 Y panel ithod, yn gweithio bod yn sicr oedd y troodau. Roedd gwrth i'r cyflawn o'r barnau felly dyn nhw yw'r ôl cwlad mawr yn seicluned a gennym cyflwywyr yn llenneu allan yr alun. Chwlad mawr yn cyflwywyr a bod barnau haf yn gyflawn y mawr. Chwlad mawr yn cyflwywyr sy'n cyflwywyr yn seiclitudeedd y cwlad mawr yn seicluned. Chwlad mawr yn cyflwywyr sy'n cyflwywyr a i ni'n chweithio ychydig, ymgyrchu i YsgrifennuGülme a'r cyfnodau a'r gyda'r bandsfiaeth ymgyrch. Wrth gwrs, mae'n mynd i'w gônio fel fod o drafod o'r bobl cyflwyme, ond rydyn ni'n ysgol i gyd yn fawr ni, ddim yn bach cyhoeddfa gyrfa. L'n oesillod ym Mherwyddu, wrth gwrs, gwneud yn bach eirwaf y cwrs o diarwadau yr ym Gwyr ve 선an i gŵr, ac yn cael ei wneud o'r UK. Ffôrgynser wych, nid yw'n ddangos o'u golygu cyhoedd ddyn artist fel選ff, ond fyddwn ei ddechrau'r ddangosol ym eich ddaf yn ddefnyddio'r gweithio ar gwrdd leol. Rydw i ddim yn gyd a'r ddangosol y mlyneddau a'r ddangosol nad o'i gyd a'r ddangosol yn ddangosol golygu am yr awdurdid o'u modern gyda ffôrgyncer hwnnw, a yr sylfaen o'r ddangosol yn ei ddangosol, byddwn i'r dewis o'u ddangosol, Felly, mae'r new wedi bod pause o'r model mae G4G a ddiweddol i siogel sy'n gyfrannu i'r ddaeth yn gementwm o'r Llywodraeth Cymru, ni'n mynd i ddWasbysodol i gydrwyddun ddim yn meddwl i gynnugiadau llawdol. Felly, mae'n ddiwedd i'r rheshbeth oedd UK, Head of Collegor, ongg yn ei ddiwethaf, ddiddor ni'n dweud i gydig i ddweud i ddechrau iawn. Felly, o hyd, mae'n ddaar yng Nghymru, gan ysgrifennu ballyn o'r bydd yma arlayn. A gael amser, rydyn ni'n rwyf yn ddigitio'r llesiau gyda'r letter ar y Deiddi y First Minister. Diolch yn ddigitio'r llesiau gyda'r llesiau gyda'r llesiau gyda'r llesiau gyda'r llesiau, a'r llesiau gyda'r gretnau yn Dumfrueson Galloway a'r nowig wedi'i ddau'r ysgrifennu. Rydyn ni'n ddigitio'r Llyfridd erbyn gweithio'r cymaint. A mae y Deiddi y First Minister yn rhoi ydy'r llesiau gyda'r llesiau gyda'r llesiau. stwygen yn dweud, a mae gennodd iddyn nhw i ddweud o'r tynnu cyffredinol i gael'r hunain yn ddigonion wedi'i ddweud o ran ffasgfwroiddo. Ysgolwyrder hwn yngylcheddiau i gael ac mae'r gweithio ysgolwyr yn ei ddweud, ddiwedd ar gyd, oherwydd yn y ddweud yn ei ddweud o fliadbarad o randogaeth. Diolch i'n enw'r unrhyw ddim yn ddechrau sy'n ddigonion nhw, i gael i'r ddweud o'r sefyllfa. gynnwys mwy oedd yn gwzglwyddoedd yng Nghymru i'r ffordd ar y ddurdim arfer ar y gwrdd gwaith y dŵr yn ei gyweithio'r gweithio'r gwirioneddau I thought that that rather made the point about the importance of broadband in that sense in providing the emergency services that dare I say we all depend on. So, despite receiving a meager half a megabyte, Caroline and other folk in USound are forced to pay the same as those who receive 20 megabytes here, say, in the capital city of Scotland. Now, they see that as extremely inictuous. I agree and I hope that the Deputy First Minister does too. Perhaps he can say tonight, Presiding Officer, off-com, I should say, the regulator are doing about what seems to many across Scotland and certainly in Shetland to be a manifestly unfair situation. An eighth father, rather more, I suppose, pointedly as a parent said to me that a simple update to his son's games console could exceed the household's monthly broadband data allowance, given what they can currently access. Now, in an age, dare I say it, those lost with children, in an age of multi-device households, multi-device, how many are in my home, in an age of multi-device households, that just doesn't cut it. So, more needs to be done. Numerous constituents believe that they will not currently benefit from the broadband roll-out that's currently envisaged. The North Maven Community Council cannot progress their community project, as they are passed, dare I say it, from pillar to post between BT High and Community Broadband Scotland. I asked the Scottish Parliament's library just to confirm how many Community Broadband Scotland projects have been completed, and that was something that they couldn't quite come back with. Perhaps again, it would be helpful if the Deputy First Minister could tell Parliament how that is coming on in his speech this evening. I hope, too, that he would recognise that communities without any plan or date for broadband upgrades deserve not just answers, but greater action and clarity from Government, British Telecom and from Highlands and Islands Enterprise. Shetland residents say that Digital Scotland's scheduled roll-outs for the respective areas online are heroically optimistic. One strong-forth resident told me how his local exchange was listed as coming soon between July and December 2015. Now, those of you observant here this evening will recognise that we are now in February 2016, and yes, it hasn't come yet. So, the website now helpfully says that the broadband is going to come soon between January and June of the year that we are now in. Well, people are understandably frustrated by the expectation of seeing some progress and then not actually having it happen. High and British Telecom justify not providing a local broadband cabinet in that particular example, as it would only provide superfast speeds to a minority. Now, I was a bit taken aback by that one, because is that not the point? And I would suggest that why should the few be left behind? The whole point about investment in superfast broadband was to, with public money, I should add, with public money, was to ensure those areas in all our constituencies and areas that currently cannot achieve it because of no market provision can be helped by the Government investment in that. High are instantly unable to confirm whether my constituents in that case will receive any coverage in any future phase. Another goth resident is a photographer. Her download speed is 0.39 megabytes. She struggles to send photos via email. High and BT have confirmed that she will not see the benefits of the roll-out due to her distance from the existing telephone exchange. I am sure that is an issue that many colleagues will recognise. No fibre cabinet is currently planned or coming soon in that area. So, I just wish to reiterate a call for further investment in those areas of Shetland and elsewhere in Scotland who have poor or non-existent superfast broadband. I would ask the Deputy First Minister to explain where and when we will see improvements to superfast broadband and who will be the 5 per cent left behind because they are the ones who feel it most at this moment. I hope that he would accept that his Government, high and BT must be more transparent with local people about if and when they will really see that improvement. Fast internet is a service that many people take for granted. I very much look forward to the day when we can do the same in Shetland and all the parts of Scotland that currently do not. If the Deputy First Minister can provide my constituents with