Lee Waters: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and in deference to you, I will be brief and ask just one question. I'm pleased to see in the statement that you say Transport for Wales will be looking at the whole journey door to door. I presume that therefore includes active travel as those key links at either end of the journey. Can you confirm that is the intention, because it's not mentioned in the...
Lee Waters: Why?
Lee Waters: Like the National Front.
Lee Waters: Minister, you were right to say that this is a key utility and we should acknowledge that without the direct market intervention of the Welsh Government thousands of my constituents would be now without broadband. But of course there remain the frustrations of those who are left behind. I had a lively public meeting on Friday night in the community of Bynea just outside Llanelli, where there...
Lee Waters: What lessons can be learned from the work of NHS Digital and the UK Government's on-line information service in reforming the delivery of the NHS Wales Informatics Service?
Lee Waters: Cabinet Secretary, I've seen the future, and it works. Last night, I had my first online GP consultation. I downloaded an app. I subscribed for a service at £5 a month. I was able to get an appointment within an hour. I sent the GP my notes and some pictures. I had a very good consultation, and within minutes a prescription had been e-mailed to a chemist of my choice. The pace of change...
Lee Waters: 9. What assessment has the Counsel General made of the impact of automation on the legal services sector? OAQ51729
Lee Waters: What plans does the Welsh Government have for the £1.5 million budget allocated to support the foundational economy?
Lee Waters: Well, like all industries that have repetitive elements, the legal services sector is especially vulnerable to automation. Some estimates suggest that 39 per cent of jobs in the legal sector could be replaced by algorithms and machines within the next 20 years. We can just imagine, in law firms where currently large numbers of people are occupied doing repetitive tasks, document searches...
Lee Waters: Will you give way?
Lee Waters: Thank you, I appreciate that. You quoted Sophie Howe's submission about the wisdom of building roads. Of course, as part of that submission, she also said that building the blue route was not in keeping with the spirit of that either, which is Plaid Cymru's policy. So, to properly embrace her logic, you'd drop road building altogether as the solution to congestion.
Lee Waters: I think it's right that the debate around the M4 is in flux, and it's clear from the contributions this afternoon that opinions are still fluid around this. There are people, obviously, on this bench and the Conservative bench who have consistently argued for the black route, though I was pleased to hear Andrew R.T. Davies cancel his blank cheque that he's given this project and introduce a...
Lee Waters: Well, I'm not in the business of voting down the budgets of a Labour Government, so that's why I want to de-couple this issue. This motion today is about the financing. I want a separate motion before this Assembly, after the public inquiry has reported, before Ministers make their decisions, on the principle of the road, not explicitly about the financing, but on the principle of the road....
Lee Waters: A lot of us who have the experience of fighting the 2011 referundum and trying to articulate a case that people would understand about moving from Part 3 to Part 4 of the Government of Wales Act are slightly seared by the experience, and the question of whether or not we should change the internal configuration of the Assembly is not, I would suggest, a matter of principle, just as there...
Lee Waters: 5. What assessment has the First Minister made of the Centre for Cities analysis that 112,000 workers could face losing their jobs in Cardiff, Swansea and Newport alone, as a result of automation? OAQ51741
Lee Waters: Thank you. The indications are consistent with other analyses. China recently unveiled plans for a £1.5 billion research park dedicated to the development of artificial intelligence. The United Arab Emirates have appointed a Minister for AI and announced a cross-Government strategy. Their prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed, has said, 'We want the UAE to become the world's most prepared...
Lee Waters: Thank you for giving way. As well as the scrutiny process for the Bill, the Public Accounts Committee has held a long inquiry into housing associations in Wales. On this point, we found that in exchange for the extra freedom that they were getting through this measure comes a responsibility on the housing associations themselves to proactively encourage scrutiny from their tenants. So, can...
Lee Waters: As the hedgehog species champion, I welcome—[Interruption.] I'm very encouraged by the interest of other Members in our prickly friends. [Laughter.] I was concerned to read in the report by the Hedgehog Preservation Society of the decline of hedgehogs in rural areas, particularly aligned to the use of pesticides. Would the Minister agree that the use of big data and artificial intelligence...
Lee Waters: Hear, hear.
Lee Waters: It is grimly ironic that we're holding a debate on loneliness on Valentine's Day, but as many have noted, it's a timely debate. I did not serve on the committee, but I think that the call to action is spot on. But I am frustrated that the solutions ignore the technological shifts that other countries around the world are seizing on. The three paragraphs of the report that do address the role...
