Julie James: The Member is quite right; our consultation ended on 31 May last year. That had a number of outline proposals to improve the planning and delivery of local bus services. Seventy-five per cent of respondents to that consultation expressed a preference that our reforms should enable local authorities to introduce some kind of bus franchising in their area to be more responsive to local need....
Julie James: Well, the Cabinet Secretary has been having an extensive set of meetings around the Severn area, and the abolition of the tolls and so on. I know that he has a large number of issues going on in that particular area. I wasn't aware of the Bus Users Cymru consultation point. I do suggest the Member writes to the Cabinet Secretary and highlights that issue. I don't think it's an issue for a...
Julie James: Answering those in reverse, that one is part of my portfolio responsibility. I did recently meet with several of the groups involved in that report. I am hoping to pop into your event tomorrow, and we are very favourably looking at that, and I will be very shortly reporting on our response to that report. We had a really good meeting with a large number of the groups, umbrella organisations...
Julie James: Yes, the Member is absolutely right—it is extremely important. I find myself in the uncomfortable position of slightly agreeing with Nigel Farage, but there we are—that's not a place you would very often want to be. The Welsh Government is extremely eager to build on I think our excellent record of keeping the Assembly informed of the latest Brexit developments. Since the referendum...
Julie James: Yes, two very important points. In terms of the Severn growth area, as I said to Mohammad Asghar earlier, there are a number of meetings around this—a very important point. The Cabinet Secretary I know has a number of issues outstanding there, and he is in discussion. He will be updating the Assembly as he goes along with those discussions. If the Member has anything very specific that...
Julie James: The Member raises an extremely important point. We are promoting financial inclusion and it's very much a key priority of the Welsh Government, and, of course, Bethan Jenkins was very instrumental in bringing that issue forward as well. We're working very hard with partner organisations though the financial inclusion steering group to take forward the wide range of actions in the delivery...
Julie James: In terms of the health statement, the Cabinet Secretary is going to bring forward a statement on the NHS over the winter period, and I'm sure it will encompass some of the issues that you've raised. He's nodding at me that it will, so he'll be doing that in the next few weeks. In terms of faith communities and the Holocaust memorial issue, I completely agree with the Member that there's...
Julie James: In terms of the first question that Julie Morgan asked, I've met with Dr Edward Gomez as well, and he's a very enthusiastic astrophysicist. The comic books are fantastic, and I will be discussing with the Cabinet Secretary for Education how we can make better use of such facilities, either in person or through Hwb, which is now out to about 70 per cent of Welsh schools. I had a very...
Julie James: The Minister is here to hear that. I heard him on Radio Wales this morning alongside the Older People's Commissioner for Wales—they had quite a good debate on the subject. He's indicating to me that, within 28 days, we'll be bringing something forward in response.
Julie James: The Member raises a very important point, but he's very well aware that we don't have foreign affairs devolved to us. The First Minister made a sympathy statement for the people of Belgium and I'm sure he would do something similar for everybody across the world who is affected by terrorism. The Member has made his point very eloquently and I'm sure that the Assembly's heard it.
Julie James: Well, thank you for that very important point. The Cabinet Secretary did, indeed, make his points very passionately about the reason why we don't outsource public services and the effect of outsourcing into the private sector—the unintended effects that that can bring. Fortunately, here in Wales, we have not had the exposure to Carillion that has happened elsewhere in public services. The...
Julie James: In terms of the first point, I understand that that's now with the police, and so we won't be commenting further on that. I think the Member's taking it up shortly in his own constituency. I'm sure he'll be able to keep us informed as to how that meeting goes, and we can make sure that the matter progresses. In terms of the floods and the assessment of that, the Cabinet Secretary was...
Julie James: I recognise the ever growing importance of mobile communications in both rural and urban areas. Our mobile action plan sets out how we plan to work with the industry and regulator to improve mobile connectivity across the country.
Julie James: The Superfast Cymru scheme has, to date, facilitated the roll-out of superfast broadband access to over 167,000 homes and businesses across the region, delivering average speeds of over 87 Mbps and investing over £51 million.
Julie James: Through Digital Communities Wales and the many other actions set out in our framework and delivery plan, we are supporting more people to gain maximum benefit from the life changing opportunities digital technologies can offer, be it for employment, health, learning or leisure.
Julie James: I am clear that our aim is to bring people together digitally by offering fast reliable broadband to every property in Wales. Through Superfast Cymru, Access Broadband Cymru and our ultrafast connectivity vouchers, huge progress has been made and will continue to do so through new broadband interventions.
Julie James: Work to deliver the mobile action plan is under way with good progress being made against a number of the actions in the plan.
Julie James: The Superfast Cymru scheme has, to date, facilitated the roll-out of superfast broadband access to over 53,900 homes and businesses across Pembrokeshire delivering average speeds of over 71 Mbps and investing over £15 million.
Julie James: In Wales, we have introduced legislation to help address the gender pay gap in the public sector. The duties that apply in Wales are broad, encompassing the need to understand and address the causes of any pay inequality.
Julie James: Thank you very much for that question. I intend to carry out a procurement exercise shortly, with a view to the new project starting in spring this year. I'll be making a statement later this month to set out more detail about the new scheme.
