Written Question

Mr. Soames: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps his Department is taking to increase access to broadband coverage in (a) Mid Sussex constituency and (b) West Sussex. [295686]

Member Answering Question: The Rt Hon Stephen Timms MP, Minister for Digital Britain:

Answer: We have recently set up the Network Design and Procurement Company as we pledged to do in the Digital Britain Report. The Company will be responsible for procuring the upgrade and replacement works to deliver the Universal Service Commitment (USC) for 2Mbps to virtually every community by 2012 and, in due course, the administration of the Next Generation Fund outlined in the Digital Britain White Paper.

On take up of broadband and Digital Inclusion the Government have also appointed Martha Lane Fox as our Digital Inclusion Champion. Her role will be to find ways of helping people without previous experience of computers to develop the skills needed to make use of the internet in order to take advantage of the benefits it offers.