- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 28 January 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 11 February 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what action Scottish Enterprise and Highland and Islands Enterprise have each taken, or plan to take, since the publication of its report Knowledge Economy Cross-Cutting Initiative to take advantage of commercial e-learning opportunities.
Answer
Scottish Enterprise are, in liaison with Highland and Islands Enterprise and other partners, taking forward a number of activities aimed at taking advantage of commercial e-learning opportunities. Action within the broad area of e-learning includes promotion, development of supply capabilities and stimulating demand. These are operational matters for Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise and, as such, Mr Mundell may wish to contact the Chief Executives directly for details on action being taken.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 28 January 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 11 February 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise have each taken since the publication of its report Knowledge Economy Cross-Cutting Initiative to encourage the softer business and language skills necessary for Scotland to become a leading centre of e-commerce in Europe.
Answer
Following the publication of the Knowledge Economy Report, £6 million was allocated to the enterprise network for this purpose. The specific activities for which the funding is used are an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. The information is not held centrally.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 28 January 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 11 February 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it has taken, or plans to take, to improve aggregate performance on research and development as referred to in its report Knowledge Economy Cross-cutting Initiative.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-19144 on 14 November 2001. In addition, as part of the Scottish Economic Statistics Programme, the Executive is continuing to improve its understanding of the knowledge economy, innovation and research and development activity. Amongst other initiatives, the Executive is working on the development of a Knowledge Based Industries Index to measure growth in the Scottish knowledge economy, and recently published the results of a survey on Intellectual Property Commercialisation in Scottish Higher Education Institutions.
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/who/elld/reports/finalreport.asp.The Executive is also working with Scottish Enterprise to commission from the Office of National Statistics further analysis of business research and development expenditure in Scotland. This will hopefully provide a more detailed and rigorous explanation of the reasons underlying Scotland's record in research and development expenditure.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 28 January 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 11 February 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what venture capital support is available to small technology companies in the current financial year.
Answer
A number of private sector venture capital companies are active in this field. Various public sector supported schemes have also invested in small technology companies in the current financial year. The Executive has been considering whether the needs of such companies are being fully met in the present market and I expect to make an announcement very shortly.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 25 January 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 8 February 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what support the Highlands and Islands Partnership Programme has secured from the European Regional Development Fund for the infrastructure and development of Private/Public Partnerships which are required to overcome the economic and demand problems of broadband delivery in rural areas as referred to in the report by British Telecommunications plc, Broadband Britain-Realising the Vision.
Answer
Under the Highlands and Islands Special Transitional Programme 2000-06, ICT support is included under Measure 2.2 Improving Regional Competitiveness Through Developing the Information Society. The measure covers both awareness raising (demand side) activities and assistance for physical infrastructure (supply side). €13 million is allocated to the measure with a split of €4 million for the demand side and €9 million for supply side projects.No expenditure has yet been made on supply side projects. The programme requires that the partners commission an independent study to make recommendations on the best use of funds to enhance physical infrastructure. This is complete. An initial action plan has also been produced and a more detailed description of project activities is currently being finalised. The first application under this part of the measure will be submitted shortly.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 25 January 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 8 February 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how many households and businesses are currently connected to the internet, using a broadband connection.
Answer
Forty-nine per cent of the Scottish population have access to a broadband connection via cable or DSL. We do not have reliable figures for take-up of broadband services in Scotland. However, the Office of the E-Envoy are working to produce such figures in the longer term.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 25 January 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 8 February 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether rural areas will be at any disadvantage in accessing broadband communications and how it ensures that providers do not limit provision of broadband connection to areas that are cost-effective for them.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has no direct control over the provision of broadband services by telecoms operators. This is a commercial matter for the companies concerned and will largely depend on demand.The Scottish Executive has been working with the enterprise agencies to develop demand stimulation proposals under the UK broadband fund for innovative broadband projects. This approach is part of the Executive's wider broadband strategy, Connecting Scotland: our broadband future, launched in August 2001. The aim of the strategy is to make affordable pervasive broadband connections available to citizens and businesses across Scotland. The strategy also includes two further strands:A programme that will progressively aggregate public sector demand for broadband infrastructure. This approach is being taken forward initially in two pathfinder areas - the Highlands and Islands and South of Scotland. The Executive, taking account of both the experience in the pathfinder areas and developments in the telecoms sector, will consider how broadband services should be procured for the public sector in other rural areas. Close liaison at a UK level on regulatory and policy development.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 24 January 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 7 February 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of companies are currently online as referred to at point 7.5 in its report on the Knowledge Economy Cross Cutting Initiative.
Answer
Measuring levels of e-commerce uptake by Scottish businesses is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise. The results of the 2001 e-business benchmarking report, which includes figures for connectivity, can be found on:
http://www.ecommerce-scotland.org/internationalbenchmarking/.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 24 January 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 7 February 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive in what way Scottish Enterprise currently promotes e-business as referred to at point 7.7 in its report on the Knowledge Economy Cross Cutting Initiative.
Answer
This is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise. The information requested is not held centrally. Scottish Enterprise's e-business strategy is set out in the updated version of
Connecting Scotland, published in November 2001, which can be accessed on:
http://www.ecommerce-scotland.org/.
- Asked by: David Mundell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 24 January 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 7 February 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how Scotland's graduates compare with others around the world when competing to secure research in information and communication technology related to science and technologies as referred to at point 6.3 of its report on the Knowledge Economy Cross Cutting Initiative.
Answer
The information requested is not held centrally. I have asked the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council and Future Skills Scotland to discuss whether reliable data can be collected on this issue.
