Julie James: Well, I think the Member's done an extremely good job himself of setting out the value of smart meters, and of advertising his event tomorrow. The Member will also know that I am very keen on knowing how much energy I spend making coffee, as I am rather fond of it, so I'll be sure to make sure to pop along to his event tomorrow, to ensure that we have good attendance there.
Julie James: Thank you for those three important issues. The Cabinet Secretary is indicating to me that both of the updates you're talking about will be available by the end of this year, and she'll be bringing them forward once they are available. In terms of the medical education in Bangor, I'm not sure which of us it should be, but I'll make sure that somebody writes to you with an update on that, and...
Julie James: Thank you for that. We absolutely agree that sport and physical activity has a very positive impact on mental health and well-being, and it's why prevention is a key theme in our 'Together for Mental Health' strategy, which was published in 2012. That absolutely does include a focus on non-clinical support. We're very keen to maximise opportunities to support people with a vast array of...
Julie James: Yes, I was privileged to have a quick chat with some of the personnel involved in setting up the exhibition last week. I was offered the opportunity to be rescued from a vehicle, but unfortunately my diary wouldn't permit me to do it. I was a bit disappointed by it, but anyway—. [Laughter.] I'm extremely happy to wish them all the best for the world challenge in a few weeks' time. It's a...
Julie James: I think the Member needs to write in to the Cabinet Secretary for an answer to that.
Julie James: Moved.
Julie James: Moved.
Julie James: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Just simply to say that, of course, we hope that—. We're very happy to have worked very closely with the committee; we did indeed have a very constructive meeting about a number of these issues. On the one area that remains slightly contentious between us, we are, of course, very happy to provide an explanation to the Assembly as to our reasons, if we...
Julie James: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and I very much thank Nick Ramsay for raising this very important issue, and I'm pleased to be able to talk about the actions this Government has been taking to help remove the barriers for people who are blind or partially sighted, or to see differently as Nick Ramsay has put it. Last month, the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Services announced...
Julie James: The service changes will support the introduction of a new performance measure to be introduced later this month and it will be based on the patients' clinical needs. Wales will be the first UK nation to introduce a measure of this kind for eye care patients alongside the existing referral-for-treatment target. The challenges facing ophthalmic services are well known. Nick Ramsay pointed...
Julie James: Diolch, Llywydd. There are two changes to this week's business: the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Services will make a statement shortly on Cwm Taf maternity services, replacing one on the out-of-hospital cardiac arrest action plan, which will now issue as a written statement. Additionally, Business Committee has agreed to withdraw tomorrow's debate on the Culture, Welsh Language...
Julie James: Taking, in reverse, that we're in Libraries Week, it gives me the chance also to highlight the fact that I'll be visiting the central library in Swansea on Friday as part of my constituency work, and I was actually at another library in Swansea last Friday. I'm also a bookworm, but it is important to point out that libraries provide an enormous range of services. They happen to also have...
Julie James: I think the Member makes a good point about the role of bookshops, but, unfortunately, retail services are changing very rapidly and online sales of almost all retail products are having the knock-on effect that he mentions. We already have a very generous non-domestic rate relief scheme in Wales. I'm sure that most bookshops are of the size that they can take advantage of that. And I fear...
Julie James: Yes, I will certainly discuss with the Cabinet Secretary the possibility of that, or of how we could communicate where we are with the taskforce on Virgin Media. I share the Member's concern about the actions of the company and some of the stories that are happening there. So, I'll certainly have that discussion with the Cabinet Secretary to see how we can best facilitate those discussions...
Julie James: The Minister is due to make a statement next month on changes to our homelessness policies, but I do think that the Member should take into account the effect on homelessness of his own UK Government party's universal credit roll-out and general assumption that young people can stay at home, because he's just pointed out that that's very frequently not the case.
Julie James: Yes, actually, I share his concern around the data and I'm the Minister responsible for that, in fact, so I will look into that and come back to the Member.
Julie James: To be fair to the Cabinet Secretary, that's a problem of the amount of business that it was possible to fit in. He was more than—[Interruption.] Well, he was more than happy to do it, but a number of things happened over the course of the last couple of days around business coming in and out of the agenda. So, it will issue as a written statement. It's my responsibility to see whether we've...
Julie James: The Superfast Cymru scheme facilitated the roll-out of superfast broadband access to over 5,490 homes and businesses across the town of Monmouth, investing just over £1.68 million. Average speeds across the county of Monmouthshire are over 95 Mbps.
Julie James: Yes, it was a very positive meeting, actually, and discussed quite a few innovative solutions that both we could do in co-operation with Monmouthshire council itself, and actually with a group of the residents who are very keen on looking to see if they could have a bespoke solution for their particular community. That does give me the opportunity to say to everybody in the Chamber—no doubt...
Julie James: Yes, I've appointed Innovation Point to advise, stimulate and co-ordinate activity on 5G across the whole of Wales.
