Julie James: Yes, of course, all the statistics on domestic violence are troubling, and it's a scourge in our society, and we have to have a range of options for preventing this and for tackling both the victims and their perpetrators and their various issues. For the first time in Wales, we've got standards for relevant authorities set on training related to violence against women, domestic abuse and...
Julie James: As I said in response to a number of other Members, there are a number of initiatives that are really interesting across Wales. They're all tied up with a number of complex initiatives around data sharing and protocols, but I did visit the multi-agency safeguarding hub in Cardiff central police station very recently, and was very impressed by how the agencies there had come together to...
Julie James: No, I can't, because until I know what the engineering difficulty or other difficulty was that prevented them from being included, I'm not able to give you a cast iron guarantee that we will be able to overcome those difficulties. I can tell you that they're absolutely the top priority for us—people who've been in that situation—and we're working very hard to make sure that we can...
Julie James: I share the Member's frustration, as he well knows. I've been doing my tour of Wales and I've heard a lot from members of the public who are very frustrated by the scheduling letters that they get. I don't want to indulge in semantics, because it just irritates people, but obviously we don't promise it. We're talking about scheduled works and there are a number of complex engineering reasons...
Julie James: I don't hold that information in that way, I'm afraid.
Julie James: Well, that's not how I would put it. As I said, we've got the target for 690,000 premises to have been included in the first project. As I said, in response to an earlier question, I'm not yet in a position to be able to say categorically that that target was met. I hope to be able to do that within the next few months. We obviously monitor this very carefully. BT Openreach don't get paid...
Julie James: Yes, I think Bethan Jenkins makes an excellent series of points there. As I was saying in response to Mark Isherwood, one of the things we've got to look at is just that the trends in somebody's life—. I've been working very closely with all of our Cabinet Secretary colleagues, because this agenda cuts right across the Welsh Government's work, to make sure that we address in that holistic...
Julie James: Well, we're doing an enormous amount of work in this area, with Welsh Women's Aid, and I've had a very helpful meeting very recently with Eleri Butler to go through a large number of issues around this agenda. It's very important, of course, as the Member highlights, that we work across the piece in Welsh Government, and we have a number of cross-Government initiatives in this area. We are...
Julie James: That's a very good question. There is no specific register for stalkers and domestic violence perpetrators in Wales at the moment, as the Member is well aware. The domestic violence disclosure scheme, also known as Clare's law, allows the police to share information about a person's previous violent offending where this may help prevent domestic violence or prevent someone from being...
Julie James: I have asked officials for advice in relation to a domestic violence offender register. The UK Government is not planning to introduce a stalker and perpetrator register but is looking to improve multi-agency public protection arrangements and domestic violence disclosure scheme arrangements instead.
Julie James: I think the remarks made by the Secretary of State are really quite shocking, actually. Quite clearly, marriage equality is not the same thing as being connected to broadband, in any regard. Obviously, being an LGBT+ community member is a protected characteristic and ought to be treated sensitively as such. The whole issue of marriage equality in Northern Ireland is of course not one for this...
Julie James: I think the Member has made a number of points that are well worth considering. As I said, in considering what we're going to do for the successor schemes, we are of course very mindful of the people who have had promises made to them in various circumstances and , for various complex engineering reasons and so on, haven't been able to be met under the first scheme. Angela Burns will be the...
Julie James: Simon Thomas makes a number of good points that he's made on a number of occasions to me about the way superfast has worked. I think it's fair to say that the Superfast Cymru scheme has been a hugely successful scheme for those people who've received superfast from it, and they are an enormous number of people across Wales. It's in the nature of the beast that we're not inundated by letters...
Julie James: Thank you very much for that question. I intend to carry out a procurement exercise shortly, with a view to the new project starting in spring this year. I'll be making a statement later this month to set out more detail about the new scheme.
Julie James: I recognise the ever growing importance of mobile communications in both rural and urban areas. Our mobile action plan sets out how we plan to work with the industry and regulator to improve mobile connectivity across the country.
Julie James: The Superfast Cymru scheme has, to date, facilitated the roll-out of superfast broadband access to over 167,000 homes and businesses across the region, delivering average speeds of over 87 Mbps and investing over £51 million.
Julie James: Through Digital Communities Wales and the many other actions set out in our framework and delivery plan, we are supporting more people to gain maximum benefit from the life changing opportunities digital technologies can offer, be it for employment, health, learning or leisure.
Julie James: I am clear that our aim is to bring people together digitally by offering fast reliable broadband to every property in Wales. Through Superfast Cymru, Access Broadband Cymru and our ultrafast connectivity vouchers, huge progress has been made and will continue to do so through new broadband interventions.
Julie James: Work to deliver the mobile action plan is under way with good progress being made against a number of the actions in the plan.
Julie James: The Superfast Cymru scheme has, to date, facilitated the roll-out of superfast broadband access to over 53,900 homes and businesses across Pembrokeshire delivering average speeds of over 71 Mbps and investing over £15 million.
