Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 3
3
We are not convinced by the Department’s assertion that it will meet its target delivery...
Conclusion
We are not convinced by the Department’s assertion that it will meet its target delivery of a minimum of 85% by 2025 despite having signed no new infrastructure subsidy contracts for Project Gigabit. The Department’s previous target proved to be unachievable. Despite revising the overall target, the Department’s target dates for signing contracts with gigabit suppliers to begin laying gigabit infrastructure have continually slipped. At our last evidence session, in November 2020, we called for the Department to provide a broad timetable or indicative dates for the essential steps towards achieving its targets, which the Department repeatedly declined owing to it awaiting Ministerial approvals. The Department is still unable to provide detailed information about how long it expects the contracting process to take. The Department previously informed us that contracts would be operating by the fourth quarter of 2021. It has since moved this to May 2022 in the Project Gigabit Summer update. This changed again to June to August 2022 in the Autumn update. The Department contends that the delay is positive, as it is the result of unprecedented levels of interest and activity from commercial providers. As a result, it is re-planning which areas it will need to deliver gigabit coverage through infrastructure subsidy contracts but stated in evidence that that it did not expect in future to have to replan to the degree that we have in the past 12 months.1 Recommendation: In line with its Treasury Minute response, the Department should write to us setting out in detail how it will deliver 85% coverage by 2025, including: • the baselines it is using, and overall progress against these; and • what new infrastructure contracts it has signed and how many more contracts it requires to be in place and by when in order to meet its overall target. The Department should also adopt a flexible procurement approach which allows it to respond to market developments without endlessly delayin
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
3.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: May 2022 3.2 BDUK’s 2022-23 corporate plan will include a baseline trajectory for the progress required each year for the department to achieve its minimum target of 85% gigabit coverage by the end of 2025, including BDUK’s planned contribution of at least 5% in uncommercial areas. 3.3 BDUK will report progress against this baseline annually, beginning July 2022. 3.4 BDUK will also publish quarterly updates on the procurement pipeline for Gigabit Infrastructure Subsidy contracts. These will include the pipeline of procurements and associated timescales, together with the expected scale and value of the procurements. 3.5 In the latest Winter Update (published February 2022), BDUK reported that it has now launched its first six procurements for up to 187,400 premises. It also provided its procurement pipeline for up to 2.3 million more premises to be included in contracts awarded by the end of 2024, while noting that it was subject to industry feedback and capacity. 3.6 These new contracts are in addition to the 56 Superfast contracts currently delivering gigabit coverage to premises with the lowest speeds (less than 30 Mbps) in areas including Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Devon and Somerset, with further coverage stimulated by demand-led gigabit vouchers and public sector hubs. 3.7 The department forecasts that its interventions will deliver at least the 950,000 more premises needed to achieve BDUK’s planned 5% contribution by 2025. 3.8 The department will address this recommendation in its letter to the Committee.