Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 15
15
The National Audit Office’s report said that it had been difficult to assess the Superfast...
Conclusion
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 specific to the publicly-funded element within the Department’s control and could only be achieved in conjunction with industry-funded roll out.37 We reminded the Department of its target for the UK to be “the best in Europe” and pointed out that the 14% full-fibre coverage and 27% gigabit coverage reported by the National Audit Office put us below the European average.38 The Department said that latest coverage rates for full-fibre and gigabit-capable had increased and were now 17% and 30% respectively.39
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
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 On 22 December 2020, the department published a description of its targeting approach for its new procurements, which will continue to prioritise sub-superfast premises, in the Planning for Gigabit Delivery consultation. The department commits to publishing progress against the UK Gigabit Programme’s milestones regularly. 4.4 The department is committed to incorporating lessons from its delivery of the Superfast Broadband Programme. It commissioned two independent evaluations of the Superfast Broadband Programme, the most recent of which included interviews with 40 local authorities and 16 suppliers. The results from this evaluation were published on 29 January 2021. This evidence, as well as BDUK’s own analysis, has also informed the design of the UK Gigabit Programme. 4.5 The department has also consulted local authorities and suppliers on their own experiences and sought their feedback on emerging and iterating programme design through regular stakeholder engagement events. 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 clawback period in the new contracts to 15 years to reflect the longer asset life of gigabit networks and incorporating a one- off recovery after seven years to bring forward the anticipated future value of clawback for the remaining eight years.