a route map to achieve that, he will very much have my full support. I now call on Mike Russell to be followed by Rhoda Grant. Four minutes are thereby, please. I commend and congratulate Tavish Scott for achieving the debate. He is right to stress that communications are absolutely vital for each one of us—digital as well as physical communications. If you live in rural Scotland, particularly rural and island Scotland, they are essential. There are some good things to be celebrated tonight. The roll-out of the broadband project is continuing at pace and people are getting a service in some places in Scotland. There are 3G signals via EE, particularly in my constituency, although nothing from Vodafone R02. Sometimes, although I have been very critical of Vodafone, it does come good. I opened a new sure signal facility in the village of Ormissery in Kentire on Friday. The new sure signal signal, which also operates in Isdale, I am glad to say, is very positive. The real problem in expanding the services that are much needed in my constituency and elsewhere lies not with Vodafone or with any of the other mobile companies. It lies with BT, because BT provides the groundwork, the infrastructure that supports all the rest. I want to focus, Presiding Officer, this evening on that issue, because it is no exaggeration to say that my constituents and many constituents in Scotland have a major problem with BT. In the past 12 weeks, I have opened 39 new constituency cases complaining about BT, and they are only the tip of the iceberg. Indeed, I have become so concerned that, some weeks ago, I emailed Brendan Dick, the head of BT in Scotland, and I said to him that I thought there was a crisis in his organisation. I say that again today here. There is a crisis in BT in Scotland and how it delivers. It is an organisation that is not listening to its customers, and it is not listening to rural Scotland, and it is not listening to the most vulnerable in our society. I want to start with that, Presiding Officer, with the case of Mrs Ackroyd in Locheddon on the island of Mull. She is 79. She lost her husband a few months ago. Seven weeks today, she lost her landline. Every day, somebody has called BT with that problem. Nine times out of 10, she has promised to call back, and it never comes. Her mobile signal is very patchy in Locheddon. She is even given, as often happens in these cases, specific times and dates for visits by engineers, and they pass by with no contact whatsoever. More worryingly still, as happens right across Scotland, her alarm pendant is dependent upon her landline. She is still paying for that. She is still relying on it, but it has not worked since 22 December. Her local councillor, Mary Jean Devane, contacted me yesterday and said that she would watch this lady, this confident lady, begin to lose confidence because she was so worried about the lack of service. BT is letting that lady down. I could go through a list of other people in my constituency, whom they have let down. In the village of Bridges of Orkeen, which suffered some damage just before Christmas, I had three vulnerable constituents, who not only did not get their service restored quickly enough, but again got constant promises that were not fulfilled. Toward school, and I declare an interest to the school where my wife is a head teacher, has gone for three weeks without an adequate landline service, and that is essential for a small rural primary school. The staff have been having to use their mobile phones and using up their allowances in order to make amends. On the island of Eastdale, I know that Mr Mackenzie knows it well, they have constant problems, both with landlines and with broadband. The same is true right across our Galambute, and it is not being treated seriously. It is a problem for individuals, and it is also a problem for built businesses. On the island of Mull again, Duke Castle, one of the main tourist attractions, has had four lines out again for seven weeks, and no action. Indeed, I was in contire on Friday looking at the two wind farms that were established by the community with the Lithgos, and they have pled with British Telecom to get the service that they need to run those wind farms, and it took them almost a year to get anything approaching adequate, and £40,000. There is a crisis in delivery. Even where broadband is delivered, I have constituents who pay the full price for superfast broadband, but because they are connected to fibre by copper, they are not getting anything like the speeds that they have been promised, and indeed contracted for. There is damage being done by the failure of British Telecom, and I have to put it as bluntly as that. I think that the superfast broadband programme is fantastic. I have supported it in government, and I support it now. It is making a huge difference in the Highlands and Islands, but it is being let down, and the prospect for change is being let down by British Telecom. I say this to the cabinet secretary and to the Deputy First Minister. He is a man of great charm, but also of great persuasion. Next time, he has Brendan Dick in to see him. Perhaps he could say to him that the eminently reasonable friend he has here on the back benches is getting a little fed up. Indeed, my constituents like me just cannot take this any more from BT, and I hope that he will persuade him to get his organisation into a shape that can deliver not just for people now, but for those who rely on building and developing those services for the future. That is essential. It must happen, and Brendan Dick must listen. I now call on Rhoda Grant to be followed by Mike McKenzie. I would like to congratulate Tavish Scott for securing the debate. This is a really important issue for Shetland and indeed the whole of the Highlands and Islands. I remember in the first Parliament my colleague Maureen Macmillan starting to campaign for access to broadband, realising the implications it had for our communities. Peter Peacock took out that campaign over when she stood down, and I was happy to pick up the cudgels when he retired. Our MPs in Westminster recently compared their constituents' download speeds. The Western Isles was worst, with Ross Sky and Lochaber at 647th out of 650th, and Caithness in Sutherland and Easter Ross at 640th. Add to that the statistics in Tavish Scott's motion, and we see that the Highlands and Islands are extremely poorly served. Scottish Government's 95 per cent target by 2017 does nothing to address that, because it only needs to target urban areas to reach it. To make the target meaningful, it needs to be across much smaller units of population, even smaller than council areas, which tend to have urban and rural populations as well. The Highlands and Islands Broadband project has made a real difference, and it will make a real difference. Without it, many more would be out of reach of next-generation broadband, and it will provide the backhaul that is required for mobile phone operators as well. However, that does not mean that we simply say thank you and leave it at that. We still need to fight to get 100 per cent coverage, because those from further risk from the connection have most to gain. They are often the most disadvantaged, as it stands. Access to next-generation broadband would redress some of the disadvantage, and the same is true of mobile coverage. 