Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 6
6
The Department does not have a detailed plan to ensure that those in the very...
Conclusion
The Department does not have a detailed plan to ensure that those in the very hardest to reach areas are not being left behind. The Department’s commitment to delivering 85% coverage by 2025 and full coverage by 2030 does not include those premises it has identified as the very hardest to reach. It estimates that fibre-based approaches are unlikely to work for around 134,000 or 0.3% of premises. In these hardest to reach areas, the potentially prohibitively high cost of rolling out full fibre broadband means that the Department is likely to need to use other technologies, such as satellite. At our last evidence session, in November 2020, the Department told us that it was assessing the value for money of alternative technologies for delivering the fastest speeds possible to hard-to-reach premises. However, a year later it is unable to offer any details or update on what new technologies are under consideration. Recommendation: In line with its Treasury Minute response, the Department should write to us setting out how it will reach the remaining 15% left out of the 2025 target, as well as the very hardest to reach 0.3%. This should include what progress it has made in developing and procuring new technologies. Delivering gigabit-capable broadband 9 1 Achieving the target of 85% gigabit coverage by 2025
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
2030. To build a credible and evidence-based profile for delivery beyond 2025 in the UK’s dynamic market, the department will need to reach three key milestones: • completion of all remaining market surveys to identify and understand the relevant suppliers’ build plans, including where commercial plans will mean that premises can be descoped from its contracts; • signing a material number of contracts to provide evidence on supplier interest in BDUK’s subsidies and the pace at which they’re committed to deliver their implementation plans; and • achieving sufficient clarity on the number of premises likely to be beyond the scope of the programme. 6.4 BDUK expects these actions to have been completed in order to be ready to form more robust profiles for the period beyond 2025 by Summer 2023. While this work is in progress, BDUK will provide information on the outcome of its procurements when they are signed, sharing the expected delivery plans up to 2025 and beyond for each contracted area. 6.5 In March 2021, a call for evidence was made to explore all possible options for improving broadband connectivity for these Very Hard to Reach premises. The government published its response in February 2022 bringing together its analysis and evidence from stakeholders. 6.6 This evidence will be used to assess policy options to understand how best to address the small minority of premises that will be beyond the scope of the programme and unable to access gigabit-capable connections. The department will publish further details later this year. 6.7 As part of its assessment process, the department will consider all available solutions and technology types. As equipment improves and technology standards are updated, it will continue to engage with stakeholders to understand how these technologies can best address Very Hard to Reach premises. 6.8 The department will address this recommendation in its letter to the Committee. Thirty-Third Report of Session 2021-22 Department for Work & Pensions Underpayments of the State Pension Introduction from the Committee The Department for Work & Pensions (the Department) estimates that it underpaid 134,000 pensioners various sums totalling over £1 billion in State Pension, with errors going back as far as 1985. Of these, 94,000 pensioners are estimated to be alive, which represents approximately 0.9% of those currently claiming the pre-2016 basic State Pension. These official errors affect pensioners who first claimed State Pension before April 2016 and who do not have a full National Insurance record or who should have inherited additional entitlement from their deceased partner. Around 90% of the pensioners underpaid are women because of the types of State Pension claim affected. The Department does not expect to trace over 15,000 of the affected pensioners or their next of kin where the pensioner is deceased. On average, the Department estimates that the approximately 118,000 pensioners it can trace could receive payments averaging around £8,900 by the time the payments are made. So far, the Department has found underpayments of between £0.01 and £128,448.37. The errors were brought to the Department’s attention by individual pensioners and third-party reporting. Most notably Sir Steve Webb, the former Pensions Minister, and Tanya Jefferies of ThisIsMoney.co.uk provided the Department with example cases of underpayment from January 2020. The Department published an estimate of the underpayments in May 2020. The Department started exploring the “potential for error” in basic State Pension from April 2020 and confirmed there was a significant issue in August 2020 when it ran a full scan of its system for people who might be affected. Based on a report by the National Audit Office, the Committee took evidence on Thursday 28 October 2021 from the Department for Work & Pensions. The Committee published its report on 21 January 2022. This is the government’s response to the Committee’s report. Relevant reports • NAO report: Investigation into the underpayment of State Pension – Session 2021-22 (HC 665) • PAC report: Underpayments of the State Pension – Session 2021-22 (HC 654)