Rhoda Grant

15 Sep 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its investment priorities are for the new round of procurement for superfast broadband rollout and, if these have not been agreed, by what date it will do so.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring superfast broadband access for 100 per cent of premises across Scotland. Commercial investment will play a key role in delivering this target. We would anticipate that public sector funding will be focused prim…

15 Sep 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it will take to assist the 132,000 premises that were referred to at page 10 of the August 2016 Audit Scotland Report, Superfast broadband for Scotland: A progress update, which will not have broadband access, and how much it would cost to roll out such access to these premis…

Answer · Fergus Ewing: Audit Scotland’s report estimates that 132,000 premises will not have access to fibre broadband following completion of the Digital Scotland programme. In the vast majority of cases, these premises will be able to access basic broadband (minimum of 2Mbps) or …

15 Sep 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what meetings it has had with the UK Government regarding the negotiations for a universal service obligation for broadband suppliers.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Scottish Government has written to the UK Government, urging them to establish a Working Group to oversee the design of the proposed Universal Service Obligation (USO) for broadband in Scotland. I recently met with Sharon White, Chief Executive of Ofcom, …

15 Sep 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government by what date it will publish the findings of its Reaching 100% superfast broadband project team.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: 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 o…

15 Sep 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what level of simultaneous use would cause an appreciable break or slowdown in broadband service.

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

15 Sep 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that the copper connections used by BT are adequate for the roll-out of superfast broadband.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: 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…

15 Sep 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many breaks in broadband service provision lasting (a) more than and (b) up to one hour there have been in each of the last 12 months in each Scottish Parliamentary (i) constituency and (ii) region, and what information it has regarding how many were due to (A) technical reasons and …

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Scottish Government does not hold detailed records on breaks in broadband service provision across Scotland. Ofcom, the UK telecoms regulator, is responsible for monitoring the quality of service delivered across the telecoms industry.

15 Sep 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with broadband providers in the last year regarding the speeds that they offer customers.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Scottish Government has regular dialogue with broadband providers on a range of issues, including speeds. I most recently met with BT on 6 September 2016 at which broadband speed issues were discussed. Ofcom, the UK telecoms regulator, has a key role in o…

15 Sep 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of how the £20 million advance paid by HIE to BT that is referred to at page 10 of the August 2016 Audit Scotland Report, Superfast broadband for Scotland: A progress update, was spent; for what reason this advance was paid; whether payment of such adv…

Answer · Fergus Ewing: 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 a…

15 Sep 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking through its Better Broadband Scheme to increase the take-up of standard broadband services; how much of the funding that it allocated to the scheme (a) has been spent and (b) remains unspent, and how many applications to it (i) have been approved, broken down by …

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Better Broadband Scheme is a UK Government initiative. Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) funds the scheme; sets the eligibility criteria for vouchers; and approves suppliers to be part of the voucher scheme. All financial transactions are undertaken by BDUK. T…

15 Sep 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details of the HIE provision of satellite broadband that is referred to at page 10 of the August 2016 Audit Scotland Report, Superfast broadband for Scotland: A progress update.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: 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 r…

15 Sep 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the shortfall in European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) support that is referred to at page 10 of the August 2016 Audit Scotland Report, Superfast broadband for Scotland: A progress update.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: 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 …

15 Sep 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the £14 million in savings arising from conditions in the contract that is referred to at page 10 of the August 2016 Audit Scotland Report, Superfast broadband for Scotland: A progress update.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: 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.

15 Sep 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how BT calculated the estimated 30% take-up rate of broadband that is referred to at page 10 of the August 2016 Audit Scotland Report, Superfast broadband for Scotland: A progress update.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: BT’s calculation of the estimated take-up rate across both Digital Scotland contracts was based on analysis of historical take-up data, BT’s own deployment experience and BDUK’s assessment of similar projects in other parts of the UK.

