In a Parliamentary Q&A session held last Thursday (14 September), Digital Minister Matt Hancock blamed the Scottish Government for Scotland’s alleged lack of accessibility to super-fast broadband. His comments came in response to a query raised by Alistair Carmichael, Liberal Democrat MP to Orkney and Shetland, concerning poor broadband speeds in his constituency.

Hancock said: “The Scottish Government have been the slowest of all of the different organisations around the country to contract the broadband that we so desperately need. That is why Scotland is behind. We are offering technical support, but they are behind every English county and behind both the Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Government, and they need to get a move on.”

Connectivity Minister to the Scottish Government, Fergus Ewing, issued a response to the accusations, claiming that they were “inaccurate,” and “wildly without any basis in fact.”

“The Digital Scotland Super-fast Broadband (DSSB) is, and always has been, due to complete its initial phase by the end of 2017, with extended build through Gainshare to be delivered during 2018,” he said. “It would quite simply have been inconceivable for us to have launched subsequent broadband procurements before the DSSB coverage footprint was nearing completion. This is a position that has been discussed and agreed with BDUK (Broadband Delivery UK) officials.

“Alongside our partners, we have invested over £400 million in Scotland’s Digital Super-fast Broadband programme, resulting in over 780,000 premises having access to fibre broadband and despite the unique geographical challenges Scotland contends with, the vast majority of those premises are capable of receiving super-fast speeds.”

He added: “Ofcom’s Connected Nations Report 2016 highlighted that super-fast broadband coverage in Scotland had seen the largest increase across any of the UK nations in the previous 12 months. Indeed, without the investment in the DSSB programme, access across the country would only be at 66%, access in the Highlands would only be at 21%, and Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles would have no access to fibre broadband at all.

“The Scottish Government has chosen to act, and our commitment to deliver 100% super-fast broadband access by the end of 2021 is a unique commitment across the UK. We are firmly of the view that our ambitious plan is the right one for Scotland’s economy and we will continue to urge the UK Government to match our ambition.”