Chamber and committees

That would be helpful, given the committee’s scrutiny role. Perhaps when you share the briefings with us monthly, more information could be provided in those, or it could be done in private, if Registers of Scotland felt that that was important. However, we would appreciate more sharing of the figures—that would be helpful.

So it depends on the case. There is no upper limit on how long a complex case could take or the bespoke arrangement could be.

I am sorry to interrupt, but I think that SPICe asked for a percentage of the land mass that is covered by excluded categories. I think that it has an idea of what would come under excluded.

Our next item of business is an evidence session on broadband connectivity. I welcome the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy, Kate Forbes MSP. She is joined by Clive Downing, who is the reaching 100 per cent programme director in the Scottish Government, and Robert McGhee, who is the deputy director for digital connectivity in the Scottish Government.

As always, it would be helpful if members and witnesses could keep questions and answers as concise as possible.

I invite the cabinet secretary to make a short opening statement.

Thank you. I will now bring in Alexander Burnett, to be followed by Colin Smyth.

We understand the role of Ofcom, but in the discussions on Scotland’s getting a deal that works for us, is the information provided by Ofcom helpful? Is it something that it takes into consideration? It produces a Scottish report. Is it part of its remit to look at where the inequalities in delivery are in the UK?

It is certainly limited with regard to the politics of the situation, but the information that it provides can help to support some of the cases that have been made today.

Thank you very much, cabinet secretary.

I note that Jamie Halcro Johnston has provided apologies for not being at today’s meeting.

I will start the questions and then take questions from other members. There will be questions on the UK Government’s gigabit project, which the cabinet secretary has talked about, but I will start with progress on the R100 programme.

Following the delay to concluding contracts for the R100 programme, we now expect some areas not to have connection until 2026-27. Are you confident that that deadline can be met? We are seeing cost increases for various reasons, including inflation. Are you confident that the budget that is in place is sufficient? You have talked about the challenges of reaching the more remote areas of Scotland and the increased costs that are involved in that. Are you confident that the new deadline of 2026-27 for the R100 programme will be met?

You mentioned the subsea cables. Can you confirm that the vessel collected the supplies from Norway in May and that the cables are still expected to be laid by the end of this year? Is that still the timescale?

Would it be possible for you, either today or in writing, to give us an estimate of how many households are likely to be impacted by the £7,000 cap? Do you already have that information? Would you be able to share it with us?