Julie James: Yes, absolutely. There's a need for science, technology, engineering and mathematics-related skills right through the spectrum. So, we want to produce the graduates of the future but we also need the technicians and so on. So, we have a number of employability schemes. They're not in my portfolio, but we have a large number of employability schemes and flexible skills programmes, which are...
Julie James: Yes, it's been a continuing thorn in our side, actually, and this is the whole issue about whether this is an infrastructure technology or whether it's a luxury product. Unfortunately, the UK Government persist in thinking of it as a luxury product and not an infrastructure, and therefore we have less good powers in the area in terms of what we can do. But I have had extensive conversations,...
Julie James: Yes, we've asked Innovation Point to look into exactly how we can best exploit the 5G technologies and, actually, a large number of different pots of money that have come available in a number of different configurations, and Llywydd, yesterday, during my statement, I discussed some of those. I won't reiterate all of them, but we absolutely need to make sure that we are on top of the...
Julie James: Well, as I was saying, we have some very innovative projects going on. But just to use some of the stats that we have: 85 per cent of adults in Wales now regularly use the internet, compared to 66 per cent in 2010, and £1 million a year is invested in the dedicated digital inclusion programme, our Digital Communities Wales programme, and we've done that every year since 2015. Since then,...
Julie James: I think, Llywydd, you've agreed to combine this with question 3. Digital Communities Wales, and many other actions in our framework and delivery plan, support more people to gain maximum benefit from the life-changing opportunities digital technologies can offer.
Julie James: Yes. You make a very good point. There have been a number of surveys recently. Unfortunately, it's always a difficulty in Wales, for the size of the survey, so if you extrapolate it out across Wales, we're not absolutely certain how valid the data is, statistically. But, nevertheless, it draws attention to some of the serious problems we have with digital exclusion. And there is definitely a...
Julie James: Yes, absolutely. I think, Llywydd, I will have several opportunities in a moment to talk about broadband roll-out, so I won't indulge myself here. But once we have achieved roll-out, then it's obviously very important that people have the skills and confidence to make the most of the digital technologies. And there are some great examples, actually, in Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney at the...
Julie James: Certainly. Through Digital Communities Wales, we are working in partnership with organisations and programmes across Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney who are well placed to reach the most digitally excluded. They provide the basic digital skills support needed to secure improved economic, learning and health outcomes.
Julie James: To date, the predominantly rural areas of Powys, Ceredigion, Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire and Gwynedd have seen investment of over £69.7 million, providing over 245,000 premises with access to fast-fibre connectivity, with average speeds of over 93Mbps.
Julie James: Under Superfast Cymru 54,460 premises in Pembrokeshire have already been given access to superfast broadband. I am currently procuring a successor scheme and have identified a further 8,554 premises that could potentially be covered. In addition the ABC and UCV schemes are available to homes and businesses in the county.
Julie James: I have not had any discussions with the UK Government in relation to visas for EEA Nationals after Brexit because a system of visa control has not yet been proposed. A White Paper on a new immigration system is expected later this year.
Julie James: The Superfast Cymru scheme has, to date, facilitated the roll-out of superfast broadband access to over 215,632 homes and businesses across the region, delivering average speeds of over 87Mbps and investing over £60million.
Julie James: The Fair Work Board has made important progress in identifying the practices impacting on Fair Work and we are establishing a Fair Work Commission to take this agenda forward. We will also shortly be rolling-out the Economic Contract which will encourage a number of responsible business practices, including fair work.
Julie James: Local authorities have been allocated this funding to tackle period poverty and maintain dignity, to spend in the best way they see fit, meeting local needs. They have been encouraged to look for sustainable options, balancing this with the need to help as many people as possible.
Julie James: I can indeed. If you want to write and give me the details of contacts for them, we have a business exploitation team whose expertise is in bringing communities together in order to exploit the voucher with some dispatch. And we've got a team who are very good indeed at getting the best out of that system. And before they go and spend their money on the voucher scheme, we'd also have a very...
Julie James: I've listened to two excellent questions. We had a very good meeting of the Valleys taskforce in the Neath constituency, actually, very recently, where we went through, with the taskforce lead, exactly what's happening across the Valleys taskforce area. I think Lee Waters was present at that meeting. We came up with three very concrete actions, but I'm afraid I'm not going to pre-announce...
Julie James: The Member makes the points that many Members make all the time about the comms issue, and I won't rehearse it, Llywydd; we've been through it many times before, but we have learnt that lesson. So, going forward, it will be a condition of the new contracts, for whoever wins them, that the communication is direct with—. We will have named premises in those contracts; we won't have the...
Julie James: I couldn't agree with you more, Jack Sargeant; you make a series of very, very good points. Quite clearly, one of the reasons we've invested so many millions of pounds in the roll-out of broadband is because connectivity is absolutely essential. The idea that we continue to treat it in the UK as a luxury product and not an infrastructure is increasingly unsustainable in the modern world,...
Julie James: I'd just like to point out I'm not the First Minister. I do sometimes stand in for the First Minister, but on this occasion I'm just being myself. [Interruption.] No worries. It was just causing other Members to grin, I think. So, a number of issues there. The way that the original scheme worked was that we didn't specify any premises at all and BT just had all the premises in Wales to...
Julie James: There was quite a range there, so, again, I'll go backwards, and if I miss something out let me know. We are actively exploring that. There are some difficulties, because a large amount of the infrastructure that we've put in place has been done with European funding through a state-aid programme, and then having a company that interferes in the market, to use the parlance, on top of that is...
