Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-19331

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 18 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when the estimated last date will be that rural residents in Fife can expect to have superfast broadband installed.

The Reaching 100% (R100) programme is ensuring that all homes and businesses can access superfast broadband. This commitment is being delivered through three strands of activity – the £600 million R100 contracts (North, Central and South), our R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme (SBVS) and commercial coverage.

The R100 Central contract, which includes Fife, is currently expected to complete build by the end of March 2024. The contract has so far delivered 407 Fibre To The Cabinet connections in Fife, with all remaining connections expected to be full fibre, capable of delivering gigabit download speeds.

For those properties beyond the reach of the R100 contracts or commercial coverage plans, the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme – offering vouchers worth up to £5,000 – remains available to help secure a superfast broadband connection.

However, as the R100 SBVS is a demand-led scheme, it is not possible to provide dates by which people might be connected.

Likewise, for properties within the plans of commercial broadband suppliers, we do not hold data on when those connections will be delivered.

Question reference: S6W-19330

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 18 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when the estimated last date will be that rural residents in Perth and Kinross can expect to have superfast broadband installed.

The Reaching 100% (R100) programme is ensuring that all homes and businesses can access superfast broadband. This is being delivered through three strands of activity – the £600 million R100 contracts (North, Central and South), our R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme (R100 SBVS) and commercial coverage.

Both the R100 North and Central contracts will deliver connections across Perth and Kinross - with final connections due to be delivered through the contracts by March 2028. The R100 contracts are now solely delivering full fibre, gigabit capable connectivity, over 30 times faster than our superfast commitment.

For those properties beyond the reach of the R100 contracts or commercial coverage plans, the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme – offering vouchers worth up to £5,000 – remains available to help secure a superfast broadband connection.

However, as the R100 SBVS is a demand-led scheme, it is not possible to provide dates by which people might be connected.

Likewise, for properties within the plans of commercial broadband suppliers, we do not hold data on when those connections will be delivered.

Question reference: S6W-19328

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 3 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government by what date it expects that the R100 superfast broadband programme will be completed.

Question reference: S6W-19329

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 3 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason there has been a delay in the R100 programme from the original target date of 2021.

The R100 superfast broadband commitment was delivered by ensuring that everyone could access a superfast broadband connection, if they chose to, by the end of 2021 either through the R100 contracts, the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme or commercial coverage.

The R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme is a demand-led scheme, meaning it is ultimately up to tenants and owners as to whether or not they seek to secure a connection through this route.

In August 2022, a £36 million contract extension to the R100 North and South contracts was announced, which will extend the reach of those contracts to a further 2,637 rural and island premises. Whilst this extends the contract completion dates for these contracts it means that more premises in rural and island communities will be able to access full fibre, gigabit capable, broadband services.

Question reference: S6W-18610

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 02 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 15 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much money it has received through the Barnett formula as a result of the Apprenticeship Levy in the last full academic year.

Question reference: S6W-18611

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 02 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 15 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been spent on the Flexible Workforce Development Fund in the last academic year, including in relation to any projects designed to support apprenticeships.

The most up-to-date data on Flexible Workforce Development Fund (FWDF) spend for Academic Year 22-23, as provided by the Scottish Funding Council to the end of March 2023 and Skills Development Scotland to early June 2023, (rounded to nearest thousand):

In discussion / Agreement in Principle

Contractually Agreed

(Committed)

Training in Progress / Completed

(Spend)

£1,323,000

£6,993,000

£2,301,000

The avove figures are provisional. Accurate data on spend can only be provided when delivery has been completed at the end of December 2023.

The Flexible Workforce Development Fund does not support the delivery of apprenticeships but provides employers with flexible training opportunities for their existing workforce. Apprentices can, however, undertake training through the FWDF in addition to their apprenticeship.

Question reference: S6O-02406

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 June 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it and NHS Scotland are taking to implement the recommendations of the Cass Review into gender identity services for children and young people, as they apply to Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-18051

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 30 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether entitlement to the Small Business Bonus Scheme should be granted automatically to eligible ratepayers, as opposed to it having to be claimed for.

Public bodies have a duty to manage public finances appropriately and this includes ensuring that procedures for administering relief are suitably robust.

Most reliefs generally require an application to be made to the local authority except for universally available reliefs. This is because applications help local authorities determine whether a property is eligible for a particular relief.

The Small Business Bonus Scheme relief is available for properties where the rateable value of the property does not exceed £20,000 and where the rateable value of all of the ratepayer’s properties does not exceed £35,000 and where the property is not used for an excluded purpose.

An application for Small Business Bonus Scheme relief therefore requires ratepayers to declare information regarding their non-domestic properties in Scotland, allowing local authorities to determine whether the eligibility criteria for the relief is met.

Question reference: S6W-18050

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 30 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to promote the Small Business Bonus Scheme to eligible ratepayers.

Scottish Government and local authority websites provide information on a range of non-domestic rates reliefs, including the Small Business Bonus Scheme, with advice on eligibility criteria and how to apply. It also has a Non-Domestic Rates Calculator which is a tool which can provide ratepayers with an estimate of their non-domestic rates bill for the year and indicates whether a property may be eligible for the Small Business Bonus Scheme relief.

In response to a recommendation in the Barclay Review, the Scottish Government issued templates to all local authorities to support standardized bills across Scotland. These templates have been widely adopted and bills issued include advice that a range of reliefs and reductions are available to support ratepayers and direct them to further information.

Question reference: S6W-17846

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 25 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it has taken to work with the business sector to alleviate any concerns regarding whether their demand is being met in relation to Scottish Government spending on apprenticeships.

Apprenticeships are a vital resource for employers to invest in their workforce and for people to develop their skills. Investing in skills across people’s lifetimes is critical to our future productivity and success, underlining our commitment to a skilled workforce set out within the National Strategy for Economic Transformation.

Skills Development Scotland (SDS) is responsible for managing the modern apprenticeship programme in line with Ministerial expectations, and taking into account industry demand. The Modern Apprenticeship demand assessment includes consultation with industry to inform the contracting strategy .

It is standard practice for SDS to work with employers and review changing employer demand for apprenticeship starts in-year, and they adjust the number of starts allocated to respond as appropriate within their budget.

This month, SDS concluded a reallocation process and will issue updated contract awards for over 2,000 new Modern Apprenticeship starts to providers with strong evidence of employer demand and where there is a need to support critical skills in the economy. SDS will continue to follow this process this financial year.

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