Podcast script – 26 February 2015 
I’m speaking today with audit manager Andra Laird about a new progress report by Audit Scotland on Superfast broadband for Scotland. 
Andra, can you tell me, what is this report about? 
Our audit looks at the investment that both the Scottish Government and HIE are making to bring superfast broadband to homes and businesses in Scotland.
We've looked at how they planned the work, and how they identified BT to build the network and we look at what has been achieved so far and what else they need to do to achieve the Scottish Government’s ambition of universal coverage for everyone in Scotland by 2020.
And what have you found? 
Well, two years ago the Scottish Government announced that it wanted 95 per cent of homes and businesses across Scotland to have access to superfast broadband by the end of 2017.
At that time they were aiming to create a broadband network that could ultimately deliver broadband speeds of over 40 megabits per second.
We found that the contracts with BT do not guarantee that these speeds will be available to everyone: around 1 in 4 will need to wait for further investment or advances in technology to be able to get speeds of more than 24 megabits per second.
But when the work is complete, the two contracts with BT should provide over 746,000 businesses and homes with access to a superfast broadband network; over three quarters of these are expected to be able to get broadband speeds of more than 24 megabits per second.
In that case, is it still accurate to use the term ‘superfast broadband’?
Well, in our report we refer to the network that BT is building as a 'superfast broadband network' and that's to distinguish it from the network that was previously available; but there's no agreed definition of what speed is 'superfast'. The Scottish Government is aiming ultimately to provide speeds of 40-80 Mb/s. And in comparison, the UK Government's rural broadband programme aims to provide access to internet speeds of more than 24 Mb/s, and that's to 95 per cent of premises by 2017. 
Are the projects on track then to deliver the Scottish Government’s March 2016 target for between 85-90 per cent of premises having access to the network? 
Projects are on course to deliver the interim target set for March 2016 and this will mean that 85 per cent of homes and businesses will have access to the superfast broadband network, although not all will get superfast speeds straightaway.
In terms of the progress of the work, BT is ahead of the target set out in its contracts. However, it set more ambitious targets in its initial implementation plan, and it is slightly behind where it expected to be when measured against these targets. 
However, as long as BT continues to meet its contract targets, it will be able to meet the different milestones set out by the Scottish Government. 
So looking ahead, how effective are the arrangements for scrutinising progress against the contracts? 
We report that the arrangements for scrutinising BT's progress against the contracts are good. We do highlight though that the procedures are complex, which increases the risk that, as workloads increase in the future, project teams may not be able to fulfil their contract management and monitoring responsibilities in busier periods.
And what would you like to see happen as a result of this report? 
We have asked the Scottish Government and HIE to be clearer about what speeds people will get and how many will have access to superfast broadband by each of their milestones, the first one being in March 2016.
We recommend that the Scottish Government creates a clear plan by June this year for the next £42m it will invest. They should consider in this if the aim is to increase coverage further or to increase speeds, and how they will balance this.
And finally, we've recommended that both Scottish Government and HIE ensure that the two project teams remain well enough resourced to be able to manage and monitor the projects throughout.
Andra, thank you.