To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what plans he has to improve the telecommunications infrastructure in rural areas to extend the provision of high speed broadband. [This section has been corrected on 14 May 2009, column 15MC — read correction]

The Budget confirmed the Government's plans to deliver a Universal Service for broadband up to 2 Mbps by 2012. This will allow virtually everyone to benefit from broadband services. The Budget also underlines the Government's commitment to helping business take full advantage of the opportunities offered in this area by announcing a review of Ofcom's powers and duties to ensure it can strike the right balance between supporting competition and encouraging investment. The Universal Service and Next Generation Access are also key aspects of the Digital Britain report, which will be published shortly.

The Government will also be carrying out research on broadband 'Not spots' under the cross-Government paper "Delivering Digital Inclusion—An Action Plan for Consultation" with the objective of putting information into the hands of local communities to enable them to manage the risks, and realise the opportunities of Next Generation Access locally and regionally, where they identify a need and want to activate their own solutions. This will also cover the devolved Administrations of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.