Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what progress has he made on the Local Full Fibre Networks Programme in rural locations throughout Scotland.

The Local Full Fibre Networks (LFFN) Programme has the following Scottish projects and potential projects:

LFFN Wave 2 Challenge Fund

Highland Council are planning to use the SWAN Framework to implement a gigabit fibre network to 152 public buildings in Inverness, Fort William, Thurso and Wick - awarded £4.3m BDUK Funding. This project is in preparation stage for the 'Ready to Procure' Assurance Gate.

LFFN Wave 3 Challenge Fund

Shetland Council have successfully passed the LFFN Investment Panel stage and are working on the final Business case to go through Assurance Gate A and if approved will be issued with a letter of offer for £2m BDUK Funding

Tay Cities combined authority are in the dialogue stage regarding a potential LFFN project in their area.

Renfrewshire Council are at the pre-dialogue stage regarding a potential LFFN project in their area

Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme

To the end of September 2018 across Scotland, there have been 87 gigabit vouchers connected (value £243,953). A report up to the end of December 2018 will be released early in February