Lack of education is one of the biggest barriers preventing widespread adoption of broadband in Scotland, according to the creative director of a communications agency.

Writing for the Scotsman, Pete Martin of The Gate Worldwide argued that a digital divide is opening up between Scotland and other parts of the UK and Europe.

In England, Northern Ireland and Wales, broadband uptake stands at around the three-quarters mark, while north of the border just 61 per cent of households have a home internet connection.

"As a peripheral part of the UK, it's fairly clear that Scotland faces a growing digital divide," Mr Martin stated. "We lag the UK average on all fronts. But the facts suggest some deep-set issues which no amount of fibre optic cabling can fix."

Considering the reasons for the gap between Scotland and other parts of Britain, he suggested a key issue could be widespread computer illiteracy. Citing Ofcom figures, the Gate Worldwide man noted a third of Scots without broadband say they do not know how to use a computer, while the figure across the UK is around half that amount.

Half of Scottish school students in their early teens use the internet to do their homework, boosting broadband access in households with children, but even this proportion is lower than the rest of Britain.

"If Scotland genuinely wants to be a smarter, fairer, wealthier society, we need to put a rocket under our strategy for digital inclusion," Mr Martin remarked.

Last month, the UK's Department for Culture, Media and Sport awarded Scotland £68.8 million from its £530 million broadband funding pot to improve connectivity across the country.

In comparison, England, Northern Ireland and Wales were given £294.8 million, £4.4 million and £56.9 million respectively.

Scottish Infrastructure and Capital Investment Secretary Alex Neil said the allocation had fallen well short of the devolved government's expectations.

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