Thirty-Second Report - Delivering gigabitcapable broadband

Select Committee

Public Accounts Committee HC 743 19 January 2022

Report Status Government responded

Conclusions & Recommendations 27 items (5 recs)

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Government Response (AI assessment · 27 of 27 classified)

Accepted 10

Acknowledged 8

Deferred 6

Not Addressed 3

Government response

Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Thirty Second report from Session 2021-22 · published 28 Apr 2022

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Recommendations & Conclusions

10 results

2 Recommendation Accepted

The Department has so far been overly reliant on the contributions of commercial suppliers in...

Recommendation

The Department has so far been overly reliant on the contributions of commercial suppliers in improving gigabit coverage. The Department is reliant on suppliers to deliver gigabit coverage to 80% of UK premises without subsidy. Between May and October 2021, … Read more

Government Response Summary

BDUK will report further details on the coverage achieved by its different interventions in its performance report in July 2022, and then in the annual report and accounts from 2023.

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3 Recommendation Accepted

We are not convinced by the Department’s assertion that it will meet its target delivery...

Recommendation

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 … Read more 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 Show less

Government Response Summary

The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation and BDUK’s 2022-23 corporate plan will include a baseline trajectory for the progress required each year and will report progress against this baseline annually, beginning July 2022. The department will address this recommendation in its letter to the Committee.

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4 Recommendation Accepted

We are disappointed that the Department has still not taken significant action to remove barriers...

Recommendation

We are disappointed that the Department has still not taken significant action to remove barriers to rolling out Project Gigabit. Despite our recommendation earlier this year, the Department has yet to secure the legislative and policy changes that industry deems … Read more We are disappointed that the Department has still not taken significant action to remove barriers to rolling out Project Gigabit. Despite our recommendation earlier this year, the Department has yet to secure the legislative and policy changes that industry deems necessary to address major barriers to delivering gigabit infrastructure at pace. The Department has initiated the Telecommunications Infrastructure Act, designed to ensure that the UK has sufficiently robust electronic communications networks to deliver the coverage and connectivity consumers 1 Q 10 Delivering gigabit-capable broadband 7 and businesses need. However, it has not yet followed this up with the necessary secondary legislation. We are concerned that without addressing legislative barriers the Department will be unable to meet its target for roll-out. The Department has also run consultations on removing barriers to gigabit rollout but has yet to publish the findings of these. In one case, this is eight months after the consultation closed. While stakeholders welcome these interventions, they call for the Department to take more decisive action, particularly regarding wayleaves (land access agreements). Furthermore, the removal of high-risk vendors’ equipment from the network is estimated to cause a delay in the full fibre roll-out of up to a year, and for 5G by two to three years. Despite its apparent lack of significant progress in tackling barriers, the Department asserts that it is confident that the pace of rollout means that it is still on track to hit its targets. Recommendation: In line with its Treasury Minute response, the Department should write to us setting out what progress it has made: • to remove barriers to deployment, including details of the findings from its consultations and its response in the four priority areas of: a) access to land b) street works c) new build connectivity; and d) supporting mobile deployment. • to remove equipment from high-risk vendors from the relevan Show less

Government Response Summary

The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation and will provide a letter setting out progress on removing barriers to deployment and removing equipment from high-risk vendors, outlining specific actions already taken like introducing the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Bill and consulting on a proposed direction to public telecoms providers regarding their use of Huawei goods and services.

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5 Recommendation Accepted

The Department’s approach to rolling out gigabit risks perpetuating digital inequality across the UK.

Recommendation

The Department’s approach to rolling out gigabit risks perpetuating digital inequality across the UK. The Department contends that it is taking an “Outside- In” approach to gigabit infrastructure procurement. As part of this approach, the Department identifies areas which it … Read more

Government Response Summary

BDUK will strengthen its quarterly reports with further information on progress in UK gigabit coverage, including regional and national progress, rural vs. urban areas, and businesses vs. residential premises, sourced from ThinkBroadband.com and Ofcom's Connected Nations reports.

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12 Conclusion Accepted

The Department told us that the reason it had yet to sign any new gigabit...

