The coalition government has today launched an interesting new "transparency website" that publishes its business plans, including financial information, structural reform data and priorities, for all of their various departments. In particular we noted an interesting reference to a "subsidy" for homes without broadband ISP access, though this is most likely to concern government costs as opposed to a subsidy payment for homes.

The information appeared in a "draft sample" for "input indicators" of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). At present this doesn't include all of the DCMS plans and spending (hence, "draft sample"), similarly anything mentioned is subject to consultation and a revised set will be ready for publication by April 2011.


In addition the DCMS page also included a section called "impact indicators", which are apparently designed to help the public judge whether government policies and reforms are having the right effect. This included a brief mention of several annual plans, including a regional "UK broadband take-up" report, with a publication date set for April 2011.

We also found further details for the DCMS's broadband spending over the next few years. Sadly the data lacked any kind of explanation and is not a complete account of the £530m (reaching £830m by 2017) that has already been set aside to deal with broadband rollouts into remote and rural areas of the country.


Under current plans the government has two focuses for its broadband spending. Firstly, the Universal Service Commitment (USC) seeks to make a minimum broadband download speed of at least 2Mbps available to everybody by 2015. The rest of the cash will be put towards bringing newer "super-fast" broadband services to "most" rural areas by 2015, although the goals for achieving that are sadly somewhat less specific.

The Welsh Assembly Government has been running a subsidy scheme in Wales since July 2010 (here). Individual homes and businesses under the scheme, specifically those that exist in parts of Wales where even basic broadband connection speeds (0.5Mbps (512Kbps)) remain unavailable ("not-spots"), are able to apply for a grant worth up to £1,000 to help them get online. This can mitigate installation or service costs, such as with expensive broadband Satellite solutions.

At this stage we do not yet know how the central government's plan will work, although it could be something similar to WAG's approach. In addition the new community-led "super-fast" broadband pilots in the Highlands and Islands, North Yorkshire, Cumbria and Herefordshire and also due to get underway in April 2011. Further details are expected to be announced in December 2010.

The UK Governments Transparency Website
http://transparency.number10.gov.uk