Julie James: English for speakers of other languages, as the Member rightly identifies, is a fundamental part of being able to settle properly in a new country and actually for that new country to take proper account of your skills and your ability to contribute. As such, we have, as part of the Welsh Government's skills provision, protected ESOL funding for several years through various budgets....
Julie James: Yes. Earlier this year the Welsh Government approved the Gypsy and Traveller accommodation assessments undertaken by Welsh local authorities, which identified a need for 237 residential and 33 transit pitches across Wales. A total of £26.4 million has been allocated between 2017 and 2021 to address this need, and I expect local authorities to deliver against the need.
Julie James: Yes. We have an annual review of how the local authorities are progressing. All 22 local authorities have responded to the request, and the findings of the first review show that good progress is being made in almost every area across Wales. A formal review of the Gypsy and Traveller accommodation assessment guidance will be undertaken in 2018, which will inform thinking about the next round...
Julie James: Yes, 48,266 premises within Rhondda Cynon Taf can now access fast fibre broadband with an average download speed of over 64 Mbps, thanks to Superfast Cymru. That equates to around 95 per cent of eligible premises, and just over £13,144,000 of public funding has been invested in the project in Rhondda Cynon Taf.
Julie James: That will be very much part of how we construct the successor project to Superfast Cymru, and I believe the Member has a number of specific issues in industrial estates, and he will have heard the answer I gave to Darren Millar earlier about some of the things we're doing for business in industrial estates. One of the industrial estates in the Member's area in Treforest has a number of...
Julie James: Yes, absolutely. So, we're designing the second stage now. We're going to go to procurement as early in the new year as we can manage it so that we have a back-to-back roll-out arrangement with BT as they ramp down from the first one. I'm not saying for one minute that BT will win the second phase, but clearly we want to have a programme that's as smooth as possible. One of the ways that...
Julie James: The Welsh Government is committed to improving the diversity of decision makers in Wales. The diversity and democracy programme closed in March and we'll undertake a full evaluation of it with a view to learning from it and taking the diversity agenda further forward in the light of the evaluation.
Julie James: Well, no, I think it's up to all of us to encourage the skilled women we all know to stand for election, and actually to make sure that our own political parties step up to the mark in encouraging as many women as possible to be involved at grass-roots level in terms of activism, and then leading them on through leadership programmes or whatever into proper democratically elected or...
Julie James: Yes. We are determined to do all we can with our partners to tackle slavery in Wales. We continue to raise awareness, provide multi-agency training, support victims, and assist in bringing perpetrators to justice of this heinous crime.
Julie James: Yes, indeed. The Member's quite right to describe it so. We're the first country in the UK to appoint an anti-slavery co-ordinator. We've established the Wales anti-slavery leadership group, as I was saying earlier in response to questions, to provide strategic leadership and guidance on how to tackle slavery in Wales, and also to provide the best possible support for survivors, which I...
Julie James: Yes, absolutely. David Melding will have heard me talking about some of the work we've been doing as part of the Fair Work Board to look at enforcement procedures that could be brought to Wales and used by local authorities. At the moment, there's a UK enforcement authority, which is in the north of England, that covers the whole of the UK. I'm very keen to ensure that we work with that UK...
Julie James: I'll be consulting on a new—. Sorry, it would helpful if I found the right question, wouldn't it, really. We're doing quite a lot in 5G technology in Wales. We've been looking quite a lot through the city deals at developing some good test-bed pilots for 5G technology and also in the new park, the automotive park, that we've talked about. We're also using it as an adjunct to fibre...
Julie James: We're very keen to support the development of 5G test beds right across Wales, and certainly I'm very happy to come and look, with the Member, at the possibilities on Anglesey. We are currently looking at a couple of test beds already. We've appointed Innovation Point to advise, stimulate and co-ordinate activity on 5G in Wales, including opportunities to secure funding from the test bed...
Julie James: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. The Welsh Government is strongly in favour of increasing citizen participation in policy making in Wales, and we certainly share the aspiration as set out by David Melding in his really quite exciting proposal to close the gap between politicians and the public, both to engage the people of Wales in decisions that affect them and to keep us rooted in the communities...
Julie James: Diolch, Llywydd. Can I begin by thanking Members for bringing this very important debate forward today, and for sharing their contributions, and also for giving me this opportunity to contribute on behalf of the Welsh Government? It's really clear, from today's debate and the passionate and principled contributions of Members this afternoon, the depth and strength of feeling that exists in...
Julie James: Certainly.
Julie James: Well, that's a very fair point, and it's part of an ongoing political discussion here in the United Kingdom about how such things should be dealt with. Actually, one of the points that David Melding made very ably was about the specific position of the UK state in this issue, which is an important point, and one not to be forgotten. However, I think there's much to suggest that there's much...
Julie James: Certainly.
Julie James: I certainly think the way they went about it was wrong, absolutely. It's part of an ongoing conversation in Spain as it is, and, indeed, as Rhun ap Iorwerth pointed out, an ongoing conversation in the UK. It's a conversation that they're not having in any way that I would certainly recognise as a democratic process.
Julie James: I completely agree. I absolutely and completely agree. But at a time when democratic ideals are being tested all over the world, we do think that the people of Catalonia should have their rights and wishes respected, and that, whatever the result of that, we can continue to hold up Europe as a home to democratic ideals and values for others to follow. Llywydd, in this debate the Government of...
