A short, targeted inquiry by the Scottish Parliament’s Infrastructure and Capital Investment Committee to identify the work required to significantly expand Scotland’s digital broadband infrastructure has its first session of oral evidence today.

The Committee wants to assess the coverage, availability and uptake of broadband across Scotland and to consider what work is required by the Scottish Government, infrastructure providers and others to increase the provision and uptake of broadband in Scotland.

Convenor of the Infrastructure and Capital Investment Committee Maureen Watt MSP said:

“We have areas of Scotland where access to broadband is limited and other areas where there is no problem with access but take-up rates lag well behind the rest of the UK. We will, of course, look at the poor coverage in rural areas but also examine why, in our largest city Glasgow, broadband take up is only 51%, well below the UK average. We want to highlight what needs to be done to ensure that Scotland does not fall behind in digital provision.

“There are crucial issues about the provision of broadband which need to be addressed in Scotland. It is an area of high importance for the Scottish and UK governments and the European Commission. We are acutely aware that we need a workable digital strategy to ensure businesses and households across Scotland have access to a digital infrastructure which keeps us up to date with other countries in the UK and Europe.”

The Committee will hear oral evidence on this inquiry throughout November and December 2011 and report in the new year. It follows a call for evidence to a wide range of interested groups throughout Scotland. There will be four days of oral evidence given to the Committee from key people and providers including academics and experts, community based groups, large broadband providers and the Scottish Government.

Background
The Infrastructure and Capital Investment Committee’s key role is to scrutinise the Scottish Government’s policies and expenditure in relation to the following matters:
• Housing
• Transport
• Capital investment
• Digital infrastructure and broadband
• Fuel poverty and energy assistance; and
• Scottish Water
The Committee also conducts its own inquiries into any matters within its remit.
In the Broadband Inquiry, the committee wants to pursue the following objectives:
• to obtain a picture of broadband coverage across Scotland in order to highlight any areas where connectivity is low and to understand the reasons for this.
• to examine different local projects currently engaged in promoting the availability and roll-out of broadband, with a view to highlighting examples of good practice, the variety of technological solutions being applied, identifying barriers and obstacles faced etc.
• to scrutinise the Scottish Government and its agencies’ progress towards meeting the commitment: the next generation broadband will be available to all by 2020 with significant progress being made by 2015.
• the rate of broadband update by people in Scotland should be at or above the UK average by 2013 and should be highest among the UK nations by 2015.
• to consider what the Scottish Government’s strategic role in the development of broadband infrastructure should be.
• to assess Scotland’s progress in upgrading its digital infrastructure against the targets and objectives set by the European Union.
• to assess how opportunities to receive project funding from, for example, the UK government and the European Union are being fully exploited.

Timetable:

16 November 2011 – Evidence 1 (academics and experts)
23 November 2011 - Evidence 2 (community interest groups and projects)
07 December 2011 - Evidence 3 (digital infrastructure providers and industry professionals)
14 December 2011 - Evidence 4 (Scottish Government)