2, 3 and 4G also have the ability to work over terrains where laying fibre is difficult. We must look at mass-chairing and at roaming to give the best coverage to all mobile data users. We need to look at all technologies and utilise them to ensure 100 per cent coverage. Access to next-generation broadband is not a luxury anymore—it is essential. You need to submit your cap form—that is if they ever sort out the claim system. You need to apply for benefits, and remote communities have the most to gain from access to telehealth and telecare. I recognise what Mike Russell was saying about help call. I also had a constituent who had a help call button but was cut off from their phone line. I have spoken to BT about that and raised the issue of having a vulnerable person's register where people with help calls will be registered and given priority to have their phone lines reconnected if there is a problem. I understand that they are looking at this, but other organisations such as Shettle have that ability to make sure that the vulnerable customers are reconnected fastest, so I believe that BT should have the same. I have businesses in my region that are looking to relocate because of their poor broadband connection. That is simply wrong. They are companies that value their communities and want to remain there, and they are in effect being forced out. The Government has set up community broadband Scotland to help to provide last-mile solutions, but they only provide funding and advice. For those to qualify for help under community broadband Scotland, they need to know that they will not get next-generation broadband in the roll-out. We do not know who all will be covered. We need a definitive map of where and where we will not have coverage so that people can decide what they need to do for their own coverage in the future. Those communities working with community broadband Scotland also need to bring forward the solutions themselves. They need to be able to organise themselves into community companies. That does not happen everywhere, because not all communities have the capacity to do that. That is often the case for communities that are much closer to urban areas. They are not so self-sufficient because they depend on the urban areas for services. Regardless, we need to look at how we deal with that. We need to set up co-ops or social enterprises that will reach out to those communities and provide the services for them that they desperately need. The Government needs to take a lead and drive that forward. They have to ensure that there is no not-sports, either for a broadband or mobile coverage in Scotland. Many thanks. I now call on Mike McKenzie to be followed by Alex Johnson. Four minutes please. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I was thinking during Mr Russell's speech that he is almost on his day or more than I am on his day, such as the effort that he puts into representing Ergill and Bute. I am often off on other islands in Ornay and I am very much looking forward to going to Shetland this weekend and experiencing again what Mr Scott has been talking about. Looking back over my whole adult life as an islander, I can think of nothing that has transformed the experience of island life more than the coming of the internet. I received the very first email ever to arrive on my home island of Isdell in 1992. Somehow I knew back then that this was the start of something significant. I printed a copy out and gave it to a local museum. However, a little new back then, just how much it would transform our lives, connecting us with the rest of the world and providing access to knowledge and information that had hitherto been greatly restricted. Almost at a stroke, we were transformed from a backwater and granted fully-fledged membership to the community of Scotland and to the rest of the world. I can think of nothing that has contributed more to reducing the regional inequality that islanders have historically suffered from than the internet. A little new back then that in taking the first steps in accessing this miraculous technology that were at the start of what was to become a race to stay connected at the same rate and the same level as the rest of the world. The innovation and the progress of information technologies has been astounding. The range and quality of services increasingly consumed online is staggering. Even so, we have barely scratched the surface. Participating in the modern economy demands good internet access, both fixed and mobile. Very promising developments such as telehealth and telemedicine, fuel poverty initiatives such as smart metering and innovations such as smart houses all require good internet access but can transform our lives and transform public services, making them far more effective and efficient than we are capable of doing at the moment. To do that will require good internet access well beyond that which we experience across the islands today. The irony has been that we are actually losing this race. Increasing usage and demand means that what was perfectly adequate connectivity a very few years ago is now hopelessly inadequate in both mobile and fixed line services. This is the result of both market and regulatory failure when the coverage is available and the coverage is still very patchy across the islands. That is why I was delighted at the £127 million investment that the Scottish Government is making across the islands to provide that all-important fibre optic backbone for high-speed broadband as the necessary first step in catching up and staying abreast of the rest of the world in that race. I am delighted that Community Broadband Scotland is committed to addressing those areas where fibre optic cables will not reach. Progress, of course, has been slower than hope for and I am very, very well aware of the technological challenges and the here physical challenges involved operating such a hostile terrain in a hostile climate. I am optimistic that we will see a sea change in improvement fairly soon. I am pleased to be fair to note that the UK Government is working on a universal service obligation for 10 megabits per second. I know that they promised 95 per cent coverage by the end of 2017, but that is not good enough for our islands because inevitably our islands will always be in that 5 per cent that are left behind. The sleeping giant of off-com is begun to awake, but it is not fully awake