Shaping policy and understanding impact
How well is your kitchen device slicing and dicing? How do you rate your recent hotel stay? There’s nothing now that you can’t provide a review for. Businesses have tapped into the aspect of human nature that we prefer to hear the views of people who have actually used or experienced the item or service in question, rather than from the provider themselves.
Why is this? It brings an element of credibility and insight to the comments that a public or corporate body could never achieve. And the Scottish Government’s Reaching 100% (R100) broadband programme is no different.
With the R100 programme recently passing the 74,000 connections milestone, the Scottish Government is asking for a review of sorts from its new ‘users’.
Stantec, the company carrying out the review – or benefits evaluation to give it it’s official term – on behalf of the Scottish Government is engaging with people across all of the country.
Whether you’re a business or it’s your home that’s benefitted or are due to benefit from R100, we’d like to hear from you.
This feedback will play a vital role in informing future policy development and help us better understand the impact of the Scottish Government’s £600m investment in R100 and further public funds to come as Project Gigabit begins to roll-out in Scotland later this year.
The Scottish Government R100 team, with contract delivery partner Openreach, and many of the registered suppliers of the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme continue to bring connectivity to some of the most extreme parts of the UK.
The community on Papa Westray can now access a superfast service through CloudNet’s innovative approach of repurposing water pipes, and Openreach’s full fibre build is bringing the “cradles of Christianity” in Scotland into the 21st century by connecting Iona and Mull to gigabit-capable broadband.
With Tiree next in the R100 delivery plan and the Project Gigabit tender process underway for Orkney and Shetland, there’s no council area that hasn’t received access to life changing connectivity, and more is coming.
As a team we regularly look at what’s been achieved and how it impacts communities and businesses, but we want to hear more. What does it mean for the lives and working days of people in different parts of Scotland? From Aberlemno to Annan, we want to understand how it’s being used and what parts of daily life are being impacted?
If you’ve already benefited or are due to benefit from faster broadband through R100, please take 10 minutes before 3 March to complete the survey. If you’re able to share this post and the link to the survey with your connections we’d urge you to do so and help us shape investment in Scotland’s infrastructure; the backbone of delivering a fair, green and growing economy.
- R100 evaluation survey: https://bit.ly/R100_evaluation
As with all reviews it’s great that one person has had a positive experience, but it’s even better if that experience can be shared so that others can benefit too.
Sarah Eynon
Broadband Programme Director