Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S5W-02906

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 4 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how it will allocate the £0.5 million to support digital business exchanges that was referred to the 2016-17 Programme for Government.

The funding allocation announced in the Programme for Government is aimed at encouraging more Internet Service Providers, content providers and local businesses with an online dependency and customer base in Scotland to join IXScotland – the first Internet Exchange point in Scotland, which we helped launch in 2013.

We are currently working up detailed proposals for the scheme, in conjunction with key partners including the IXScotland Steering Group. We will announce more details in due course.

Question reference: S5W-02888

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 4 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many breaks in broadband service provision lasting (a) more than and (b) up to one hour there have been in each of the last 12 months in each Scottish Parliamentary (i) constituency and (ii) region, and what information it has regarding how many were due to (A) technical reasons and (B) over-subscription.

Question reference: S5W-02887

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 4 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with broadband providers in the last year regarding the speeds that they offer customers.

The Scottish Government has regular dialogue with broadband providers on a range of issues, including speeds. I most recently met with BT on 6 September 2016 at which broadband speed issues were discussed. Ofcom, the UK telecoms regulator, has a key role in overseeing the quality of service, and speeds, delivered by broadband providers. I recently met Sharon White, Ofcom’s Chief Executive, where broadband speeds, and wider quality of service issues, were discussed.

Question reference: S5W-02881

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 4 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking through its Better Broadband Scheme to increase the take-up of standard broadband services; how much of the funding that it allocated to the scheme (a) has been spent and (b) remains unspent, and how many applications to it (i) have been approved, broken down by amount awarded to each applicant, (ii) have been rejected, broken down by the reason, and (iii) are pending a decision.

The Better Broadband Scheme is a UK Government initiative. Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) funds the scheme; sets the eligibility criteria for vouchers; and approves suppliers to be part of the voucher scheme. All financial transactions are undertaken by BDUK. The Scottish Government’s role is to process applications in Scotland, assess these against BDUK’s eligibility criteria, and issue voucher codes. The Scottish Government has not allocated any funding to the scheme and is not sighted on how much funding remains available. The UK Government has not allocated a specific amount of funding to Scotland.

To date, the Scottish Government has approved 169 voucher applications. These vouchers do not have a specific fixed value but are capped at £350. As financial transactions are undertaken by BDUK, we are unable to confirm the amounts ultimately awarded to each applicant.

The Scottish Government has deemed 40 applications ineligible as these did not meet the criteria set by BDUK. Detailed reasons are set out in the following table:

Already has Satellite	5
Already connected to fibre	5
Part of CBS project	12
Scheduled to receive Fibre within next 6-12 months	9
Can obtain speeds in excess of 2Mbps	9

35 applications are currently pending a decision.

Question reference: S5W-02901

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 4 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government by what date 100% rollout of broadband will be achieved.

Question reference: S5W-03018

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 4 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what minimum level of national broadband coverage by 31 December 2021 it considers will be acceptable, and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

Question reference: S5W-02904

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 4 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many Community Broadband Projects (a) there are and (b) it plans, and how it will ensure that these are fully-funded.

The Scottish Government’s support for community broadband projects is delivered through Community Broadband Scotland (CBS). CBS currently has 14 projects underway and in build; and a further 49 projects either about to enter the procurement or consultation phase. CBS is working with these communities to refine their plans and, in some cases, to determine whether they still want to progress a community owned or managed project. If so, funding will be made available to help deliver that aspiration, where a sustainable business case exists.

Question reference: S5W-02900

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 4 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what its investment priorities are for the new round of procurement for superfast broadband rollout and, if these have not been agreed, by what date it will do so.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring superfast broadband access for 100 per cent of premises across Scotland. Commercial investment will play a key role in delivering this target. We would anticipate that public sector funding will be focused primarily on extending superfast connectivity to rural areas, with commercial roll-out covering urban areas.

Precise investment priorities will be determined once an Open Market Review (OMR) has been completed and the findings analysed. It is not possible, at this stage, to specify a precise date; though we expect the OMR to begin in the coming months.

Question reference: S5W-02903

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 4 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what meetings it (a) has had and (b) plans with the UK Government regarding the impact of Brexit on the rollout of superfast broadband in Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-02910

Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 4 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the pledge in the 2016 SNP manifesto, for what reason it has extended the target date for 100% roll-out of superfast broadband to 2021.

The Scottish Government set out a commitment to extend superfast broadband access to 100 per cent of premises by 2021 in the Programme for Government, published on 6 September 2016. There was no previous Scottish Government commitment around superfast broadband access so there is no question of a target date having been extended. Our 2020 commitment relates to the delivery of world class, future-proofed digital infrastructure, rather than superfast broadband access.