AN SNP MSP and former transport and infrastructure minister has been forced to take part in a Holyrood connectivity committee meeting from the back of his car as issues with his home internet connection have made it “unusable”.
Banffshire and Buchan Coast MSP Stewart Stevenson joined the meeting from his car as Scotland's current Infrastructure Secretary stressed a troubled rural broadband project will help 55,000 people in isolated communities get online by the end of the year.
Stevenson said the recent bad weather had meant his internet had ongoing issues. He told fellow MSPs on Holyrood’s Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee it was “unusable”.
Stevenson was Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change from May 2007 to December 2010.
Current Infrastructure Secretary Michael Matheson told that same committee that improvements to internet connections the Scottish Government was making should allow people in remote areas to “have a level of digital connectivity which is as good as, if not better than, our major urban areas”.
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Stevenson told The National: “Unfortunately due to some ongoing issues with my broadband at home as a result of the bad weather I have not been able to easily connect to the internet.
“I have been determined to ensure my presence at committees and in meetings with constituents despite the challenges and so earlier today [Wednesday] moved to my car to be able to participate in committee.”
Matheson, whose current brief includes being the Transport Secretary, told Stevenson that he had “had a few ministerial meetings from the back of my own car as well over recent months”.
Most of Holyrood’s business has moved online since the pandemic struck Scotland in an effort to reduce the spread of coronavirus.
Questioned on the issue of digital connectivity by fellow committee member Maureen Watt, Matheson said that £90 million in the draft budget had been set aside for three contracts as part of the government’s R100 programme – which aims to deliver superfast broadband access to 100% of properties in Scotland.
Asked if he was confident the money was enough to make a difference to those affected by the “digital divide”, Matheson said: “I think in part, yes.
“There is no doubt the R100 programme will have a significant impact in helping to improve high quality digital connectivity into some of Scotland’s most remote parts in a way which will allow people who live in remote communities to have a level of digital connectivity, which is as good as, if not better than, our major urban areas.
“It will deliver a significantly improved level of digital connectivity around rural Scotland.”
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He added that the Scottish Government was also working to improve access to computers, saying: “You may have access to broadband connectivity but if you can’t afford to have a computer then you could find yourself excluded and experience digital exclusion.
“So there is funding we provide through our digital connectivity programme which is around £45 million, which is about giving up to 55,000 people who are presently digitally excluded, to support them to get online by the end of 2021.”
Matheson added: “That is targeted very much at individuals who are digitally excluded, not because of a lack of just digital connectivity, broadband connectivity, but being able to afford to have a computer and to be able to sustain a broadband connection.
“That fund is specifically designed to support individuals and to assist them in being able to make use of digital capacity.”
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