Julie James: I'll take some of those in reverse order, since they are fresh in my mind. I disagree entirely with Russell George's analysis of the situation with mobile there, at the end. As I've said many times, Deputy Presiding Officer, in this Chamber, the geographical problems in Wales are unlike anywhere else in the United Kingdom. We have to have a very large number of masts in order to get the sort...
Julie James: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Today, I want to provide you with an update on the digital infrastructure aspects of my portfolio. I will begin by focusing on broadband. The delivery phase of Superfast Cymru closed in February, and, since then, we've been working to resolve three outstanding issues. Firstly, we have been considering whether the Welsh Government can work with BT to...
Julie James: The clause 28 thing was a defining moment for quite a few of us in what was then a pretty low point in many of our political careers, so I don't think that—. There are lots of bad things you can say about the Thatcher years, but that's certainly right up there as one of the things that was just intolerable. I, too, almost cannot believe that, 30 years on, I have a son who's going to marry...
Julie James: Indeed. I completely concur with many of the remarks you made. St Teilo's is a really good example. It's really excellent to see what can be done in schools. The Member makes a very good point about the diaspora, as well, and the work that we have to do, which is why I was emphasising the community cohesion parts of these outreach workers. I just want to highlight as well, Deputy Presiding...
Julie James: Yes, I very much want to congratulate the Assembly Commission on its award as the Stonewall Employer of the Year, I think the exact title was, and very well deserved it was. What that award really shows is what a determined group of employees can actually do when they want to advance an agenda and make sure that everybody around them—all their colleagues and everybody else—are...
Julie James: Siân Gwenllian makes a number of very valid points, as always. There is always more that we can do, and the statistics show very clearly, as she says, that more needs to be done. We certainly accept that there's a holistic set of circumstances that need to be done: we wish to address that all the way through. So, as Mark Isherwood pointed out, we have a number of groups of people that we...
Julie James: Thank you for that series of comments and questions. In terms of why we are having this discussion again, I actually think it's really important for us to have the discussion very frequently. I make no apology at all for revisiting it. I actually think that we should probably revisit it more frequently than every 15 years, because things move. Things move on, people bring different agendas...
Julie James: Diolch, Llywydd. The seventeenth of May will mark International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, or IDAHOT. This day offers an important opportunity to draw attention to the violence and discrimination faced by LGBT+ people internationally. The day was created in 2004 to mark the anniversary of the World Health Organization’s decision in 1990 to declassify homosexuality as...
Julie James: Yes. I think, on that second one, I've actually been there. It's a very beautiful building, absolutely. The Welsh Government has a number of schemes, including the potential for vouchers, community asset transfers and creative use of finance and so on, that can be brought to bear to save some of our industrial heritage. The Member will forgive me—I know it's in her region as well—but one...
Julie James: The Member's raised this many times in the Chamber and clearly feels very passionate about it, and has brought a number of events to the Senedd, actually, demonstrating the importance of it. It's a conversation we've had many times across Government about how we can best support the music service, and I know it's an active consideration for several Cabinet Secretaries and Ministers. So, the...
Julie James: The Member makes a very important point, and, as we say all the time, it is impossible to have an austerity agenda without having real effects on people's lives. I've said many times in this Chamber that we're all faced with no good choice at all. We're not cutting things that we think aren't any good; we're cutting things that we know are important to people, because austerity is a political...
Julie James: I'm sure that the Member will be aware that it's very difficult to make sure that the Minister takes his correct share of Plenary time, so he'll be delighted to bring forward a statement as long as I can give him the space for it, I'm sure. I have to say, Llywydd, that he appears to me to have been doing a tour of places starting with 'T', because I'm aware of several others as well. I'm...
Julie James: Of course I'm absolutely delighted to join with you in congratulating and being very grateful to all of the people who volunteer in mental health services across Wales, and indeed across the UK and the world. Of course, the great thing about that is that we know that volunteering also assists with your own mental health, so it is a great virtuous circle, which I'm very delighted to encourage...
Julie James: On the second one, it is absolutely right that we should have a consultation. There will be an opportunity to ask the Cabinet Secretary about that. This is a very specific concern that, Siân Gwenllian, you're raising, which I'm not sure I entirely caught. So, perhaps if you wouldn't mind writing with that very specific concern, we could address it more directly. But apologies; I'm not sure I...
Julie James: The Member raises points that he obviously cares very much about, but there are appropriate moments to ask those questions—very specific questions—of various Cabinet Secretaries during oral Assembly questions, or, indeed, in written questions, and I don't think either of them warrants a statement from the Government. I would suggest the Member either puts them in as written questions or,...
Julie James: The Member raised a very important point, and again, in a meeting in my own constituency very recently, I was very moved to say that I was very disappointed that all of the experiences that I had in attempting to breastfeed my own children, some 30-odd years ago, were being experienced by young women today. So, that's not good enough. And there are a number of things we can do across the...
Julie James: On that, I understand that the Cabinet Secretary is bringing forward that statement shortly. So, you will have that opportunity. I'll also say that a large number of us who work in the ABMU area and represent people from that area have been having a series of meetings with the health board, both the chair and the chief executive. I know a number of other Assembly Members, and David Rees in...
Julie James: Yes, on that last one, I've actually been, with my equalities hat on, having a series of discussions with a number of Cabinet colleagues, and had a very useful meeting with Mike Hedges AM on this as well about the services for people with hearing loss around a whole range of issues, including in education, in health settings, in general communications areas and so on. Actually, as part of my...
Julie James: Yes, indeed, on that matter, the Member will know, because he was there as well as me, that a large number of AMs from the region had a meeting with Virgin Media last week to discuss the situation that they find themselves in. I can't say that that meeting was entirely positive, but some positive discussions have been taking place since. Once the consultation period that was spoken of in the...
Julie James: Yes, absolutely. Absolutely shocking scenes; I think all of us were just horrified at what we were seeing. I'm sure the Government will want to pass on its commiserations to the people who lost their lives in such an appalling way. It is a very worrying time in the middle east. There is a large number of things happening in slightly different spheres in the middle east, the complexity of...