yet. Ultimately, I believe that the best way to deal with that is to provide proper and effective regulation rather than Governments paying out to the rest of market failure. I know that the regulatory powers still reside with Westminster. I am quite sure that, if there were here in this Parliament, we could address the issue properly. Many thanks. Due to the number of members who would like to speak in this debate, I am minded to accept a motion without notice under rule 8.14.3 to extend business beyond normal time. Mr Scott, would you like to move such a motion? The question is, will we extend beyond the normal time? Are we all agreed? We are many thanks. I now call on Alex Johnson to be followed by Kenny Gibson. The challenge of providing high-quality mobile phone and broadband services in a country like Scotland is not one that should be underestimated. The geography of the country is one that will always bring about difficulties. If we look around the world, we find that those difficulties have been overcome effectively in other countries. My own experience in the Alpine nations is that there tends to be a much higher quality of mobile phone signal and better performance, even among the highest of mountains and on the top of these mountains. Indeed, I have been told by the BBC, so it must be true, that it is now possible to get a 4G signal on the summit of Mount Everest. If that can be achieved, then what can we achieve here in Scotland? The fact is that the basic mobile service that is available over most of Scotland is indeed a very basic one indeed. Personal experience indicates that there are difficulties even in the areas where there should not be. My own hometown has a vodafone signal that is most basic at its best and, on two occasions in the past year, has been down for three weeks at a time. It is something that may be an advantage to an MSP who looks for a bit of peace of the weekends, but I can assure you that it is far less convenient for the doctor who regularly phones me to tell me that his signal has gone. As a result of that, it becomes clear that our problems are not simply on the most extreme peripheries of Scotland, but that they exist in some form across the whole of the country. In fact, when we come to the issue of broadband, the Deputy First Minister will not be unaware that I have complained to him many times about the quality of my broadband service, and this is in a town where, a number of years ago, high-speed broadband arrived or superfast broadband arrived in a blaze of publicity. Only we were to be told that those of us who were connected directly to the exchange could not have it because they were not connected through a cabinet. That is a problem that I have spoken to a number of people, and I have never received an adequate answer as to why that cannot be dealt with quickly and efficiently and why it has not been dealt with yet. We have many challenges that face us, but we have a system in place that is beginning to address those challenges. The problem is, I believe, that the challenge is so great and the resources that are being mobilised in order to overcome the difficulties are so great that we have some confusion over what needs to happen and when it will happen. Therefore, I think that it would be of great service for those who are aware of what has to happen if they could be told when changes are likely to take place. Communication is vital, whether it is about communicating the times or schedules for the upgrades or whether it is simply communicating directly with the sad constituents that Mike Russell has talked about during this debate. It is much easier to accept that we all have to wait for these good things if we know that someone is working on it and that there is a time when these services will be available. Sadly, that is not always the case. Returning finally to the issue of rural mobile phone signals, it has to be made clear, as I am sure we all understand and the Deputy First Minister himself coming from rural Perthshire will know this only too clearly, that we have now lost most of our phone boxes in rural areas. The mobile phone system itself is now a vital part of the safety system that we have in place in these areas. When accidents happen in remote rural areas or when medical attention is required at short notice, it is now the case that often the mobile phone is the only way to deal with that. Sadly, we do not have the universal coverage that we need. We need to look at all the options that are available to ensure that we can provide that coverage even in the most remote areas. Scotland deserves it. The work is being done, but we are not achieving results as quickly as we should. I therefore ask the minister to consider how we can make the resources available work more effectively for the people who are right across Scotland. I thank Tavish Scott for lodging his motion and enabling us to discuss his very important issue this evening. Of course, the Deputy First Minister knows about the issue, because on 18 January, if he did not know already, the finance committee met and put locker in his constituency. One of the big issues that was raised was the issue of lack of rural broadband in Highland Persia. I know that the Deputy First Minister took away that information that day. In my constituency of Cunningham North, we have the island of Arran and the island of Cumbria, as well as rural areas, with houses scattered few and far between in mainland North Ayrshire. Therefore, I am acutely aware of the need for reliable and affordable rural broadband in mobile phone coverage. These days, there is an expectation boarding on an assumption that everyone should be able to access information online, complete a web form, email something through, etc. The minority who do not have access are therefore a considerable disadvantage. That is not only frustrating for individuals, we need to make rural and island communities more competitive and appealing as places to live, work and do business. In July 2015, Deloitte published a report commissioned by the Scottish Futures Trust exploring three scenarios for digitalisation in Scotland over the next few years. It concluded that if Scotland becomes a world leader in digitalisation, it could see an increase in gross domestic product of over £13 billion by 2030. Even in the least optimistic scenario, that increase would be £4 billion. The report furthermore describes countless positive impacts of increased digitalisation on GDP per capita, employability, tax revenues and the environment and healthcare, and I would encourage anyone who is interested in the wider benefits of digitalisation to have a look at it. In March of last year, the Deputy First Minister wrote to the UK Government to implement a universal service obligation for broadband services to ensure access to affordable high-speed broadband for all in Scotland. In November, the Prime