Digital Exclusion: Na h-Eileanan an Iar

1. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to reduce digital exclusion in Na h-Eileanan an Iar constituency.

Welcome, Secretary of State.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I hope the House will bear with me, as I fear I may be losing my voice. Some people may be happy about that, but I will attempt to get through as best I can.

This Government are determined to ensure that everyone has access to the skills, support and confidence they need to take part in a modern digital society, wherever they live and whatever their circumstances. This is a hugely important issue in my hon. Friend’s constituency, which I believe has one of the lowest levels—if not the lowest level—of broadband coverage in the country. Building Digital UK recently signed a £157 million contract to deliver broadband across the Western Isles, including in my hon. Friend’s constituency. He is determined to make sure this happens as an urgent priority, as am I.

I welcome the Secretary of State and her friendly-faced team to their posts. I also welcome the millions going into Project Gigabit. However, that money is finding its way into Openreach’s coffers but not to the end of the road in the Western Isles. I have many constituents, including two in my own village of Swordale, who have built their homes and have all the utilities except broadband. The cabinet is just a couple of hundred metres away, but why should Openreach throw the switch? It has made millions from installation down the spine of the islands, but it is not going the last few yards. Can the Secretary of State press Openreach to go those last few yards and look at the physical infrastructure access costs that other providers have to pay for legacies like copper wiring and wooden poles from another era?

I thank my hon. Friend for his passion about this issue. He should come in and talk to Ministers, officials and Building Digital UK to set out what he thinks needs to happen, because we are only going to get this right if we work with people on the ground. The Western Isles contract will provide cover for 65,000 new premises across the area, including 8,000 in my hon. Friend’s constituency. We have to do this—we have to push further and faster—and I am sure my hon. Friend will make it happen on the ground.

I presume there is a constituency link.

On behalf of my party, I welcome the Secretary of State to her place.

On the other side of the highlands in the royal burgh of Cromarty—it is an adjacent seat, Mr Speaker—we have an appalling situation. I have in my constituency an old lady with a heart condition who had no means of communication whatsoever for days on end. Will the Secretary of State have a word in the right ear to sort out this desperate situation?

If the hon. Gentleman sends us the details, we will make that issue a top priority. As we build the country of the future through jobs, growth and transforming public services, we cannot deliver for everybody in every part of the country unless they have the broadband coverage they need. Three of the seven new contracts that BDUK has signed this year are in Scotland, with funding of—I believe—£287 million. We want value for money, and the hon. Gentleman wants to deliver for his constituents. Together, we will make it happen.