Whether its policies will speed up the roll-out of broadband to rural areas.

Our policies and initiatives on broadband are outlined in the broadband strategy update, which I published last week. You will see that there are specific initiatives in the more rural areas, which should help to speed up broadband provision there. These include the Pathfinder initiatives to aggregate public sector demand for broadband in the Highlands and Islands and South of Scotland. It is hoped that this major public investment will help to stimulate supply of and demand for broadband within these areas. Work on the Pathfinder initiative is well in hand.There are also projects funded by the Scottish programme under the UK broadband fund, encouraging uptake of broadband and exploring alternative delivery mechanisms, which could help roll-out in rural areas. These include awareness raising measures through the Broadband for Business demonstration project in the Highlands and Islands and technology trials of Powerline Carrier and Wireless technology, which aim to determine the potential of these technologies for delivering broadband in rural communities. I also announced a new initiative last week, worth up to £24 million, aimed at accelerating and widening broadband provision in Scotland. Rural areas should benefit from this initiative as will the rest of Scotland.