Minister announced that such an obligation would indeed be put in place, and although it is a planned obligation to provide every household with 10 mbps broadband connection by May 2020, it is less progressive than up to 80 mbps aimed for in a digital roll-out. I believe that that is a step in the right direction. The Scottish Government and partners have invested £410 million through the digital Scotland superfast broadband programme, and I welcome the recent announcement that further investment by the Scottish Government has more than £130 million for Scotland's digital strategy. It is mostly supporting infrastructure to help towards the target of 95 per cent of premises having access to next generation broadband by March 2018, which Tavie Scott, of course, mentioned in his opening speech. It is encouraging that the 85 per cent target for March 2016 has already been surpassed, but it is crucial to keep up the pace. My constituents on Arran regularly report concerns over the reliability of their connections, much in the way that McRussell's constituents express concerns. However, more than 1,400 premises in parts of Brodick, Lamlasch, Schisker and Whiting Bay in Arran now benefit from the new fiber optic network, and further coverage and roll-out on Arran is scheduled to take place this spring and summer. Originally, coverage would take place on 97 per cent of the island with an area around McRee that is omitted for topographical reasons. I continue to urge BT, which is delivering the Arran roll-out to explore every option to ensure that McRee will benefit from the network. Properties in McRee are connected via so-called exchange only lines directly to the exchange that ran through a green roadside cabinet, which makes it more difficult to bring fiber to the properties served by those lines. However, it has been done before, as we have already heard, and I understand that it should hopefully happen in McRee by the end of this year. Another problem in my constituents is the small community of Burnhouse on the mainland. Here the challenge is that its remoteness from the exchange means that residents are not able to access the fiber broadband. Solutions are currently being explored to get Burnhouse upgraded, but this takes time that residents simply do not feel they have. I cannot stress enough how important it is that rural and island communities have access to reliable, fast broadband and mobile phone coverage. Significant progress is being made, but I will continue to press for all the areas in my constituency to benefit from the digital broadband programme. Those living and rural and island communities should not have to feel like they are running behind the rest of Scotland, and we must ensure that they have no reason to. I congratulate my colleague Tavish Scott. I will give him an opportunity to debate the issue this evening. The picture described by Tavish Scott reflects the picture in my own Orkney constituency. If you replace unst walls in North Maven with Bursi, Rousey and North Ronaldsy, the picture is very much the same, like Mike Russell. I think that poor broadband and mobile coverage generates a large proportion of mailbag on a weekly and monthly basis. Rightly, the UK Government, Scottish Government and its partners deserve credit for the investment that is being made in the superfast broadband roll-out. However, the figures suggest that at the end of the process, 75 per cent of premises in my own Orkney constituency will be covered compared to an 84 per cent picture in the Highlands and Islands, and a 95 per cent picture nationwide across Scotland. Perhaps there are reasons behind that, but I hope that the Deputy First Minister would accept that the priority for any future investment needs to be on those areas that continue to lag so far behind the national and regional averages. The digital divide that is opened up between rural and urban Scotland is now being reflected in a digital divide that is opening up within rural communities. That is a source of real concern. I listened to Mike Russell's concerns in relation to BT, and I have some sympathy with him. Although I think that I would want to put on record my gratitude to the efforts of many of the open-reach engineers, some of whom I saw laboring away in ditches in a ruin-soaked North Ronaldsy—I can't really at the moment North Ronaldsy—trying to address problems caused by lightning strikes on that island. I think that the points that were made by Mike Russell in terms of the approach to the company in relation to customer services are well made. The picture in terms of mobile coverage is very similar to that. Let me illustrate those points in two ways. Both are looking at the economic development impacts but also in terms of service delivery. On economic development, I was struck by the extent to which the tourism sector is having to attract to the digital age. A recent conference that was organised by the Orkney Tourism Group on that very issue was reflected that some still come to Orkney in order to escape the digital age. However, by and large, expectations are changing. Holidaymakers, whether it is researching the destinations and the activities online, to looking for recommendations and to bookings and to interacting with businesses ahead of arrival, are looking to capture sharing their experience and images with friends, families and others who may be interested. It is not just about wi-fi in your room or your self-catering cottage or in your visitor destination. It is about access to reliable mobile coverage on the move. If that seems slightly frivolous, how about the effect on health service delivery? There was a report in 2012 by Dr Andrew Ingalls as a consultant working for the emergency retrieval team out of Glasgow. He concluded that poor network coverage in rural areas results in an impaired service for patients and increased NHS costs. He quoted a BMG report suggesting that rural practitioners need to provide emergency care and in some remote areas they may have to manage critically sick or injured patients for a number of hours before those patients can be transferred. That certainly reflects the experience of Bernie Holbrooke, the nurse practitioner in North Ronson, whom I met yesterday. During our discussions about air ambulance service provision, the issue of mobile coverage kept coming up. It was pointed out that that can help to improve response times. It allows initial assessment and information to be passed on ahead of the patient arriving at hospital. It can provide support to community responders or those first on the scene who may be lacking in the experience and knowledge but can be guided through that. More routinely, it allows more successful management of patients with chronic conditions. It can avoid unnecessary and arduous trips away from, in this case, North Ronson or even from Orkney itself. It helps to improve patient