Businesses
South East Cambridgeshire has a thriving local economy and we have many industries to be proud of. I regularly meet with local businesses in the constituency - at business parks or on high streets - to get their views on the support they need. A particular focus of mine is connecting businesses with aspiring workers through apprenticeships.
I also maintain close contact with our outstanding local farming community to better support and represent their needs.
Broadband
I recognise how important access to a reliable broadband connection is for my constituents and since I was elected in 2015, I have campaigned to ensure that the whole of the constituency can access superfast broadband (defined as speeds of over 24mbps). In particular, I have worked with Openreach and the government-funded Connecting Cambridgeshire programme to eliminate broadband not spots, and it is encouraging that 97% of my constituency can now access such speeds.
Clearly, though, there remains more to be done, and there is now a focus on prioritising investment in gigabit-capable broadband. The Government is working with industry to target a minimum of 85% gigabit-capable coverage by 2025, with the ambition to accelerate roll-out further to get as close to 100% as possible. Currently, the UK-wide figure for Gigabit-capable coverage is 72%, whereas in South East Cambridgeshire it is 65%.
I am, therefore, pleased that Cambridgeshire is among the first areas in the country to benefit from the Government’s £5 billion Project Gigabit scheme bringing gigabit speeds to harder to reach areas, with rollout of improvements now underway. In March 2023, CityFibre were awarded a £69m contract by the Government to upgrade 45,000 homes across Cambridgeshire, including many in my constituency.