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