Broadband (Hansard, 25 March 2004)

§ 1. Mr. David Cameron (Witney) (Con)
What steps are being taken to increase the take-up rates of broadband in the UK. [163433]

§ 7. Mr. Jonathan Djanogly (Huntingdon) (Con)
What steps she is taking to increase the availability of broadband in rural areas. [163439]

§ The Minister for Industry and the Regions (Jacqui Smith)
We are making good progress towards ensuring that the UK has the most extensive and competitive broadband market in the G7 by 2005. Work across Government through the regional development agencies, local authorities, industry and community groups means that broadband is now available to more than 85 per cent. of homes and businesses, and use by small and medium-sized enterprises has doubled in the past 12 months. The joint Department of Trade and Industry/Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs rural broadband unit is working to ensure a specific focus on the needs of rural areas.

§ Mr. Cameron
Does the Minister agree that access to broadband is vital for our rural communities? Will she join me in congratulating British Telecom on setting trigger levels for all areas throughout Oxfordshire; and more to the point, will she congratulate local campaigners—heroes and heroines in our communities—who have campaigned to meet those trigger levels? Does the Minister accept, though, that in rural areas like mine, there are still many farms, businesses and sometimes whole hamlets that will not get broadband because they are too far from the exchange? Will she work with the development agencies and others to learn from the best practice round the country, and make sure that the Government lead the process of finding good solutions to make broadband available to all who currently cannot get it?

§ Jacqui Smith
I very much agree with the hon. Gentleman. Of course it is important that we maximise the number of exchanges that are enabled, but BT's 1040 ADSL technology is not the only solution, particularly—as the hon. Gentleman points out—for communities that want broadband services and are more remote from those exchanges. That is why I commend, for example, the activity of the Oxford rural broadband project funded with a grant from the South East England Development Agency and from Europe. That provides a good example in the hon. Gentleman's constituency of how community organisations can take the lead in partnership with RDAs, local authorities and, in this case, the co-operative movement, to make sure the benefits are shared more broadly. I know that he has also welcomed that initiative.

§ Mr. Djanogly
By the end of this summer all the exchanges in my constituency should be enabled, which is good news. As my hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr. Cameron) described, people who live more than 6 km away from an exchange will probably not be able to receive a broadband service. The Minister gave an example of a community getting together in rural Oxfordshire. However, I shall be interested to hear what the Government intend to do to ensure that access is available to people living in remoter rural areas, such as my constituency. Have the Government ascertained the extent of the problem in terms of numbers?

§ Jacqui Smith
It was Government investment in the regional development agencies that enabled the action in the constituency of the hon. Member for Witney (Mr. Cameron), and through the East of England Development Agency in the hon. Gentleman's constituency as well—a £30 million investment that has led, for example, to a £3.8 million connecting communities project which impacts on the hon. Gentleman's constituency, an awareness campaign, confirmation from BT that the take-up of broadband services in the eastern region is the highest in the UK, and funding for technology trials so that, for example, the interestingly named Rabbit project across rural parts of the region is ensuring that those which previously had no hope of broadband connection by any other means are having the technology trialled. This is, of course, funding from the Government through regional development agencies—funding and agencies that Conservative Members opposed.

§ John Robertson (Glasgow, Anniesland) (Lab)
The Government should be commended for the work they have done on broadband, and it would be churlish to blame them for the fact that the technology has not yet reached remoter areas. However, in the rural areas of Scotland—the highlands and islands—there is a genuine problem of access to the service for businesses. Will my right hon. Friend look into that and consider subsidies for such areas for broadband and telecommunications in general?

§ Jacqui Smith
My hon. Friend makes an important point. As I outlined, it is the considerable additional investment being made available through the devolved Administrations as well as the development agencies that is enabling other technology—wireless technology and the development of other means of connecting businesses and homes to broadband—which allows us to make such progress. I share my hon. Friend's 1041 concern. As my hon. Friend the Minister for Energy, E-Commerce and Postal Services has outlined, we will do all we can in Government to ensure that we meet the target of having the most extensive and competitive broadband market, and of access in every community to the benefits that broadband can bring to households, communities and businesses.

§ Mr. Stephen O'Brien (Eddisbury) (Con)
The Minister knows that the UN-affiliated International Telecommunication Union ranks the UK only 25th in digital take-up. Will she accept that that is because, even where broadband is available, the digital speeds offered by some so-called broadband packages are so slow that they have disappointed users, particularly businesses seeking to improve their productivity? The Government's definition of "broadband" is deliberately wider than it should be. Will the Minister adopt the ITU definition of broadband, or is she a victim of the Government's habit of relying on a looser, easier definition to try to meet their self-proclaimed targets—she used the word "target" earlier?

§ Jacqui Smith
I am sorry that the hon. Gentleman feels it necessary to talk down the considerable progress in developing both availability and take-up of broadband, which has been achieved in partnership with regional development agencies, local authorities and devolved Administrations. Take-up has more than tripled because of Government action, and although the hon. Gentleman can bicker about definitions, the progress is obvious. The progress would be undermined by Opposition policies not only to cut investment, but to do away with RDAs, which have contributed so much.