Julie James: At the risk of appearing like groundhog day, there isn’t any extra money. The Member will be familiar with how the Barnett formula works. So, what the Treasury has done is announce a consequential of one part without showing you what the disconsequential of another part is. So, for example, there’s a 17 per cent cut in the base funding, which is matched against the apprenticeship funding....
Julie James: Thank you very much for those questions, David Rees. I think, on the point of transportation, it’s true I didn’t mention it in the statement itself, but that’s only because you end up with a big, long shopping list if you put everything in—that’s not to denigrate its importance. Clearly, what we’re looking at is looking to see what barriers each individual faces, and, if there’s...
Julie James: Amongst some of the policy drivers that we’ve been looking at in putting together the plan, as I was mentioning to Llyr, is looking to see what we can drive by way of other Government investment. So, one of the things we’re only exploring at the moment, but it’s been well received by those I’ve spoken to so far, is that where we support a company, for example, in the engineering or...
Julie James: The Member makes a very good point indeed. We’d expect that to work all the way through the policy. I would very much expect the employment advice service to be able to pick out somebody who has Welsh language skills and assist them to train so that they can do something with the Welsh language that helps their employability, and we very much will be pushing that. But we’ll also be...
Julie James: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I move the motion. Wales is at the forefront of ensuring greater coherence and recognising the contribution that the whole education workforce makes to learners in Wales. I’m sure Members will agree that the registration of the wider educational workforce is good news as it provides the reassurances that the workforce is deemed suitable for registration....
Julie James: Well, on the first point, this is welcome because, as the Member will know, we’ve worked very hard to make sure that youth workers in particular—this obviously extends to work-based learning practitioners as well—but youth workers in particular gain the recognition that they so richly deserve, and registration does give them access of course to the continuous professional development...
Julie James: Diolch, Lywydd. The apprenticeship levy is very much in my portfolio, and so I thought it would be helpful, if—
Julie James: I thought it would be helpful, if this question did come up, if I was in a position to say what the latest position is. The Treasury have announced a further £13.7 million, having recalculated the settlement slightly differently from the basis of the original settlement, which was included in the Barnett formula. They imply that this is all extra money, but that in fact is not the position....
Julie James: We continue to make solid progress on Superfast Cymru. We have provided access to superfast broadband to over 620,000 premises that would not have been able to receive fibre fast broadband without our intervention.
Julie James: We don’t have the information on individual businesses in that way, because the way that we let the contract is that it is on an all-Wales basis to premises passed. So, each individual premise that gets more than 30 Mbps is accepted onto the Superfast Cymru programme. We don’t have any way of differentiating whether they’re residential or business, I’m afraid. But we do have a £12...
Julie James: The Minister’s statement this morning simply states the date of the public inquiry and it says that: ‘The project shall proceed to be considered by independent inspectors at an inquiry determined by the planning inspectorate to commence on 28 February 2017, with a pre-inquiry meeting…on 27 January.’
Julie James: In the spirit of openness and transparency, full technical economic and environmental reporting that informed the review of the data is published on the Welsh Government website, allowing everyone to consider it. The public inquiry will take into account the views of everybody concerned. It will take as long as it takes. I’m well aware that there is a range of views towards this project...
Julie James: Well, Deputy Presiding Officer, I’m now at risk of reading out the written statement made by the Cabinet Secretary this morning, which contains all of the information. The written statement this morning simply sets out the latest position on the review of data that was announced by the Cabinet Secretary earlier. The statement simply states the date of the commencement of the public inquiry,...
Julie James: This morning, at a business breakfast event at Cardiff Airport, the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Infrastructure made a speech detailing progress with plans for infrastructure investment over the next five years. This investment, which includes major improvements to the M4, A55, A40 and A494, the delivery of a south Wales metro, the development of a north Wales metro, a new rail...
Julie James: Well, Presiding Officer, anybody would think it was towards the end of term. [Interruption.] And, indeed, because it was—[Interruption.] And, because it is towards the end of term, the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Infrastructure this morning made a speech to an audience of business and transport stakeholders in Wales in which he detailed a number of announcements that have been made in...
Julie James: [Continues.]—all of the good work that the Government has put in place to ensure that we have a sustainable and economically beneficial transport and infrastructure system for Wales, as he was right to do.
Julie James: The Cabinet Secretary is away on urgent business in London, protecting jobs and services in Wales. He could not possibly have anticipated the need to be here to answer an urgent question on what was an end-of-term speech in Cardiff Airport. However, I’m quite happy to read, once again, the series of projects that he reviewed during his speech. The investment includes major improvements to...
Julie James: The work detailed for the A55 in north Wales is to improve both safety and congestion. The Cabinet Secretary’s speech this morning did not include details of the sort that are now being asked for, but I’m sure he’d be happy to write to you on the subject. On the subject of it being in a Government-owned building, I feel obliged, Presiding Officer, to say that the first thing I did as a...
Julie James: I’d be delighted to do that. As I said—and I’ve said it several times now, but I’m happy to say it again—this morning, at a business breakfast event for transport and business stakeholders, the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Infrastructure made a speech detailing progress on plans for infrastructure investment that have been brought properly in front of this Assembly and which...
Julie James: Matters within the remit of the Department for Work and Pensions are not devolved to the Welsh Government. While the question is important, it is up to the DWP how it manages its estate in Wales. The Welsh Government has no responsibility over this. I understand that the department has indicated that all staff affected will be offered alternative roles subject to the standard DWP processes...