15 Sep 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with BT regarding how the savings referred to at page 10 of the August 2016 Audit Scotland Report, Superfast broadband for Scotland: A progress update will be used to increase broadband coverage.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Scottish Government and Highlands and Islands Enterprise has regular discussions with BT around the management of the Digital Scotland contracts. This includes ensuring that funding within the contract is fully utilised to extend coverage, making use of r…

15 Sep 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details of the modelling that is referred to at page 12 of the August 2016 Audit Scotland Report, Superfast broadband for Scotland: A progress update that BT is considering to increase broadband coverage.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Digital Scotland contracts agreed between the Scottish Government, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and BT contain clauses that generate revenue for the public sector if broadband take-up on the new infrastructure exceeds a certain level. BT brought forwa…

15 Sep 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of how it calculated the savings set out at page 10 of the August 2016 Audit Scotland Report, Superfast broadband for Scotland: A progress update.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: 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 e…

15 Sep 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many premises in each Scottish Parliamentary constituency will have access to broadband speeds of (a) up to and (b) above 40mb/ps by 2018.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: 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 w…

14 Sep 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it will provide toward achieving the aim in the 2016-17 Programme for Government to "equip all our citizens with the skills they need to gain the full benefits of technology" and what the timescale for this is.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The Digital Participation Programme has been in place since 2012. The 2016 programme consists of a Digital Participation budget commitment of £1.9 million to raise the levels of digital participation. Public Library Improvement Funding of £450k has been provi…

13 Sep 2016 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to develop tourism facilities on the North Coast 500 tourist route.

5 Sep 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-29286 by Aileen McLeod on 26 January 2016, whether the (a) Sound of Barra Special Area of Conservation management committee is now in place and (b) report has been published.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: Scottish Ministers agreed with the community to wait for the final report from Voluntary Action Barra and Vatersay before considering whether to put a management committee in place or not. Marine Scotland awaits the final report from Voluntary Action Barra an…

29 Aug 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to secure a fair share of the red meat levy.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: After taking up my position of Cabinet Secretary for the Rural Economy I wrote to the Defra Minister of State, George Eustice in June 2016 asking if he agreed in principle to the repatriation of the levy. I also confirmed that I was in favour of moving ahead …

29 Aug 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide the details of its plans to increase access to land for food growing purposes referred to at page 26 of the SNP manifesto.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Scottish Government anticipates that, once brought into force, Part nine of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 will give communities more access to land for food growing purposes. Part nine introduces new duties on local authorities which will …

29 Aug 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it will designate the Haaf Net fishery as a historic fishery.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: As the Programme for Government made clear, we will continue discussions about the designation of the Haaf Net fishery on the River Annan. It is anticipated that any future legislative provisions required to deliver this commitment would be included within th…

29 Aug 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its commitment at page 26 of the SNP manifesto, what plans it has to increase the supply and demand for organic food.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: We are working closely with a range of stakeholders to take forward the actions contained within ‘Organic Ambitions’, Scotland’s Next Organic Action Plan, that was published in January 2016. As part of this, we recently launched the new Organic Ambitions Fund…

29 Aug 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it will put in place the £5 million fund to promote island and regional food and drink brands referred to on page 26 of the 2016 SNP manifesto.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Scottish Government is committed to continuing to support the food and drink industry, which has achieved great success in recent years. We are considering options of how to target the £5 million investment fund so that it has the greatest impact in suppo…

29 Aug 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide the details of its plans to revisit the health and nutrition legislative framework for school meals referred to at page 26 of the SNP manifesto.

Answer · John Swinney: We plan to share details with stakeholders as early in the process as possible.

29 Aug 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its commitment at page 26 of the SNP manifesto, how it will encourage local authorities to procure Scottish produce.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The public sector in Scotland has made good progress increasing their sourcing of Scottish produce through their catering contracts with an estimated 40% increase since 2007. We are now in discussion with local authorities, and other parts of the public secto…

29 Aug 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made toward the implementation of its first national marine plan.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: Scotland’s first National Marine Plan was adopted in March 2015. The plan provides a framework for planning and regulatory decisions affecting the marine environment. Implementation has therefore focussed on raising awareness of the plan’s policies and monito…

29 Aug 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with organisations relating to the repatriation of the seafish levy.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Scottish Government is working with the other UK Fisheries administrations with the aim of giving Scotland a greater say on how levy raised in Scotland is used. In addition to these on-going discussions, meetings have also been held with Seafish.