Seòmar agus comataidhean

The £20 million advance payment was made to enable the delivery of the substantial subsea backhaul deployment as part of the Highlands and Islands Digital Scotland contract. Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) liaised with the Scottish and UK Governments at that time to confirm that the payment was in line with relevant procurement and State Aid rules. The payment was held in a separate account by BT and the funds were drawn down following evidence of eligible expenditure. The interest earned on the funds, which totalled £606,000, was returned to HIE when the £20 million had been drawn down in full. These funds will be used to extend coverage across the region.

Extending Digital Participation is an on-going programme that is innovative and responsive to advances in technology. It embraces a cradle to grave approach and offers choice to citizens, delivering options from basic digital skills through to employer recognised qualifications.

Those who would benefit the most from being online are often those who are the more vulnerable in society. We have formed a unique partnership with Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations. An umbrella organisation for charities which already hold a trusted position within their communities to deliver bespoke digital inclusion projects. In addition we work with Housing Associations and other social landlords providing support to help their tenants to gain or improve their digital skills.

Libraries are also valued delivery partners with an important part to play in increasing the levels and quality of digital participation in Scotland. A network of Digital Champions from each of the local authorities help support the investment in training and growing skills within staff and the public.

Our partnership with Scottish Union Learning is increasing skills within the workplace and our support for extracurricular coding clubs encourages young people to increase their digital skills and improve employability.

The Scottish Government continues to press BT to ensure that broadband speeds delivered over copper connections are maximised. BT is currently testing new technologies aimed at maximising broadband performance over copper, including a Long Reach VDSL trial on the Isle of Lewis. If successful, this should improve speeds across rural Scotland.

Any premise unable to receive superfast broadband speeds following the completion of the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband programme, and not part of commercial deployment plans, will be eligible for future phases of public investment to extend superfast access.

There are a wide range of factors that can impact broadband speeds or service, not limited to the level of simultaneous use.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) initially allocated £300,000 from its contractual innovation fund to support the delivery of vouchers provided as part of the National Satellite Broadband Scheme. Around £50,000 was utilised. This scheme has since been replaced by the UK Government’s Better Broadband Scheme and is now wholly funded by the UK Government. The balance of HIE’s original funding allocation for satellite has since been reallocated back to the innovation fund, and will be used to extend coverage across the region.

The Scottish Government’s original application for European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) resources sought £20.5 million for the Rest of Scotland Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband project. The Scottish Government subsequently reduced the funding sought from the ERDF programme in light of revised criteria for calculating eligible capital expenditure. £12 million was subsequently drawn down.

A breakdown of the £14 million is provided on page 10 of the Audit Scotland report. This comprises innovation funds across both contracts, funding originally allocated to deliver non-fibre technology and interest accrued.

The savings outlined on page 10 of the Audit Scotland report emerged due to BT’s actual costs being lower than expected. These calculations were made by BT not by the Scottish Government or Highlands and Islands Enterprise. The budget freed up by lower than expected actual costs will be redirected into extending the coverage footprint of both projects further, reaching more premises than originally anticipated.

We will set out our delivery approach, once we have finalised the coverage to be delivered through the existing Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband programme and consulted with the market to confirm future commercial investment plans. We will do this ahead of new procurement activity starting in 2017.

At least 95% of premises across Scotland will have fibre broadband access by the end of 2017, as a result of our investment in the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband programme and commercial rollout.

It is not possible to state definitively at this stage what speeds will be accessible by 2018. Much of this is dependent upon the commercial deployment of superfast broadband, which the Scottish Government does not hold information on.

The Scottish Government plans to launch an Open Market Review, ahead of new procurement activity in 2017, to determine (a) what has been delivered commercially and (b) what will be delivered commercially over the next 3 years. This will require suppliers to provide speed information at premise level. We will use this information to define a new intervention area for future public investment in broadband.