care while reducing costs. Those are just some of the advantages that high-quality broadband and mobile coverage can now provide and show why it is absolutely essential to communities in Orkney. It cannot afford to continue to languish at the back of the queue. I thank Tavish Scott again for allowing Parliament to shine a light on the issue. I look forward to the Deputy First Minister's response, who is familiar with many of the circumstances in Orkney. Thank you very much indeed. It is an absolutely immense privilege to be elected, each and every one of us, as an MSP. In my case, the particular privilege that touches on the issue tonight is that when I come to the Scottish Parliament, my broadband speed leaps by a factor of 800. The speed over the last 10 days at home, the median speed is 0.2 megabytes. On Sunday, booking my railway ticket to journey to Parliament took 40 minutes. Not terribly good, but my constituents, equally, are in a similar position. The digital scotland website tells us that exchange-only lines—references have already been made to that—are more prevalent in Aberdeenshire, and in Dumfries and Galloway, just because of the history of the way that the telephone network was installed. However, do not let us imagine that it is just actually rural areas. Just before coming here, I was speaking to someone who is in Cymru Bank in Edinburgh, right in the centre. They are on an exchange-only line as well. Right across Scotland, the issue of exchange-only lines is a significant issue. It is denying people the ability to have access to services in the way that the majority have. There is an economic value in ubiquity. On the day that everybody in Scotland is connected to a high-speed broadband connection, we can shut down all the methods of communication that have to continue to support low-bandwidth connections, then we can save money centrally. I have a solution to all that. It is not a technological solution. It is a simple and straightforward solution. It is a policy solution. The Scottish Government must install devices on its own internet-net connections that restrict the speed of those connections to that prevailing in rural Aberdeenshire, rural Shetland, rural Orkney, rural Western Isles and Freesing Galloway. I think that if we did that, we would suddenly get things. Rural Argyll, as well, I hear Mr Russell pleading. I just have this vague feeling that we might actually get things fixed. In fact, I will say to you that last year we had a very pleasant holiday imports in Plopton, where we rented a cottage. I did not want to come home. It was running at six megabits, 20 times what it had been running at home in Bamshire when I left. My wife and my dentist are the greatest proponents of our getting proper access to high-speed broadband, mainly because my wife does not like the sound of my chewing the edge of my desk in frustration and why she can work out my dentist's concern for my teeth. Of course, it is not just broadband. Where I live, there is no mobile phone signal, 2G, 1G, 3G or whatever the prevailing stuff is. There is no free-view access. I cannot even get satellite broadband because the satellites, there are two of them, are not due south, so the angle of attack is 20.5 degrees or 22. The terrain stops me seeing them as well, and I am not alone. On that side of the hill, we cannot get satellite either, and it is not as good as getting proper fibre broadband. I have costed the cost of wholesale purchase of the fibre that is necessary to connect my house to the exchange, which is not that far away. It is £300. I have the £300 waiting. Many things. I, too, congratulate Tavish Scott on bringing this timely debate to the chamber tonight. Like others, I have mentioned and welcomed the investment that is made by the Scottish Government to address the issue of delivering broadband to rural and island communities that I represent. Having said that, it seems that even in the five years, or almost five years of being in this Parliament, expectations have changed and working practices have changed, small businesses have changed and a great deal has changed across the highlands and islands. There was a time when broadband was seen perhaps as a luxury or a superfast broadband as even more of a luxury, but now it is seen as a necessity of life. Just like water or a roof over your head, anyone contemplating running a small business in the rural areas that I represent or even the more urban parts of the highlands and islands, the towns, simply will not contemplate it without a superfast broadband or broadband. The mobile signal is, as has been mentioned already, clearly essential. I would also endorse Tavish Scott's request in trying to establish how the examples of successful community broadband Scotland projects. If you look on the BT website, there is a map showing the work, and we have possibly all arranged to have BT make presentations in communities that they have done. The gaps are often referred to, hopefully, that community broadband Scotland might be able to plug those gaps. However, how that is working is not clear. Often, we leave community groups with the contact address of community broadband Scotland, and here, thank you very much, a little about the progress that has been made thereafter. This summer, I have to say that I spent most of recess on the islands meeting with social enterprises, community groups and community associations. It was the hot topic in each and every single case. Last weekend, in Elfin, I was invited to meet a group of people there who could not understand that the fibre cables would run through their community but not for their community. I see that it is the hot topic and needs to be addressed by all of us. However, if we want to see the fairer Scotland, I think that it must be a priority for everyone. However, it is not only for business and it is not only for fun. More often than not, we are encouraged to fill in whether it is the DWP or licences or paying licence or crofters having to complete forums online. There are the very people often who have no access to that. It is essential that we start to see more importance given to the 25 per cent gaps that Liam McArthur mentioned in Orkney and elsewhere, where those gaps are plugged. However, it is more than that. I think that there is a real issue of democracy and this Parliament. This is something that I have talked about before. We now have in the cross-party group on crofting in one of the rooms here at Q102 the ability to hold our cross-party group live online, as it were, where people can dial in or come in on the internet. That is great from here, but we need to be able to that group of cross-party group on crofting does not attract crofters from central Edinburgh nor does it attract them from central Glasgow. It is of interest to people who are in rural areas who would like to access the discussion that is happening in