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The total amount spent on digital skills training within Scottish Government is not held centrally. Each Scottish Government Directorate manages their own training budget and training is based on workstream /individual requirements. The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

In September 2017, the Scottish Government’s Digital Directorate increased the training options available through the launch of the Scottish Digital Academy. This aims to close recognised skills gaps through courses, in subjects such as agile project management, and has delivered training to over 1,200 delegates since that time.

I refer the member to the answer to S5W-24026 on 29 July 2019 for an explanation of budget allocation to date. Future investment is part of the challenging considerations we have in setting our 2019-20 Programme for Government and Spending Review plans.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

The Scottish Government published the Public Sector Action Plan on Cyber Resilience in November 2017 and has provided public sector bodies with an implementation tool kit, draft supply chain cyber security guidance, Cyber Incident Response guidance and a Central Incident Notification and Coordination policy to support a consistent approach to cyber security across the public sector.

More than 45 public sector bodies are directly provided with ICT services and support from the Scottish Government and 62 public sector bodies have received funding towards Cyber Essentials pre-assessments to promote consistency across the wider sector in securing public sector systems against the most common cyber risks.

There is no legislation specifically relating to the management of open spaces within woodlands for fire prevention. However the UK Forestry Standard (UKFS) – the reference standard for sustainable forest management - requires that forest managers consider the risks of fire when designing their woodlands.

Guidance to support the UKFS was published in 2014 to help reduce the likelihood and severity of wildfires in forests and woodlands. The guidance - Building Wildfire Resilience into Forest Management Planning – covers management of open spaces as well as other issues.

Scottish Forestry assesses woodland creation proposals and management plans against the UKFS, and takes into account the supplementary guidance when doing so. Forestry & Land Scotland follows the UKFS, and takes into account the supplementary guidance, in managing national forests and land.

The Government’s STEM Strategy specifically highlights the importance of providing opportunities for young people to develop their digital skills. In line with the Strategy, we are providing dedicated support for digital learning and teaching through a range of projects for early years, primary and secondary schools. We have updated the school curriculum guidance to introduce a clear expectation that young people learn the fundamentals of computing science and digital skills from the earliest years.

Education Scotland is continuing to provide professional learning opportunities for teachers, including through the establishment of Computing Science Lead Teacher networks (one for primary and early years and 6 regional networks for secondary) whose members will receive national-level training to be cascaded to local practitioners.

Education Scotland has also worked with the Barefoot Computing programme to ensure that teaching resources are linked to the curriculum. The latest available data shows that 69% of schools in Scotland have engaged with the programme through workshops or by teachers downloading resources. In addition, Education Scotland along with British Computing Science has published “Quick Start” guides for primary schools along with a Computing at Schools Scotland resource for early years and primary. Other support activity has included work with Police Scotland to promote a resource it created for Cyber Resilience aimed at pupils in S1 to S3 .

The Digital Schools Award provides primary and secondary schools with a framework to embed digital technology within learning and teaching. The scheme offers a step by step framework for primary and secondary schools to support the best use of technology in learning.

We are determined that the R100 programme delivers the best possible value and benefit for Scotland. The highly competitive procurement process we have designed seeks to achieve this. The R100 procurement is ongoing and delivery timescales will be confirmed once we have a supplier in place. Given the complexity of the procurement, legally, financially and technically, we have always acknowledged 2021 would be a challenging target to meet.

The initial 6-week extension was granted in May 2018. This extension did not represent a material change nor would it have impacted on the overall procurement timetable so was not referenced in previous answers.

The appointment of a preferred bidder (or bidders) is anticipated to take place by the end of September of this year, with contracts to be awarded by the end of this year. The detail of the work programmes will be determined once the contracts are awarded.

There are no financial implications.

I have set out revised timescales to Parliament and have committed to update Parliament once the procurement process is completed, but there are no further delays anticipated to the R100 programme process.