Lee Waters: Absolutely. It is being trialled, and they are certainly having issues about the stability of the connection, but the level of intervention is minimal—it's just a small aerial on the side of the house. Similarly, using 3G and 4G is a way of getting broadband to lots of people, which could be a lot more realistic and doable than fibre to the premises. So, we would certainly be keen to work...
Lee Waters: Diolch, Llywydd. We have a climate emergency, an obesity epidemic and an air quality crisis. Getting more people travelling in ways that improve their health and our environment is key to tackling all those problems. Transport accounts for 13 per cent of Wales’s climate changing emissions, and almost all of them come from the private car. Our recently published low-carbon delivery plan put...
Lee Waters: We have developed highly regarded guidance on how to design infrastructure that will make walking and cycling a more attractive option, but we need to do more to train and upskill professionals in its use. So I can today announce, Llywydd, that we will be setting aside some of the £30 million to invest in improving skill levels and spreading good practice. I have met with most of the...
Lee Waters: Thank you very much for those comments. I don't think it's fair to say that we haven't seen action in recent years. I think we have seen action and we've seen a significant amount of money for a number of years from successive Welsh Governments in this agenda. But I think, as the evidence to the committee demonstrated, it's making sure the underpinnings are correct, so that the money is going...
Lee Waters: Thank you for the comments. I'm not sure there were any particular questions, but I welcome the tone of what he said. But, just in terms of the final point on the ambition of local authorities, I think we need to be frank that there is unequal ambition. There are a number of local authorities that have demonstrated a woeful lack of ambition, and that partly goes back, I think, to the capacity...
Lee Waters: Thank you. A number of questions there I'll try to address. On the planning point, I think we took a big step forward in the late autumn, with the publication of the latest edition of 'Planning Policy Wales', which made some significant strengthening of the planning guidance for future developments on creating an active travel environment. It'll take some time, I guess, for that to work...
Lee Waters: Thank you. To take those two questions in reverse order—on Transport for Wales, the Member's absolutely right, and, as I said, I met with them yesterday, along with Sustrans, to see if we could encourage them to create a strategic partnership to make sure that we could deliver this in a way that was both integrated in terms of the package of train work that they're doing, and potentially...
Lee Waters: Thank you for those questions, and, again, can I echo my comments about the dynamic role that he's playing as chair of the cross-party group? Because I think it does bring together not only people from different parties, because this is a cross-party agenda, but it brings the local authority people, along with the local campaigners, all in one room, where there is a will to make change...
Lee Waters: Formally.
Lee Waters: Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd. I thank most Members for that cheery canter through the Welsh economic scene. I think if we'd said to those in the Chamber this afternoon who were here 20 years ago that, 20 years on, rates of economic inactivity in Wales will be now broadly comparable with the rest of the UK, they'd have thought that a significant achievement. If we told them 20 years ago that we...
Lee Waters: —on the performance of devolution.
Lee Waters: I haven't progressed very far, but I'd be happy to take an intervention.
Lee Waters: Actually, what I said was I think the Members who were here 20 years ago would have accepted some of these achievements as reasonable achievements given our starting point of 100 years of economic decline. The litany of challenges that were recited by many Members through the debate are not in dispute. Wales remains a poor economy. We have a number of challenges. This is not something that we...
Lee Waters: Well, Llywydd, this is clearly very disappointing news for the company and its workforce, and our thoughts are with the families and the employees at this difficult time. Welsh Government officials spoke to the business yesterday and are ready to support all affected staff through our Working Wales programmes, Jobcentre Plus, and the citizens advice bureau.
Lee Waters: Thank you for that question. As I said, we share the disappointment of the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union, who are deeply disappointed with the news too. As far as we understand it, this is a straightforward commercial decision. The nature of the market for bread has changed. Demand has reduced as people's diets are changing and people are eating less bread. The company, therefore, is...
Lee Waters: Certainly, we announced yesterday in the supplementary budget that we are increasing resources to be able to be nimble enough to respond to the changing needs of the economy as we hit increasingly turbulent times. But certainly in this case, this is simply a matter of the market changing. This was a factory, as I understand it, that produced bread. It didn't produce other pastries or higher...
Lee Waters: Thank you. This will be devastating news for the 66 employees and their families and our focus now is on finding alternative local employment for the talented Jistcourt workforce.
Lee Waters: Thank you. I can confirm the Welsh Government had no advance notice that the Port Talbot-based company was entering administration. We were not contacted by the company to advise that they were in difficulty. Therefore, we could not pass that on to Powys County Council. As soon as we heard, we did try and contact the company directly to better understand the situation that they were in and to...
Lee Waters: I wasn't aware of work still going on in Bristol, and I'm happy to check that. As I understand it, the company is in the process of entering into administration, but has not yet entered administration, but I'll certainly look into that and reply to the Member. It is clearly disappointing to see a company like this enter into trouble, because it is a grounded firm, a part of the foundational...
Lee Waters: Yes, we'll do some further work on this. We were already supporting the company through the Development Bank for Wales. They had a loan outstanding within the business, which is secured. So, support has been provided from our development bank, but the point that the Member for Aberavon makes is entirely right. We are doing some mapping work around procurement and grounded firms as part of the...