Conclusion

The Department told us that the reason it had yet to sign any new gigabit infrastructure contracts was largely that commercial operators hadaccelerated their plans for expanding gigabit coverage very rapidly. It explained that this has meant that it needed … Read more

Government Response Summary

BDUK balances the need to be dynamic and responsive to the market’s plans while maintaining a minimum level of certainty. BDUK has implemented a process for surveying contract areas to understand suppliers’ commercial build plans. BDUK has streamlined its procurement process, while maintaining Public Contracting Regulations and Cabinet Office best practice.

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14 Conclusion Accepted

In our January 2021 report we concluded that the Department had failed to make meaningful...

Conclusion

In our January 2021 report we concluded that the Department had failed to make meaningful progress in tackling barriers faced by operators in maximising gigabit connectivity. We noted that it had yet to secure the legislative and policy changes that … Read more

Government Response Summary

The department has introduced the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Bill, worked with the DfT and industry to implement and trial further reforms to streetworks and permitting, published a statutory technical consultation on ‘new build’ home gigabit-capable connectivity, introduced changes to permitted development rights, and taken steps to make it easier and quicker to deploy mobile equipment on local authority buildings and street furniture.

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16 Conclusion Accepted

The Department also held a technical consultation on the regulations needed to implement the Telecommunications...

Conclusion

The Department also held a technical consultation on the regulations needed to implement the Telecommunications Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Act from June to August 2021. However, it has not yet published either the findings of the consultation or its response to … Read more The Department also held a technical consultation on the regulations needed to implement the Telecommunications Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Act from June to August 2021. However, it has not yet published either the findings of the consultation or its response to these.48 Similarly, the Department is still analysing feedback on the consultation it ran from January to March 202149 on whether the Electronic Communications Code can help to ensure that the UK has sufficiently robust electronic communications networks to deliver the coverage and connectivity consumers and businesses need.50 We received written evidence from stakeholders, including commercial suppliers, who suggested that delays to reforms will make delivering the 2025 target more challenging. For instance, Openreach told us that that it can upgrade existing copper infrastructure, but that this would require primary legislation, which was not yet in place.51 Similarly, the Internet Service Providers’ Association and the Internet Networks Cooperative Association told us that barriers are diverting key funding away from the rollout and impacting the 43 Committee of Public Accounts Committee, Improving Broadband, Thirty-fifth Report of Session 2019–21, HC 688, 8 January 2021, para 2 44 Government response on the Thirty-Fifth report from the Committee of Public Accounts, Improving Broadband, Session 2019–21 CP 409, March 2021, para 2.2 and 2.3 45 Telecommunications Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Act 2021 - House of Commons Library (parliament.uk) 46 Q 50 47 Letter from Sarah Healey to PAC Chair Dame Meg Hillier Re: Improving Broadband, 23 November 2021 48 Q 53–56 49 Q 54 50 Closed consultation overview: Consultation on changes to the Electronic Communications Code – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) 51 DRB0007 DCMS recall (Broadband), Openreach, November 4, para 24 14 Delivering gigabit-capable broadband commercial viability of the build in certain areas; with operators spending substantial sums negotiating and Show less

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17 Conclusion Accepted

Stakeholders also suggested that there were areas where the Department’s approach to removing barriers to...

Conclusion

Stakeholders also suggested that there were areas where the Department’s approach to removing barriers to rolling out gigabit-capable infrastructure could be strengthened further.53 This was particularly the case regarding “wayleaves,” which are contractual agreements between landowners and telecommunications providers about … Read more

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20 Conclusion Accepted

In our report in January 2021, we found that the Department was still developing its...

Conclusion

In our report in January 2021, we found that the Department was still developing its £5 billion programme to subsidise roll-out to the hardest to reach 20% of the UK’s 31 million premises and could not tell us when it … Read more

Government Response Summary

BDUK's programme strategy and design of its interventions balances the need to be dynamic and responsive to the market’s plans while maintaining a minimum level of certainty and has implemented a robust process for surveying contract areas to understand suppliers’ commercial build plans. BDUK reviews its procurement approach following each round of procurements.

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21 Conclusion Accepted

We asked the Department why it had not just pressed ahead with the areas that...

Conclusion

We asked the Department why it had not just pressed ahead with the areas that it already knows are commercially unviable in the long term. It pointed us to Cumbria which had recently “been procured” and said that Cambridgeshire was … Read more

Government Response Summary

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