes can take a variety of different forms to help suit the needs of the individual community. Further details of such schemes can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/community-led-broadband-schemes/introduction-to-community-led-schemes.

There are a variety of funding sources to help communities commence a community-led scheme. The Government has set out a number of alternative schemes to help businesses and residents upgrade their broadband connection through a community partnership.

A rural component of the Scheme launched in May 2019 with funding provided through the Rural Gigabit Connectivity (RGC) programme. Up to £3,500 is available to rural SMEs and up to £1,500 for rural premises is available to support the installation of gigabit-capable broadband when part of a group scheme. These vouchers can be used in community broadband projects to offset the cost of installing gigabit-capable connectivity that communities would otherwise wholly fund themselves.