To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to Answer of 16 July 2020 to Question 72900, whether any underspend on SME broadband voucher allocation will still be used to stimulate broadband use by SMEs.
Answered on
23 July 2020
The Rural Gigabit Voucher Scheme is being funded from a HM Treasury capex allocation via the National Infrastructure Productivity Fund (NPIF). Demand stimulation activities are an opex cost so as such, Building Digital UK (BDUK) is unable to “flip” the funding in this particular instance.
However, BDUK has separately applied for and been allocated demand stimulation funding for the voucher scheme for both SMEs and residential premises. The launch of this campaign is currently underway.