I thank Beatrice Wishart for bringing to the chamber this debate on a subject that is extremely important for my constituents across the Highlands and Islands. Like Beatrice Wishart, I live in the northern isles and, for our communities, connectivity—whether that is transport or digital—is vitally important. However, for island communities across Scotland, not only is a lack of connectivity an issue but it is an issue that is growing.

Many of our connections to other islands and the Scottish mainland are better than they have been before—certainly better than they have been historically, although there are serious problems with our ferries network. However, while other communities benefit from improvements in how they are wired into the world through broadband, island and other rural communities risk being left behind. Although endless promises have been made on delivering superfast connections to our communities, like so many promises that emanate from the Scottish ministers in Edinburgh, they have not been delivered and the figures remain stark.

In the Western Isles, R100—including the voucher scheme—has seen only 14 homes and businesses connected to superfast broadband, and 2,206 properties await connection. Nearly 4,000 premises in Shetland and 2,760 in Orkney are still to be connected.

I am relatively fortunate because work has been carried out in the past few months to connect my home in Orkney, although we have not yet subscribed to the service. Before then, we were reliant on slow and intermittent broadband that, too often, cut out entirely. That left us struggling to access the increasing numbers of services—including many public services—which are now delivered online. In most of Scotland, folk take for granted things such as online banking, both personal and business; ordering supplies and deliveries from Tesco or other local shops; accessing online medical appointments; booking travel; or submitting data, such as that which the Scottish Government and its agencies require on our farm.

All of those things are vital, but they do not include the social connectivity that good broadband also supports. That is important not just for many younger people but for older residents of our islands who are feeling increasingly isolated.

Let us be clear that the failure to deliver on promises of improved broadband makes island life harder and risks damaging the long-term sustainability of our rural communities.

I will turn to phone connectivity. For many island and rural homes, although mobile coverage can be okay outside of the property, the signal inside can be limited. That is not great in bad weather, when power has been lost or an emergency call needs to be made.

Resilience is key for those who live in remote areas, and people want to stay in their own homes when they can, but they have to feel safe in doing so. As I said during my debate on wood-burning stoves, people cannot always pop next door for help, because their neighbours might be a significant distance away and they are often all but isolated. That is why a good mobile signal is important, but also why many of us are reliant on our powered land lines when there is a crisis.

Therefore, although I welcome the efforts that BT is making to ensure that a powered line will be available for some households until 2030, I wonder whether, when that is removed, a reliable alternative will be in place to ensure that resilience is maintained. I also wonder how many households are actually aware of the new product, so I ask the minister, in his summing up, to lay out what the Scottish Government is doing to ensure that households are made aware of it, particularly how the Government is working on that with local councils and third sector agencies, and how that work is being supported and funded.

I take this opportunity to thank all those organisations, particularly those in the charity and third sectors—and, of course, local government—that have continued to play an important part in providing many services in our community and that are working to ensure that any changes with things such as care alarms happen as seamlessly as possible. One of my family members has a care alarm, and I can say from my own experience that the part of Orkney Islands Council responsible for such things has been extremely proactive in warning us of any changes and what we need to do. That is appreciated, because these are quite literally lifeline services.

I could go on, Presiding Officer, but I think that my time is nearly up. In conclusion, then, I would just say that promises made about digital connectivity need to be delivered and that island and rural communities’ needs—particularly the needs of some of the most vulnerable people in our communities—must be better understood by the Government. If they are not, we risk seeing the rural and islands divide widen even further.