 The next item of business is consideration of business motion number 15930, in the name of Jo Fitzpatrick, on behalf of the parliamentary bureau, setting it a revision to the business programme for the week. Any member who wishes to speak against the motion should press a request speak button now, and I call on Jo Fitzpatrick to move motion number 15930. No member has asked to speak against the motion therefore I now put the question of the chamber. The question is that motion number 15930, in the name of Jo Fitzpatrick, be agreed to? Are we all agreed? The motion is therefore agreed to. We now move to topical questions. Question number one, Alice McInnes. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. To ask the Scottish Government what independent assessment has been carried out of the impact of reducing air passenger duty. Cabinet Secretary, Keith Brown. We will reduce the burden of air passenger duty in Scotland by 50 per cent, with the reduction beginning when a Scottish replacement tax is introduced on April 2018, and delivered in full by the end of the next Scottish Parliament, expected to be in 2021. We will also abolish the tax entirely when resources allow. We launched a public consultation on a Scottish replacement tax on Monday 14 March. The consultation seeks to use on how the replacement tax should be structured and operated to help to boost Scotland's international connectivity and to generate sustainable growth. In recognition of the important environmental issues that need to be considered, a consultation has also been launched on the initial findings and proposed scope and methodology of the strategic environmental assessment that we are undertaking. Thank you very much. My question was what independent assessment has been carried out. In 2013, my colleague Willie Rennie asked the same question, and we asked for the evidence. In the official written reply at that time, which I have here, the Scottish Government referred us to the EasyJet corporate website, to a report commissioned by four airlines. Did I miss the news, minister? Is this Scottish Government now just a wholly owned subsidiary of the aviation industry? I listened to my initial answer. I mentioned the fact that we have gone out to consultation now. In addition to that, we also have a stakeholder group, which includes environmental groups and others. Of course, the industry is going to have an interest in that. In addition to the reports that she mentioned, there is also the York aviation report. Those reports have been put out in the public domain, but it is important that we take on the views of everyone. I think that we have sought to do that by establishing the stakeholder group, which will also consider the responses to the initial findings that we proposed in the strategic environmental assessment and the further responses from consultees. That could be anybody in the country that wants to respond to it. I think that that is a responsible way to do it and will give us an idea exactly of what the feelings of people most affected by this change would be. The York aviation report was also commissioned by the aviation industry committee. You could not make it up. Look at the stakeholder forum that you have referred to. I counted 15 airlines and airport representatives and just one environmental voice. Is that really the best balance that the minister can get? No, there is more than one environmental voice, as well as stop-climate chaos. We also have links with the Scottish environmental link who are responding to this as well. We are taking this point very seriously. Of course, it is the case that this will have a profound effect on airlines and airports. It is only natural that we want to take their views on how best to proceed with it. We have also undertaken a separate environmental assessment as well on the likely emissions. We are moving forward in a responsible way, but what I do not hear from Alison MacKinnon is a single word of support for a measure that will greatly increase economic activity in Scotland, provide benefits for passengers and for small businesses, tourist attractions and the general economy across the country. That is a positive move. It would be nice if Alison MacKinnon could occasionally be positive about some of the things that the Scottish Government is doing. Stop-climate chaos has said that a cut in APD would lead to 60,000 tonnes more CO2, and that is on top of emissions targets being missed for four years running in a 10 per cent cut from the climate change budget. Passenger numbers are already at record levels. Is not a £250 million aviation tax break the final nail in the coffin of the SNP's green credentials? The reference of £250 million used by Alison MacKinnon is as accurate as some of the other statements that she just made. It is completely wrong. What was the purpose of us consulting with people and involving in the stakeholder group people that we only agree with? That is why stop-climate chaos is there. It is also true to say that, in relation to the emissions impacts, we have to meet those targets across a whole range of government activity. It is also possible that, in the way that you introduce the replacement tax, it is possible to have an effect on reducing those emissions, not least by encouraging, if that is what was chosen to be done, long-haul routes, at the expense of short-haul routes. That way, you can start to cut out some of the most environmentally damaging short-haul routes. However, that is a positive move, and it is being received very positively. We will, of course, take on board the views of all interest groups, including those with an environmental interest. That is why they are involved in the stakeholder group, and that is the