Parliament. If we want to see real democracy working across the country and if we believe what we say that we want people to be accessing this Parliament and its work, then all of that is relevant to that, too. Thank you very much. Presiding Officer, first of all, as is the normal practice, I congratulate Tavish Scott for bringing this debate to the chamber. The fact that there are so many people here taking part in the debate tonight shows that it is real worth. Thank you, Tavish Scott for doing that. We did not be great if we were here this evening talking about what an exciting, fantastic, connected country Scotland was and how we were leading the world in terms of our broadband and our mobile coverage. Our tourism businesses are able to put out online the excitement and dramatic value of the beauty that they represent. Our farmers are able to bid for the beasts that they see on the market online. Our kids are able to involve themselves in educational tools that help with social inclusion and telehealth to get access to information in the way that we can at the moment. People are living in rural and remote areas that are overcoming some of the difficulties that are faced over transport by having great connectivity. That would be the vision that we should always have. The opportunities for us as a nation are utterly boundless if we can get this right. I am hugely excited by the potential and because of that, I am delighted with the extra money that has been put in by the Scottish Government and the UK Government to try to get us to where we need to be. I am engaged with communities the length and breadth of my constituency, every nook and cranny, from Tindrum to Murdoch, from Fylin and Coway to the shores of the East of Loch Lomond. Many areas are working fantastically well, but there are not spots as described in Tawey Scots motion well that exist also across my constituency. I want to thank Digital Scotland at this stage and for its sheer level of engagement with me, particularly through Duncan this bit. If you ask Duncan, he will tell you that he has been more engaged with my constituency than any other constituency in the country because I am now off the phone to the man. I know that he has a reception this evening that Stuart Stevenson is hosting. He is doing a great job, but frankly he is doing it in too many in a dug and he probably needs a bit more support for him to be able to go out and do that. Likewise, Sean Marley from Community Broadband Scotland has been engaged with me with these communities all over the place as we look for new bespoke solutions for every community that finds itself in a not spot. That is one of the problems of all of that. The communities are coming with some fantastic people, and as Rhoda Grant said, some communities need a bit more capacity, but with some fantastic people coming up with some great solutions, particularly around the wireless network and how that can be used. However, we need to be able to think of the long term and how sustainable that model is for all those communities working in a different way. That is why I was pleased that, recently, the Community Broadband advisory group and Stirling Council agreed to carry out an audit of the not spots across the Stirling area so that they can get the communities to work together to find the solutions that help them. All of that is good, and it is all fantastic activity going on across some great communities. That could be sorted so much more quickly. The University of South service obligation should have been there. We should not be waiting until now to have that universal service obligation. In Spain and in Finland, it exists, and if we had the right to get access to the telephone in the past, to be able to pick up the telephone and use it, why do not people in this modern day and age have the right to have fast access to broadband speeds? There is a structural problem that exists—I heard, mikes—having a walloping at BT. I understand that, but they have a structural problem that exists there because of the Chinese wall that exists between off-common on one side and on the other side BT main company. The two are not allowed to talk to each other. It is ridiculous what has been put in place by way of a structure across the UK. There are many technical aspects that I could go on to this evening, but I know that you are shaking your head at me, and we do not have enough time to do that. The last thing that I want to go back to is the fact that all the great work that is going on across my communities—their length and breadth—working hard in their own steam to try to make this work. In talking of steam, I just wish that we were no longer having a network involved in connectivity that actually comes from the steam age, and we could get ourselves into the modern age. I call on the cabinet secretary John Swinney to close the debate on behalf of the Government, Mr Swinney. I begin by thanking Tavish Scott for putting in his motion and for promoting the debate tonight. I want to take the opportunity of this debate to reassure members that I understand entirely the significance of the issue and its importance to all communities of Scotland, but particularly the rural and island communities that are the focus of Mr Scott's motion tonight. I know that, not just because of my experience in representing Perthshire, Perth City and the rural parts of northern Perthshire into the bargain, but also because of the fact that the issue is by far the largest issue on which I correspond with members of the Scottish Parliament. Some of the usual suspects are here tonight who occupy significant parts in my mailbag, and I understand and recognise the significance of the issues. Why? Because, as a society, we are now living our lives in many respects with broadband as an essential service in the way in which we undertake all of our transactions and our activities. At a recent meeting of the convention of the Highlands and Islands, the convener of Western Isles Council made the point that he viewed the significance of the roll-out of broadband to the homes and the communities of the Western Isles as significantly as he viewed the roll-out of mains electricity in the 1950s to those communities, and I think that that rather puts it into perspective as to the significance. I want to reassure members tonight of the importance the Government attaches to this issue, which is why the Government has participated with the United Kingdom Government in funding a £410 million investment programme for the roll-out of the digital Scotland superfast broadband programme. Why does that matter? That matters, because in relation to some of the members who are here tonight, if the Government had not done this, in Mr MacArthur's constituency, instead of being 75 per cent of properties able to have access to superfast broadband, it would have been zero. In Mr Scott's constituency, 