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The Scottish Government has not set a 100% gigabit-capable broadband coverage target for Scotland.

Given the reserved nature of telecoms legislation, the UK Government’s Project Gigabit programme has set an 85% UK-wide coverage target to be met by 2025, and aims to achieve ‘nationwide’ coverage by 2030.

The Scottish Government continues to work closely with the UK Government on Project Gigabit activity in Scotland.

The Scottish Government has already undertaken work to ensure that vulnerable or disadvantaged groups have access to digital services.

Connecting Scotland aims to reduce digital exclusion by providing people with opportunities to access and utilise the internet effectively. The programme delivered internet enabled devices and connectivity, as well as providing training and support to individuals and communities who are digitally excluded. Over 61,000 devices have been issued since the programme launched in 2020.

Connecting Scotland continues to provide internet connectivity to current users, thereby ensuring that they have reliable access to internet services.

The Scottish Government continues to work closely with the UK Government on Project Gigabit activity in Scotland.

In March 2023, the Scottish Government and Building Digital UK (BDUK) carried out Procurement Area Market Engagement, engaging with broadband infrastructure suppliers to gauge the level of market interest in bidding for new gigabit-capable broadband contracts in Scotland.

On 23 March 2023, the Scottish Government launched a Scotland-wide Public Review (PR). The PR collected information about suppliers’ delivered and planned gigabit-capable networks across Scotland and will confirm eligible premises for public investment via Project Gigabit.

The PR closed on 24 April 2023 and the responses are being analysed.

The first Project Gigabit procurements in Scotland are expected to launch later in 2023.

Full fibre is now available to over 1.2 million properties in Scotland, with coverage now standing at 45% – an increase of 14 percentage points from January 2022 and 26 percentage points from January 2021.

This represents an increase of over 400,000 premises in the past 12 months – the largest year-on-year increase in full fibre coverage we have seen in Scotland to date.

The Scottish Government's Reaching 100% (R100) programme is contributing to this by delivering a significant number of fibre to the premises (FTTP) connections through the R100 contracts.

In order to ensure that customers on lower incomes can access reliable broadband at a more affordable cost Ofcom, as telecoms regulator, is urging internet service providers to offer a social tariff.

Social tariffs are more affordable broadband and phone packages for people claiming Universal Credit, Pension Credit and some other benefits.

Details of social tariffs that are currently available are provided on the Ofcom website: Social tariffs: Cheaper broadband and phone packages - Ofcom .

Given the reserved nature of telecoms legislation, responsibility for ensuring that Project Gigabit creates genuine competition between bidders ultimately sits with the UK Government, who oversee the parameters of the programme and its implementation.

The Scottish Government is, however, working closely with the UK Government and in March 2023, the Scottish Government and Building Digital UK (BDUK) carried out Procurement Area Market Engagement. This engagement sought to determine the level of interest from the broadband supplier market in bidding for new contracts. Feedback from these sessions is being used to help shape the development of potential procurement areas. This process will help ensure that procurements attract bids from as many suppliers as possible, encouraging competition.

We continue to urge the UK Government to be flexible in their approach to funding for Project Gigabit, as there can only be meaningful supplier interest and competition if a sufficient level of funding is available to deliver coverage across all parts of Scotland.

The R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme – offering vouchers worth up to £5,000 for eligible properties - currently has 50 suppliers registered to deliver services.

The list of registered suppliers is regularly reviewed to ensure that it is only listing suppliers who are actively participating in the scheme and is kept up to date here: Find a supplier | Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband .

The Scottish Government places great importance on swimming pools. They are crucial to the wellbeing of all our country and most importantly, for our children and young people to be healthy and active.

The financial package announced by the UK Government to support swimming pools in England has resulted in consequentials being added to the overall Scottish block.

We will continue to work with sportscotland, Scottish Swimming and local government partners to consider what additional support can be provided to swimming pools and the wider sport and leisure sector in Scotland.

Details of how the exclusion will apply are currently being worked out in consultation with the sector, and once published the stadium and other hospitality businesses will be able to assess if they eligible for an automatic exclusion. If they are not then they may still be eligible for an exclusion on the grounds specified in the regulations.

Our recent consultation on restricting alcohol advertising and promotion set out a range of potential options to restrict alcohol advertising and promotion. This included a question on whether low or no alcohol products should fall within the scope of any restrictions, where these products feature similar branding as stronger alcoholic drinks.

The consultation closed on 9 March. An independent contractor will comprehensively analyse the responses and a report will be published later this year. We will then further consider possible restrictions.

The Scottish Government supports Mens Sheds in a number of ways, and has made the Scottish Mens Sheds Association (SMSA) an offer of £75,000 funding for 2023/24 which has been accepted by their Board. This funding will help them build a sustainable business model and develop a future fundraising strategy for 2024/25 onwards, that can attract a wider range of funders independent of Scottish Government support.

The Scottish Government has provided £570,000 to the SMSA since 2016/17, and a further £150,000 to Age Scotland. This £720,000 investment has helped the movement grow in Scotland to over 200 sheds today. Funding has also been provided to individual Mens Sheds including £111,709 in 2021/22 from the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for Adults.