Digital inclusion projects have helped increase individual skills; increase individual opportunities; increase social interaction; improve confidence, and improve community working. The Executive is developing proposals to improve sharing of information and good practice between practitioners.

The Executive continues to work with the BBC to ensure that Scottish interests are represented in policy on production of digital material for schools and more generally. I intend to meet senior BBC representatives shortly.

The length of time taken to train a local champion in the effective use of ICTs depends on a number of factors such as the individual's previous experience. An effective local champion not only has to be confident in the use of ICTs, but also has to be able to realise the potential for ICTs to enhance local activities and learning opportunities. The European Computer Driving License (ECDL) is a good indicator of proficiency in the use of ICTs. The study time required will depend on the individual, but typically might be around 40 hours. The fees charged for an ECDL course by a training provider will vary - but might lie between £150 and £250. However additional training in other skills may also be required.A further example of a scheme that trains local champions is the National Grid for Learning's "Connecting Communities" programme. This course does not aim to deliver core ICT skills but instead aims to equip local champions with the knowledge, skills and understanding to integrate ICT into everyday work.Using the freely available NGfL training materials (http://www.ngflscotland.gov.uk/communities/training) the successful trainees are expected to cascade their new skills to up to 10 other local community representatives. Apart from some equipment costs and the cost of producing the training materials and making them available on-line, typical basic training costs for a group of 12 participants are:

3 days face-to-face ICT training	£1,500
4 days further support	£2,000

Some participants will need more support than others to get to the point where these new skills can be effectively and enthusiastically cascaded to other community practitioners but these figures give a reasonable indication of the costs involved.

There is as yet no consensus with education authorities and others on the handling of intellectual property issues. Learning and Teaching Scotland is working closely with all the local authorities, through the Inter-Authority Collaborative Network, to ensure learning materials produced with public funds are used to best effect across Scotland. Learning and Teaching Scotland has used the development of the five to 14 online resource www.ngflscotland.gov.uk/5-14/guidelines to explore copyright, licensing and intellectual property issues with schools and local authorities. The schools licence recently announced for the SCRAN database gives schools access to an environment in which they can create and share online materials based on items from SCRAN.The planned Scottish Schools Digital Network will provide a focus for the exchange of materials, and the development of the specification for the network will provide a further opportunity to examine intellectual property issues with local authorities.

The Executive's response to point 56 was that it would set up a dedicated digital inclusion unit to co-ordinate work on digital inclusion. Last year this was done, the Executive created a dedicated digital inclusion unit to take forward its objectives for digital inclusion. As a first step, in discussion with partners in the public, private and voluntary sectors, the digital inclusion team developed the Executive's Digital Inclusion Strategy Connecting Scotland's People which was published in September 2001 (see www.scotland.gov.uk/digitalscotland), which sets out the Executive's framework for developing digital inclusion. The team is now taking forward a range of initiatives to increase awareness of the benefits of the web; increase access to the web; improve skills; and involve communities.

Building on the experience gained from existing partnerships with commercial providers, the Executive and Learning and Teaching Scotland are developing a procurement strategy covering the financial years 2002-03 and 2003-04 that will continue to raise the awareness of all commercial providers of the opportunities afforded by the Executive's extensive investment in educational software and content.Learning and Teaching Scotland will continue to engage with trade bodies in the software and multimedia industries, and is represented on the steering group that is guiding the creation of E-learning Alliance Scotland.

As at 30 November 2001, 223 learning centres had gained learndirect scotland branding. Of these, 111 are in areas of social deprivation. A comprehensive list of the learndirect scotland learning centres and their locations has been lodged with the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 18426).

The Executive's digital champions initiative is working in Social Inclusion Partnership areas to assess current levels of ICT provision and demand for expert advice, and is already providing advice to practitioners on issues such as good practice and fund raising. The Executive is currently developing proposals on how to improve the exchange of information and good practice on digital inclusion issues.

The guidelines for UK Government websites published by the Office of the e-Envoy contain detailed information and set standards for the design and delivery of fully accessible websites and online services. Version 2 of the guidelines is currently going through consultation and the Executive is taking part in that process.

Through the Executive's Digital Inclusion Strategy "Connecting Scotland's People" we are developing a number of promotional schemes to increase skills and raise awareness of the benefits of using PCs and the internet. This includes the UK Online TV advertising campaign aimed at getting everyone online which started in November 2001, which the Executive worked on with UK government. A number of other schemes to promote awareness of the benefits of the web are also being developed and we expect these to start later in the year.