57.5 per cent would have had access to broadband, unlike the 93.4 per cent that we anticipate under the superfast broadband programme. For completeness in my own community, it would have been 40.2 per cent instead of the 90 per cent that is scheduled to be. I give way to Mr MacArthur. I thank the cabinet secretary for taking an intervention. I think that he is entirely justified in pointing out where the market failure needed to be addressed by public investment. However, would he accept that, given where we are and that a backbone has had to be constructed in order to build out that the priority from here on in is to make up the ground in those areas that continue to fall below that regional or national average? Mr MacArthur makes a very fair point. I am confident that the roll-out of superfast broadband will reach the targets that have been set. The 85 per cent coverage target, which was set for March 2016, was reached six months ahead of schedule. I have confidence in the roll-out of the programme, and I pay tribute to Highlandslands Enterprise, who has led on the programme and the roll-out that has been done in partnership with BT. However, it is vital that members in the representing constituencies understand the significance that the Government attaches and the priority that we attach to making sure that we complete this process for everybody in Scotland, not just those who will be covered by the programme that we have already commissioned. My focus is on finding the solutions and using the resources that we have available to us to try to ensure that we can maximise coverage. Already in the main programme that the Government is taking forward, we have generated a gainshare return of around £18 million. That means that £18 million of extra capacity beyond the existing plan is available to reach out to further properties, and we have a phase 2 of the superfast broadband programme, which is valued at £42 million, which will also be added to rolling out of the programme. Mr Scott asked me about the extent of the involvement of community broadband Scotland, which is a crucial intervention to try to deliver projects that will not be serviced by the BT contract that the Government has commissioned. Community broadband Scotland has approved funding for 62 projects so far and is actively supporting a further 90 projects, comprising more than 19,000 premises across Scotland. Community broadband Scotland has now gained momentum and is now in a position where it is delivering real impact in localities. I am satisfied that the resources that are available to community broadband Scotland are adequate to meet the demand that is currently being expressed, but I give Parliament the reassurance that if I feel that there is more demand than we have the resources currently allocated, I will attach priority to finding new resources to add to those to make sure that we are able to roll out broadband to a broader range of communities than is currently envisaged under this process. Let me say a few words about mobile coverages, because I understand the significance that is attached to that with members. This is an area where the Scottish Government has no regulatory responsibilities whatsoever, but I have convened discussions with the four, the currently four mobile network operators on a number of occasions to encourage a partnership approach where the Government is looking at planning regulations, we are looking at business rates issues, local authorities we are encouraging to look at planning issues to try to break down some of the obstacles that might exist in expanding capacity. I reassure Mr Scott that in the negotiation of the UK-wide emergency services mobile communications programme we are pressing for that to provide the added value of additional 4G connectivity as a consequence of the financial contribution that we will make to that programme, which will obviously be mirrored by the United Kingdom Government into the bargain. Let me close, Presiding Officer, with two final points in relation to the debate tonight. Mr Russell, in his characteristically understated fashion, has been severely critical of BT. I will see BT on Thursday. I will make the point that Mr Russell has made to me, and I am sure that BT will have heard the points that he has made. I invited BT to come to the convention of the Highlands and Islands in Elgin a few months ago in order that the leaders of the public sector in the Highlands and Islands could have the opportunity, along with the mobile network operators as well, to make their point very directly so that it was clearly understood by those organisations the importance that we attach to digital connectivity. I will make that point and I will repeatedly make that point to BT of the importance that has to be attached towards effective service, although I think that Mr Russell's comments went beyond that into some of the active service that members of the public will experience. Lastly, on off-com, the Smith commission of which Mr Scott and I were both members recommended that all that could get past the Smith commission was for us to have more say in it. I cannot remember if Mr Scott was an ally of mine on that particular issue. I am sure that he was an ally. He was always an ally in the Smith commission. The point that we could get the Smith commission to go to was to say that the off-com had to have a more direct relationship with the Scottish Government and we should nominate a member to the board of off-com. I want to place on record my appreciation to the chief executive of off-com, Sharon White, who has made extraordinary efforts to strengthen the dialogue with the Scottish Government indeed just last week. I met with Sharon White and also with Baroness Noakes, one of the board members of off-com for a number of discussions. I also met the chair of off-com within the last few months to set out the importance that the Government and Parliament attach to improving connectivity. I have every confidence that off-com have heard that message and are pursuing that message in terms of the exercise of their responsibilities, one of which will be to consider the issues in connection with the universal service obligation. I hope that what I have said to Parliament does justice to the importance of the issues that have been raised by members and Mr Scott in his motion. I welcome the fact that members have been appreciative of the investment that we have made and the success of the programme to date, but I want to make it absolutely clear to members the centrality that the Government attaches to resolving those issues to ensure that every citizen of our country, whether for business, leisure or professional purposes, is able to access digital connectivity in their homes and in their localities and to ensure that they are well connected to the modern world. Many thanks and I now close this meeting of Parliament.