1. To ask the Scottish Government what is being done to provide access to fibre broadband in areas where there is an insufficiency of hardware to meet demand. (S5O-00499)

The Scottish Government and our partners are investing more than £400 million in the digital Scotland superfast broadband programme to extend fibre broadband access to at least 95 per cent of homes and businesses across Scotland by the end of 2017. The digital Scotland programme has given access to fibre broadband to around 679,000 homes and businesses, over 90 per cent of which are capable of receiving superfast speeds.

The programme is delivering new fibre infrastructure in areas that the market would not otherwise have reached. Where demand exceeds capacity in an area connected by the digital Scotland superfast broadband programme, extra equipment can be added to the existing fibre cabinets, or a new larger capacity Cabinet can be built, to ensure that everyone can connect to fibre.

The village of Kirkliston is a beautiful and welcoming community just 8 miles from the chamber. Its citizens pay the City of Edinburgh Council’s council tax rates and Edinburgh property prices, but they are often overlooked when it comes to things such as affordable public transport links and even—until two weeks ago—Christmas lights. On five occasions in the past four years, residents have been told to ready themselves for the arrival of fibre optic broadband, only to be thwarted for a range of reasons to do with hardware and cabling connections to the nearest exchange. This summer, to a frisson of excitement, some streets started receiving faster broadband, but—again because of hardware issues—that stalled, with many homes making do with near dial-up speeds of 2Mbps, which is 90 per cent lower than the city average.

Can the Cabinet secretary advise my constituents in Kirkliston when they can expect to be fully connected, and how he plans to work with digital Scotland to better manage expectations for fibre optic roll-out?

I am pleased to note that, at the end of quarter 1 in 2016-17, around 3,300 premises in Mr Cole-Hamilton’s Edinburgh Western Constituency had been connected to the fibre network, with at least 3,200 able to receive superfast speeds.

Mr Cole-Hamilton’s constituency is indeed in the City of Edinburgh Council local authority area, where, by the end of the same quarter, approximately 12,500 premises had been connected to the fibre network by the digital Scotland programme, providing 92.7 per cent coverage, with at least 91.7 per cent able to receive superfast speeds.

If Mr Cole-Hamilton had given me notice about Kirkliston, I would have looked at that area specifically. I am happy to do so if he wishes to write to me. However, I am proud of the fact that, because of our £400 million programme, we are proceeding towards 95 per cent coverage by the end of next year, and 679,000 homes have already been connected. Had we not had that programme, coverage would have been not 95 per cent but 66 per cent. I put those facts into the equation.

Will the Cabinet secretary consider amending procurement regulations to ensure that there is a presumption in favour of installing broadband connectivity when any new buildings are constructed, whether they are fully funded or part funded by public money?

We have been working to enable the roll-out of digital technology as swiftly as possible, particularly in relation to permitted development rights for mobile masts. Many local authorities—not least those in my own part of Scotland— lobbied us for that. Mr McMillan makes a sensible point and I am happy to look into it as a positive contribution to the debate.

Mr Cole-Hamilton made a pertinent point. Many people who live in urban areas in towns—such as Kilwinning in my region—or even in cities are frustrated that, although fibre is being delivered to local cabinets, they still cannot access high-speed internet. Can the Cabinet secretary confirm that none of the residential or commercial premises that are unable to access high-speed broadband has been counted in the current success statistics? Will he guarantee that every one of them will have access by the end of the parliamentary session?

The member should know, because he has heard this before—as have many other members—that a quarterly audit process is carried out to audit and analyse performance under the contract. The figure of 679,000, which I mentioned to him at committee this morning, is not yet audited, but once it has been, we will be able to see that we are well advanced on our way towards meeting our targets. Further, although the Conservatives do not like to hear this, Audit Scotland has already said in its independent report that we are well on track to achieve performance under our contract. If the member is not interested in that, I can tell him that ofcom, the independent United Kingdom regulator, has said that Scotland is making faster progress than the rest of the UK. I will not be satisfied until we have achieved the universal coverage that is in our manifesto. Surely, at this time of the year, we could expect a little bit more from what is supposed to be the main Opposition than unremitting negativity.

The Cabinet secretary will be aware that people who live in rural areas are often some distance from fibre. What other future-proofed and high-speed technologies will be used in those areas?

That was a more sensible question than the previous one, if I may say so. Rhoda Grant is quite right to say, as she did at committee this morning, that we need to examine different approaches to different solutions for different parts of Scotland. Community broadband is working in 77 projects, for example, and a special project is being developed by BT to provide better coverage in the Western Isles. There is a variety of technologies, and we are open to working with any member who wants to contribute in a positive fashion.