To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills which rural areas of the UK have exchanges that are not broadband-enabled. (291984)

All of BT's exchanges are broadband enabled (DSL). Recent research published by the independent regulator Ofcom (Communications Market Report, August 2009) shows that 99.92 per cent. of households in rural UK are linked to a broadband enabled exchange. However, some households will be unable to receive broadband for various network reasons, for example the distance of the household from the exchange.

To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what monitoring his Department carries out of bandwidth speeds available in rural areas. (292402)

The Department does not currently carry out any monitoring of bandwidth speeds available in rural areas. However, the independent telecommunications regulator, Ofcom, have published the broadband speed Code of Practice which all major internet service providers have signed up to, and have also recently published research on broadband speeds. The Code of Practice can be found at

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/media/features/bbcode.

The broadband speed research can be found at

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/media/features/broadbandspeedsjy.

To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what barriers he has identified in the delivery of the broadband Universal Service Commitment to rural areas. (292403)

The proposed arms-length body, the Network and Design and Procurement Company, will be responsible for identifying any barriers to the delivery of the universal service commitment across the UK, on behalf of Government. We hope to appoint a chief executive of this body in the autumn, and work will begin on the analysis later in the year.