Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government does not hold detailed records on breaks in broadband service provision across Scotland. Ofcom, the UK telecoms regulator, is responsible for monitoring the quality of service delivered across the telecoms industry.

The £42 million referred to in the Audit Scotland report has already been confirmed. It comprises a £21 million allocation from the UK Government, which has been matched by the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government is committed to extending superfast broadband access to 100 per cent of premises across Scotland by 2021.

The Digital Participation Programme has been in place since 2012. The 2016 programme consists of a Digital Participation budget commitment of £1.9 million to raise the levels of digital participation. Public Library Improvement Funding of £450k has been provided to promote activity within libraries. Additionally, through the Digital Scotland Business Excellence Partnership, we have supported the delivery of the ICT and Digital Technologies Skills Investment Plan with funding of £8.5 million.

The overall impact of our investment so far is that of the four parts of the UK, Scotland has the highest level of basic digital skills. Since measurement began in 2007, the percentage of people in Scotland using the internet has steadily increased; 82% of citizens now have access to the social, cultural and economic benefits the internet can bring.

Extending Digital Participation is an on-going programme which is innovative and responsive to advances in technology. It offers choice to citizens, delivering options from basic digital skills through to employer recognised qualifications.

This approach ensures that in addition to being consumers, citizens have the opportunity to become digital makers. The programme therefore moves beyond ensuring basic digital skills to supporting extracurricular coding clubs, promoting the benefits of being on line and in some instances the provision of Wifi and supported learning in libraries and other community hubs to reduce the barriers to getting on line.

Extending Digital Participation is an on-going programme that is innovative and responsive to advances in technology. It embraces a cradle to grave approach and offers choice to citizens, delivering options from basic digital skills through to employer recognised qualifications.

Those who would benefit the most from being online are often those who are the more vulnerable in society. We have formed a unique partnership with Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations. An umbrella organisation for charities which already hold a trusted position within their communities to deliver bespoke digital inclusion projects. In addition we work with Housing Associations and other social landlords providing support to help their tenants to gain or improve their digital skills.

Libraries are also valued delivery partners with an important part to play in increasing the levels and quality of digital participation in Scotland. A network of Digital Champions from each of the local authorities help support the investment in training and growing skills within staff and the public.

Our partnership with Scottish Union Learning is increasing skills within the workplace and our support for extracurricular coding clubs encourages young people to increase their digital skills and improve employability.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) initially allocated £300,000 from its contractual innovation fund to support the delivery of vouchers provided as part of the National Satellite Broadband Scheme. Around £50,000 was utilised. This scheme has since been replaced by the UK Government’s Better Broadband Scheme and is now wholly funded by the UK Government. The balance of HIE’s original funding allocation for satellite has since been reallocated back to the innovation fund, and will be used to extend coverage across the region.

We will set out our delivery approach, once we have finalised the coverage to be delivered through the existing Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband programme and consulted with the market to confirm future commercial investment plans. We will do this ahead of new procurement activity starting in 2017.

The Digital Scotland contracts agreed between the Scottish Government, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and BT contain clauses that generate revenue for the public sector if broadband take-up on the new infrastructure exceeds a certain level. BT brought forward almost £18 million of this so-called Gainshare funding in 2015 which can be reinvested in the contracts. BT has modelled this funding, alongside other residual funding within both contracts, in recent months in line with criteria laid out by public sector partners. This process is not yet complete across both contracts. We will announce further details of the coverage impacts arising from the modelling in the coming weeks.

The Scottish Government and Highlands and Islands Enterprise has regular discussions with BT around the management of the Digital Scotland contracts. This includes ensuring that funding within the contract is fully utilised to extend coverage, making use of resources freed up as a result of BT’s actual costs being lower than expected.

The Scottish Government has written to the UK Government, urging them to establish a Working Group to oversee the design of the proposed Universal Service Obligation (USO) for broadband in Scotland. I recently met with Sharon White, Chief Executive of Ofcom, at which the broadband USO was discussed.