Tommy Williamson

The initiative, which was undertaken via the Connecting Scotland programme, aimed to provide tenants with the means to get online - whether to communicate with family and friends, to access info or entertainment or to do a supermarket order.

As well as the devices, SBHA has delivered MiFi routers where connectivity has been an issue, and digital champions have offered support where needed to help people use their new devices.

Tommy Williamson, one of the digital champions, said: “It’s been a great project to be involved in. Especially when I explain a bit about all the things that people could potentially do. We’ve had lots of great feedback. I helped one tenant who hadn’t seen or spoken to his daughter for some time; she was living down South. He was able to get in touch with her again via Facebook, and met his granddaughter for the first time on a videocall. I was really pleased to have been able to help with that.”

While the previous wave of support was aimed at digitally excluded tenants who were shielding, the more recent wave has offered help to young families. One tenant from Selkirk who recently received a Chromebook told SBHA that he was getting on very well with it, and it had made ordering his daughter’s school meals much easier. Another tenant from Peebles said that he was really enjoying having the device, and was using it every day with his son.

Connecting Scotland is a Scottish Government programme set up in response to coronavirus with the aim of getting digitally excluded households online.