Recommendations & Conclusions
22 items
2
Conclusion
Thirty-fifth Report - Improving Broadba…
The Department has failed to make meaningful progress to tackle the barriers faced by operators in maximising gigabit connectivity by 2025. At the time we took evidence in early November, the Department expected that state aid rules would be a domestic matter from 2021 onwards and EU approval would no …
Government response. 2: PAC conclusion: The Department has failed to make meaningful progress to tackle the barriers faced by operators in maximising gigabit connectivity by 2025. 2: PAC recommendation: The Department should identify which risks and barriers have the greatest potential to …
HM Treasury
3
Recommendation
Thirty-fifth Report - Improving Broadba…
The Department is not clear how, in a centralised procurement model, it will retain the people, skills and knowledge in local authorities that were critical to success in the superfast programme. The Department recognises that although it now intends to undertake procurement directly, it will still need the commitment and …
Government response. 3. 1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Spring 2021 3.2 Local authority teams are of significant value in supporting delivery of the new programme and be nefits realisation. 3.3 The government’s Barrier Busting Task Force …
HM Treasury
4
Recommendation
Thirty-fifth Report - Improving Broadba…
he Department has been unable to show how it has learnt lessons from the superfast programme into the detailed design of the gigabit programme. The Department’s objectives for its superfast programme were unspecific and delivery of the 95% broadband coverage target by 2017 sat largely with suppliers rather than being …
Government response. 4.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Spring 2021 4.2 The department continues to deliver to areas of greatest need and committed the first £4.5million from the new programme to upgrade sub-superfast premises in Scotland. 4.3 …
HM Treasury
5
Recommendation
Thirty-fifth Report - Improving Broadba…
he Department is yet again failing to prioritise consumers in rural areas. The Department says that it intends to take an ‘outside-in’ approach to the roll-out of gigabit capable broadband, focussing on those areas that currently do not have access to superfast so that they do not remain left behind. …
Government response. 5.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented 5.2 Through existing programmes, the department is already delivering gigabit coverage to rural and remote premises and those currently without superfast broadband. For example, it has pivoted the Superfast Broadband …
HM Treasury
6
Recommendation
Thirty-fifth Report - Improving Broadba…
The Department cannot provide certainty to consumers that they will have a choice of internet provider or be protected from overcharging should they become tied to the sole supplier in an area. The Department wants to encourage greater competition in the telecommunications infrastructure market, but in areas that need subsidy, …
Government response. 6.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Spring 2021 6.2 The department’s proposed contracts include an annual wholesale access price benchmarking requirement. Pricing is compared to the Ofcom regulated price and benchmarked against the department’s pricing …
HM Treasury
1
Conclusion
Thirty-fifth Report - Improving Broadba…
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on improving broadband.1
Government response. Based on a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, the Committee took evidence, on Monday 9 November 2020 from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. The Committee published its report on 8 January 2020. This is the …
HM Treasury
7
Conclusion
Thirty-fifth Report - Improving Broadba…
We pointed out to the Department that a year has passed since the general election pledge and with 2021 fast approaching, the level of roll-out would have to be extraordinarily quick to achieve nationwide gigabit connectivity by 2025.13 The Department acknowledged that 2025 was “a very challenging target to meet” …
Government response. 1. 2 The 2020 Spending Review allocated £1.2 billion over 4 years to support the rollout of gigabit- capable broadband, as part of the government’s £5 billion commitment to support rollout to hardest to reach areas (under the UK Gigabit …
HM Treasury
8
Conclusion
Thirty-fifth Report - Improving Broadba…
The National Audit Office’s report called for the Department to present a detailed plan and schedule identifying how it will meet the timeline.16 But when we pressed for a broad timetable or indicative dates for the essential steps towards achieving the target, the Department stated that it was awaiting Ministerial …
Government response. 1. 1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Summer 2021 1. 2 The 2020 Spending Review allocated £1.2 billion over 4 years to support the rollout of gigabit- capable broadband, as part of the government’s £5 …
HM Treasury
9
Conclusion
Thirty-fifth Report - Improving Broadba…
The Department describes the £5 billion it has budgeted for its gigabit programme as ‘critical’. It said that it was continuing as if the programme would gain approval from HM Treasury and expected the funding to be confirmed at the forthcoming spending review.19 We asked whether the spending review was …
Government response. 1. 2 The 2020 Spending Review allocated £1.2 billion over 4 years to support the rollout of gigabit- capable broadband, as part of the government’s £5 billion commitment to support rollout to hardest to reach areas (under the UK Gigabit …
HM Treasury
10
Conclusion
Thirty-fifth Report - Improving Broadba…
The Department explained that it was focussed on removing barriers to rapid roll out, such as the cost of streetworks or a planning system that prevents telecoms operators from getting access to premises, by working with other government departments and through legislation and regulation.22 The National Audit Office’s report included …
Government response. 2.2 The government identified risks and barriers to gigabit rollout in its Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review (July 2018). Since then, the government’s Barrier Busting Taskforce has made great progress with: ● introducing legislation to make it easier for broadband firms …
HM Treasury
11
Conclusion
Thirty-fifth Report - Improving Broadba…
We asked about progress towards resolving the barriers which industry has repeatedly said need to be addressed if it is to progress the commercial roll-out to reach 80% of UK premises by 2025. The Department said that it is working on this, but Openreach told us that the legislation introduced …
Government response. 2.2 The government identified risks and barriers to gigabit rollout in its Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review (July 2018). Since then, the government’s Barrier Busting Taskforce has made great progress with: ● introducing legislation to make it easier for broadband firms …
HM Treasury
12
Conclusion
Thirty-fifth Report - Improving Broadba…
The National Audit Office report stated that the requirement to remove equipment supplied by high risk vendors from telecoms networks puts the schedule at risk.29 The Department conceded that this might cause a delay to the future programme and that it was consulting with industry on precise implications, but was …
Government response. 2.4 The government is carrying out a technical consultation with network operators on the use of Huawei equipment in full fibre networks. This is nearing completion and the Secretary of State will announce the outcome in due course.