right way to proceed. Mark McDonald? Given that Aberdeen Airport is in my constituency and that the managing director of Aberdeen Airport has been very open about the economic benefits that would be brought not just to the airport, but to the wider north-east economy as a consequence of a reduction in air passenger duty, does the minister share my horror at the fact that a north-east representative in the shape of Alison McInnes is talking down the impact that that could have on the economy for the region that she is supposed to represent? It is a very good point that was made by Mark McDonald. I would be interesting to see a conversation between Alison McInnes and Carol Benzie, the chief executive of the airport, when she tries to talk again about what has been proposed in one study as a result of around 0.7 million additional passengers passing through Scotland's airports in 2015, rising to 0.9 million by 2020, as well as a direct, indirect and induced impact of a 50 per cent reduction on operational impact. Nearly 4,000 additional jobs, £200 million per annum in gross value added by 2020. Those are the beneficial effects of the measure. As well as the Government having to address the issues of people who have concerns about it, it is also to the case that Alison McInnes, who I do not know whether she is arguing for stay as it is or increasing even further, is bearing in mind that it is already the most expensive tax of its type in the world. I know the word that she wants to increase that further. It would be interesting to see her address some of the concerns of people who are supportive of this move. I welcome the Government's consultation, including the consultation on the impact on the environment. Will the Scottish Government talk to the Dutch Government who, in 2009, applied an APD to accrue 280 million euros, but scrapped it after 18 months because they were losing 1.3 billion euros and losing many jobs in the hospitality and tourism industry? We are very conscious of that example and, of course, we will be more than happy to receive a submission from Chick Brody on that particular point. We have noted that point. It is also interesting to say that it is the case that, in the last UK Parliament, the UK Government afforded Northern Ireland the opportunity to reduce APD to zero for transatlantic flights. I think that that was supported by the Liberal Democrats, if I remember. The question is why the Liberal Democrats would support it for other parts of the United Kingdom, but not for Scotland? However, I entirely agree with Chick Brody's point that other places have found this, as, indeed, has the Republic of Ireland very beneficial to avoid doing what the UK seems to have wanted to do in relation to Scotland, which is to give us the highest tax of its type in the world and, therefore, an inhibition on economic activity. To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to ensure that every household in Scotland will have access to high-speed broadband. Our goal is to ensure that everyone has access to high-speed broadband, and our investment through the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband programme will deliver at least 95 per cent fibre broadband coverage by 2017. Through community broadband Scotland and a second phase of investment, we will ensure that the remaining 5 per cent have access to superfast broadband as early as possible. If re-elected in May, an SNP Government will ensure that superfast broadband is delivered to 100 per cent of premises across Scotland over the next Parliament. I have recollections of the Scottish Government making a similar promise prior to the 2011 general election. The Deputy First Minister has now taken to writing to BT to complain about the lack of progress in the Highlands and Islands, something that I have been telling him about for a very long time. I also invited him to visit innovative projects in my region, none of which he has found time to do. Can I ask what proportion of the people in the Highlands and Islands will have access to high-speed broadband by 2017? I am happy to provide those figures to Rhoda Grant, but she will be aware that nearly 7,000 homes per week are being put on to broadband. She will also be aware of the innovative schemes that the Deputy First Minister has overseen, for example, in some of the small isles to ensure that other methods of ensuring that people have access to broadband are taken forward as well. However, I think that it is a very ambitious target to make sure that every single person, not least from what we consider, will be some of the households that Rhoda Grant will be talking about, which can be very remote and otherwise very expensive to allow to achieve superfast broadband. The commitment by the Scottish Government to make sure that everybody benefits from it is a universal obligation whereby everybody gets access to it is the right thing to do. Perhaps it would be better if she was able to support that. I am not only supported, but it is something that I have been fighting for for years if it is disappointing that we have made such little progress. When I met the Deputy First Minister, he also promised to let me know which houses would be covered by the first phase of the roll-out in the Highlands and Islands. I am still waiting for that information, as are my constituents. Why is he reacting now? Is he just afraid that he will be judged on his record in this election for his lack of progress on broadband? I do not accept that there has been a lack of progress. We have already met our interim target of 85 per cent coverage six months ahead of schedule. We are working very closely with BT, who was mentioned earlier on, to ensure that 95 per cent coverage is also