Chamber and committees

The Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) programme is a £410 million investment of public and private funding designed to extend access to superfast broadband. In tandem with commercial deployment, DSSB will provide 95% of premises in Scotland with superfast broadband by 2017-18.

The DSSB programme is being achieved through two regional projects – one in the Highlands and Islands (led by Highlands and Islands Enterprise) and the other in the rest of Scotland (led by the Scottish Government).

Rollout plans for both projects are built around postcodes and exchange areas. These do not correlate with the ‘47 clusters’ list cited. Consequently it is only possible to provide deployment information on the associated exchange. This is summarised in the following table:

The Scottish Government is not responsible for funding the costs of the disposal of unmarketable fish landed under the landing obligation. Marine Scotland is facilitating the offshore and onshore sectors to increase selectivity and spatial avoidance to avoid catching unmarketable fish in the first instance. Marine Scotland is also supporting those sectors to identify and develop options for disposing of unmarketable or undersized fish which is landed. Such measures are eligible for support from the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund.

Marine Scotland is working with the fishing industry to minimise the catch of unmarketable fish and to provide support to identify and develop options for disposing of unmarketable fish. The costs of such disposal are difficult to quantify with precision at this stage given that we have no prior experience of a landing obligation affecting demersal fish and Nephrops. However, we have been working strenuously to agree a phased approach to the landing obligation which has been submitted for approval by Member States to the European Commission. This approach envisages a gradual phasing in of the landing obligation affecting only a few species at the outset, meaning that the impact on onshore disposal is not expected to be great in 2016. Member States have also agreed to propose to the commission de minimis exemptions from the landing obligation in 2016 for a proportion of Nephrops catches in order to minimise the costs of onshore disposal of unmarketable Nephrops.

* excludes design development, management fees, contingency costs.

** includes design development, management fees, contingency costs plus claims and additional costs.

*** includes consultant fees and supervision.

**** includes additional works that were not included in the tender.

***** includes contingency costs.

During the period Friday 26 June 2015 until Saturday 29 August 2015 the MV Isle of Lewis will operate two extra return journeys, on Fridays and Saturdays, to provide increased capacity on the Ullapool to Stornoway service. No decision has yet been made as to which ferry routes the MV Isle of Lewis is to be used in future years following its replacement by the MV Loch Seaforth.

The Patients Travelling Expenses Scheme provides for the reimbursement of travelling expenses for patients on certain qualifying benefits or those residing in the Highlands and Islands who have to travel long distance to attend a hospital appointment.

Those patients who travel to hospital by car and qualify for reimbursement may claim the lesser of the estimated cost of petrol actually used or the equivalent public transport cost. It is for individual NHS boards to calculate the appropriate mileage rates based on local circumstances.

The Scottish Government strongly opposes so-called rendition flights. Scotland has always been a country that respects the rights and responsibilities of all its citizens and the rule of law. The Scottish Government has not and will not approve a policy of facilitating the transfer of individuals through Scottish territory or air space to places where there are substantial grounds to believe that they would face a real risk of torture.

This is an ongoing criminal investigation and therefore is a matter for independent prosecutors. It would be inappropriate for Scottish Ministers to be involved or to comment on the investigation.