HM Treasury
13
Conclusion
Thirty-fifth Report - Improving Broadba…
The National Audit Office report sets out how the Department intends to adopt a centralised procurement for its gigabit programme, even though it considered the partnership approach that it used under the Superfast Programme to have been very successful. The report said that the knowledge and experience of local bodies …
Government response. 3. 1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Spring 2021 3.2 Local authority teams are of significant value in supporting delivery of the new programme and be nefits realisation. 3.3 The government’s Barrier Busting Task Force …
HM Treasury
14
Conclusion
Thirty-fifth Report - Improving Broadba…
In its evidence to us the Local Government Association (LGA) called for additional annual funding of £30 million for digital champions in Local Authorities. The LGA expects digital champions to co-ordinate delivery at a local level and to provide additional capacity, for example, in highways and planning teams to support …
Government response. 3.5 The department is meeting with senior officials in each of the existing local authority partners to confirm alignment between the programme and their own strategic objectives. In general, local authorities have expressed commitment to supporting investment in local digital …
HM Treasury
15
Conclusion
Thirty-fifth Report - Improving Broadba…
The National Audit Office’s report said that it had been difficult to assess the Superfast Programme’s performance because it lacked programme-specific measures against which to judge success. It explained that the Department’s coverage targets, for example, to reach 95% of UK premises with superfast broadband infrastructure by 2017, were not …
Government response. 4.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Spring 2021 4.2 The department continues to deliver to areas of greatest need and committed the first £4.5million from the new programme to upgrade sub-superfast premises in Scotland. 4.3 …
HM Treasury
16
Conclusion
Thirty-fifth Report - Improving Broadba…
The Department told us that it wanted to have very clear objectives and to be clear about the benefits for the subsidised part of its gigabit programme but could offer no further detail on how it intends to design and conduct the evaluation of that programme.40 The 31 C&AG’s Report, …
Government response. 4.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Spring 2021 4.2 The department continues to deliver to areas of greatest need and committed the first £4.5million from the new programme to upgrade sub-superfast premises in Scotland. 4.3 …
HM Treasury
17
Conclusion
Thirty-fifth Report - Improving Broadba…
The National Audit Office report noted that the Department estimates £0.9 billion of funding will be returned by suppliers where capital expenditure was lower than expected or actual take-up of superfast broadband is higher than expected.45 The Department told us that because some of this represents future profits measured over …
Government response. 4.6 Examples of the improvements from Superfast Broadband Programme include the department centralising and automating a process for suppliers to regularly share their latest build plans, ready to inform targeting decisions for future procurements. Additionally, the department is extending the …
HM Treasury
18
Conclusion
Thirty-fifth Report - Improving Broadba…
The Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review sets out government’s intention to take an ‘outside-in’ approach to rolling out gigabit-capable broadband, where areas that are currently unable to access superfast speeds are prioritised so they are not left further behind.48 The Department told us that it still aimed to focus on areas …
Government response. 5.2 Through existing programmes, the department is already delivering gigabit coverage to rural and remote premises and those currently without superfast broadband. For example, it has pivoted the Superfast Broadband Programme to invest in gigabit capable networks and is due …
HM Treasury
19
Conclusion
Thirty-fifth Report - Improving Broadba…
The National Audit Office’s report describes how the Superfast Programme was able to leave the very hardest to reach premises until last when, in a bid to meet its timeline, the Department prioritised maximising the number of premises reached over providing for those in greatest need.53 We asked for assurance …
Government response. 5.3 The department has set out how it intends to target the remaining premises which are without superfast broadband, or which are not within other coverage plans, in its consultation Planning for Gigabit Delivery (December 2020) and is about to …
HM Treasury
20
Conclusion
Thirty-fifth Report - Improving Broadba…
Since we took evidence, the government has reduced its coverage target to “a minimum of 85% by 2025” and the Department has been allocated less than a quarter of the £5 billion for supporting the hardest to reach the countries over the four years to 2025. The National Infrastructure strategy …
Government response. 1. 2 The 2020 Spending Review allocated £1.2 billion over 4 years to support the rollout of gigabit- capable broadband, as part of the government’s £5 billion commitment to support rollout to hardest to reach areas (under the UK Gigabit …
HM Treasury
21
Conclusion
Thirty-fifth Report - Improving Broadba…
The National Audit Office was concerned that greater competition in the broadband infrastructure market would not necessarily lead to a greater choice of internet providers for consumers. In its report, it explained that in areas that needed subsidy, smaller alternative infrastructure providers could gain dominant positions. Its report also set …
Government response. 6.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Spring 2021 6.2 The department’s proposed contracts include an annual wholesale access price benchmarking requirement. Pricing is compared to the Ofcom regulated price and benchmarked against the department’s pricing …
HM Treasury
22
Conclusion
Thirty-fifth Report - Improving Broadba…
We asked the Department how it intended to protect consumers in areas with a single dominant supplier from being charged a lot more without proper competition. The Department told us that its contracts had price control provisions to ensure that internet providers cannot charge beyond what is reasonably comparable in …
Government response. 6: PAC conclusion: The Department cannot provide certainty to consumers that they will have a choice of internet provider or be protected from overcharging should they become tied to the sole supplier in an area. 6: PAC recommendation: In its …
HM Treasury