I welcome the opportunity to speak in the debate, and I congratulate Beatrice Wishart on securing this final members’ business debate ahead of recess.

Having access to fast and reliable broadband and being digitally included in today’s ever-more digital society is of the utmost importance for rural parts of Scotland, including Dumfries and Galloway, for many of the reasons that have already been well rehearsed by Beatrice Wishart. For individuals in rural areas, full fibre access is crucial if they are to be able to work from home, to access Government support services and to stay connected with friends and relations. It is needed for children and young people to access education resources and for online streaming services, gaming and browsing, all of which can happen simultaneously in people’s homes.

Full fibre is needed for businesses to connect with their customer base, to conduct business transactions and to run systems. With the rise of cybersecurity threats, having a secure and reliable connection is paramount. Full fibre connection supports advanced cybersecurity systems, ensuring that any business’s critical data is protected.

We transitioned pretty quickly during the Covid lockdown to conduct our work using the internet and other platforms, with our Teams links and Zoom links. Indeed, fibre access is so important in helping people in the world of work and in tackling social isolation and loneliness, as was pointed out by Third Sector Dumfries and Galloway in a report that it did last year.

I will start on a positive note. As of January this year, 5,000 additional households and businesses in Dumfries and Galloway can now connect to better broadband speeds through the Scottish Government’s £600 million reaching 100 per cent programme, and more are set to benefit from upgrades. Full fibre technology is now available to 40,000 of the hardest-to-connect properties, with the R100 roll-out reaching homes and places in Dumfries and Galloway, including Auchencairn, Crossmichael, Castle Douglas, Kirkcudbright and Ringford. Openreach engineers have managed to address not-spots for fibre connectivity for my constituents in Borgue and Twynholm, as well as in Bridge of Dee and Newton Stewart.

I name all those because it is important for everybody to hear that they have the connectivity that they now need in order to manage their daily lives. From a Wigtown wigwam tourism business that my office has been supporting, I know how beneficial it has been to obtain that connection—it has been fantastic for both the business and its guests. Owners Fraser and Lorraine have said that the connection is attracting more people to their fantastic holiday site and that the connection is supporting their business to connect better with their customer base, so I pay tribute to the Openreach staff for their continued and dedicated work.

However, as well as all of the good work that is under way across Dumfries and Galloway, we still have significant challenges. Hard-to-reach places still exist in the region, including some in the town of Dumfries, where adequate download speeds do not exist in, for example, parts of Georgetown.

A company called Galloway Broadband is working on low-cost solutions to digital connection issues, and it offers a solution that does not require cable installation but utilises, for example, mobile masts and wireless white space technology. However, the criteria that are required to enable R100 voucher access cannot quite be met in order for the company to help improve people’s digital connectivity. Georgetown is only one of the areas that I have been contacted about.

Would the minister consider reviewing the work of Galloway Broadband to see whether it can be supported as a fast, local, affordable solution to address the not-spots and improve internet access and download speeds, in order to meet the digital requirements for our current daily lives?

I welcome the progress that has been made, but I also urge the minister to look at innovative solutions, such as the white space technology that I have just mentioned, to ensure that people who live in our most remote and rural areas have access to the adequate internet connectivity that they need for their daily work.