achieved on schedule. As I said, excellent progress has been made. On average, the programme is connecting 7,000 new homes and businesses every week. In fact, we are making such good progress that it has now allowed us to commit if we are elected in May, as I have said, to extending superfast digital broadband in terms of a commitment not to 95 per cent but to 100 per cent premises across Scotland over the course of the next session. That shows the ambition of this Government, and it should be drawing of support from the rest of the chamber. I am much more optimistic than Rhoda Grant is. I suppose that I have a better insight into the immense technical difficulty that we have seen in laying cables and not least cables, submarine cables, across many of our islands. I wonder whether the cabinet secretary could perhaps explain some of the benefits of delivering high-speed broadband across the Highlands and Islands, and whether he feels that this will give a boost to the economy. I think that Mike McKenzie and Rhoda Grant are right to point out why this is extremely important for rural areas. Connectivity is very important, not least for employment opportunities but also for educational and even health opportunities that people have the ability to be connected. For that reason, for example, we are developing an action plan on mobile connections as well in collaboration with the industry for rural areas. That plan will contain a package of measures that is designed to set the right conditions to encourage investment in underserved areas. I think that the potential benefits are transformative in terms of some of the premises and individuals that will be connected as a result of that. That is why the Scottish Government is putting the resources in to make sure that that happens for everybody in Scotland. While remote and hard-to-reach areas remain of great concern, would the minister take the opportunity at this point to comment on the many town centres in some Scotland's most populated areas that have been bypassed by high-speed broadband because they have direct exchange lines? That seems to be something that BT expects to have Government support to overcome, but is it something that the minister thinks should be done on a commercial basis by the company? There are particular issues in town centres and city centres, including in Edinburgh, for example, in Rose Street, where state aid rules do not allow BT to do the things that we are working with them to do in other areas. Sometimes there are issues that I accept, but we are working with BT in relation to the gain-share funding, if Alex Johnson is familiar with what the gain-share funding is—basically the benefits that we have accrued from the programme so far—to make sure that we roll it out to those areas where it has been difficult. Sometimes that will remain difficult because of state aid rules. It is also worth saying as well that there has been some misunderstanding that simply enabling this was at a cabinet that was being developed this morning in the northern part of Edinburgh to provide people with the ability to access broadband. That, of course, is all that it does. It still requires people to subscribe to a broadband provider in order to achieve that. However, the point that I made previously in response to Mike McKenzie and Rora Grant is that it is our intention to have 100 per cent of premises across Scotland served over the course of the next parliamentary session. That must include dealing with some of the difficulties that Alex Johnson has mentioned. References were made to the subsea cabling work that was undertaken by BT. Of course, they are not the only company that is undertaking cabling. I wonder whether the cabinet secretary might agree to speak to the Deputy First Minister and his colleague, the energy minister, about pressing the case with SSE and other utilities companies that, when they are undertaking cabling work, they need to look at the issue of laying fibre at the same time so that we do not miss the opportunity there. I think that Liam McArthur raises an interesting point and an undertake to take up those issues with the Deputy First Minister and the energy minister. It is certainly the case that, when we are involved in large and sometimes very expensive infrastructure works, it is very often the case that we are able to achieve more than one thing at a time. For example, the ability to lay fibre along the border railway was something that we looked at very closely and managed to move along. As I say, I am happy to raise those issues with the Deputy First Minister or Liam McArthur's behalf. I wonder whether the cabinet secretary could expand on which other companies will provide superfast broadband, such as mobile phone companies? Are you in discussions with them to share the masks? Are you also in discussions with the local authority who will buy into that as well? Those discussions are under way, and perhaps even more importantly with Ofcom as well, to make sure that the Scottish Government's new access to Ofcom is used for the benefit of mobile users across the country. Dennis Robertson raises the issue of some of the problems that he mentions mass sharing. We are very much trying to encourage that, and also to look at some of the other demands of the industry in relation to how the planning system deals with applications for mobile masks, which is a controversial area. The issues that Dennis Robertson raises are under very active consideration. I think that we are starting to see a way forward to make further progress in relation to that. If he is interested, I am more than happy to keep him more up to date with the other companies that he mentioned and the way that they are helping us to achieve that.