Julie James: I thank the Member for that series of questions. I can confirm that we have been in conversation with the DWP about wider employability, and about the possibility of the co-location of some offices, although not specifically about the office in Llanelli that he mentions. I, too, share his concern that this has been taken on narrow estate grounds only. My understanding is that a PFI contract...
Julie James: I thank the Member for that. I’m very happy to write to both the Secretary of State for Wales and the Minister responsible for this on the grounds that the Member has outlined. There is the possibility that the Member would like to put his own views into the consultation. There is a consultation website at www.gov.uk/dwp/consultations. I’ve tried it myself and it’s very easy to find. I...
Julie James: I lead on research and innovation matters. I have not held discussions with universities about creating an equivalent to a UK Research and Innovation body. However, the Hazelkorn report recommended a review of Government funded research and innovation strategy and policy. Professor Graeme Reid has been asked to undertake a review of investments by the Welsh Government and related agencies in...
Julie James: I have written to the UK Government expressing concern at the lack of prior consultation from the UK Government regarding the Department for Work and Pensions’s estate rationalisation, and confirming our commitment to work with the UK Government to seek alternative offices.
Julie James: Well, the Department for Work and Pensions, of course, is stating constantly that there should be no job losses for staff resulting from the future review of the estate, and they are currently recruiting more work coaches. There is a consultation process ongoing at the offices and we know that that consultation also looks at options for relocation. However, we are very concerned at what the...
Julie James: The Member makes two very good points. I’m more than happy to write again on the equality point. I would just like to reiterate that it isn’t devolved to us, obviously; we have sought to make sure that the DWP is aware that we’re happy to work with them on co-location—correct co-location—with many of the Welsh Government services as well as other non-devolved services. I’m happy...
Julie James: Yes, I’m very happy to approach the FM to do that. I’m happy to write again myself as well to make those points again. I do think they’re very important points. As Members will know in this Chamber, we are developing our employability plan. Many of the functions of an employability plan coincide with the functions of the DWP, and we have been talking to them about co-location of...
Julie James: Formally.
Julie James: Diolch, Lywydd. Can I thank Members for their contributions today? As most speakers have noted eloquently, zero-hours contracts can place enormous pressure on individuals and their families. For those who earn a living on a zero-hours basis, the uncertainty, instability and insecurity under which they work can weigh very heavily on their lives. I believe very firmly that organisations that...
Julie James: If the Member would let me get to the end of my speech, he might find out. We have already led the way across the UK by introducing procurement policy that supports the Welsh public sector to address unacceptable employment practices such as blacklisting and the use of umbrella agencies, as I just said. Working with partners across the Welsh public sector, we are finalising a code of practice...
Julie James: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I welcome this opportunity to update Members on Wales’s progress in developing our small business research initiative, more commonly known as SBRI. In 2013, our ‘Innovation Wales’ strategy, amongst other things, urged a more imaginative approach to innovation in public service delivery and Government procurement. In the same year, in partnership with...
Julie James: Thank you for that, Adam Price. I agree with you that it’s a really exciting initiative, and we have had quite a lot of interest, as I said, from elsewhere to see how we’re doing it here in Wales. And I also agree that we do need to develop some metrics as we go forward. A lot of this, however, has been specific responses to specific grand challenges or problems, and developing the...
Julie James: Thank you. That’s quite a range of questions and I’ll do my best to answer them. In terms of ICT and broadband, for example, one of the things that the Member will know is that we’re looking at what we’re going to do for the end of the current project and for the remaining few per cent of the Welsh population and premises not covered. And this is certainly one of the things that we...
Julie James: I think that’s a really interesting idea. So, there’s nothing to stop collections of small businesses, community interest groups—it’s not closed in any way, so anyone can apply for it. I’m more than happy to explore the idea of assisting collections of businesses to apply as well; although we haven’t done that yet, it’s a good idea well worth taking forward. There’s nothing to...
Julie James: The strong performance of the ICT sector has created over 9,300 high-value jobs in Wales and we have the fastest growing digital economy outside of London. Our ongoing support to this enabling sector will assist the development of all Welsh businesses through the increased adoption of digital technologies.
Julie James: I certainly will. The successful signing of the £1.3 billion Swansea bay city region city deal will provide an enormous economic boost, with investment spread right across the region, driving growth right across the south-west Wales region. I am sure that the Member knows that it’s been developed as a vision of how the region can position itself to take advantage of next-generation...
Julie James: Trudy is an excellent role model—indeed, she co-presented with me at the WISE event that we had to get women into STEM here in the Senedd, which was an excellent event. We’ve worked very hard to get recognition of all of the aspects of the report on women in a talented Wales—I never get the title quite right—which, basically, is a cross-Government and cross-sector—business as...
Julie James: The Government’s been working very closely with the city deal partners in order to get the deal signed and approved, and to make sure that we have, although it’s not an appropriate word, shovel-ready projects—I don’t know—or finger-ready projects to go in this area—I’m not quite sure what the analogy is there. We’ve been working very hard as well with ESTnet, for example, to...
Julie James: To date, the Superfast Cymru project has invested over £48.6 million in providing 171,498 homes and businesses in Mid and West Wales with access to superfast broadband connectivity, delivering average speeds of over 73 Mbps.
Julie James: I acknowledge the issue around the moving timescales, which we’ve discussed many times in this Chamber, and we have worked very hard with BT to make them give much more realistic time frames. Sometimes, it’s just not possible for them to understand what the engineering difficulties might be on the ground, but we have a very regular meeting with them where I go through evidence provided by...
