Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department has taken alongside the Scottish Government to accelerate the activation of Extended Area Services sites in Scotland.

The Emergency Services Network (ESN) has activated seven Extended Area Services sites in Scotland so far, this means that the sites are connected to the ESN network and are capable of housing commercial networks. Six of the sites are in conjunction with the Scottish Futures Trust (SFT) which is funded by the Scottish Government. EAS has a further 17 sites in progress with SFT, with another four going live in the next 6-8 weeks, good progress is being made with the SFT and Scottish Government in the delivery and activation of these sites. EAS is also in the process of building and activating the remaining 99 sites which form the 123 EAS site coverage in Scotland. These are made up mostly of greenfield sites with 24 site shares also being utilised.