Melanie Onn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Melanie Onn on 2016-01-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what proportion of housing association residents have access to the internet at home.

Mr Edward Vaizey

The Government is on target to deliver access to superfast broadband for 95% of UK premises by December 2017, and to extend coverage beyond that as far as possible. As the Prime Minister announced last autumn, the government proposes that by the end of this parliament people should have a legal right to request access to a good level of broadband speed, no matter where they live.

The honourable member will be pleased to hear that in her Great Grimsby constituency, 96 per cent of homes and businesses can already access superfast broadband – and it is estimated that coverage will rise to98 per cent by the end of 2017. Additional funding sources, including the £129 million of gainshare funding that BT will return in response to the high levels of take-up being achieved, will allow coverage to be extended further in Great Grimsby and the rest of the area covered by the North Lincolnshire broadband project.