Lee Waters: A lot of us who have the experience of fighting the 2011 referundum and trying to articulate a case that people would understand about moving from Part 3 to Part 4 of the Government of Wales Act are slightly seared by the experience, and the question of whether or not we should change the internal configuration of the Assembly is not, I would suggest, a matter of principle, just as there...
Lee Waters: Well, I'm not in the business of voting down the budgets of a Labour Government, so that's why I want to de-couple this issue. This motion today is about the financing. I want a separate motion before this Assembly, after the public inquiry has reported, before Ministers make their decisions, on the principle of the road, not explicitly about the financing, but on the principle of the road....
Lee Waters: I think it's right that the debate around the M4 is in flux, and it's clear from the contributions this afternoon that opinions are still fluid around this. There are people, obviously, on this bench and the Conservative bench who have consistently argued for the black route, though I was pleased to hear Andrew R.T. Davies cancel his blank cheque that he's given this project and introduce a...
Lee Waters: Will you give way?
Lee Waters: Thank you, I appreciate that. You quoted Sophie Howe's submission about the wisdom of building roads. Of course, as part of that submission, she also said that building the blue route was not in keeping with the spirit of that either, which is Plaid Cymru's policy. So, to properly embrace her logic, you'd drop road building altogether as the solution to congestion.
Lee Waters: Well, like all industries that have repetitive elements, the legal services sector is especially vulnerable to automation. Some estimates suggest that 39 per cent of jobs in the legal sector could be replaced by algorithms and machines within the next 20 years. We can just imagine, in law firms where currently large numbers of people are occupied doing repetitive tasks, document searches...
Lee Waters: 9. What assessment has the Counsel General made of the impact of automation on the legal services sector? OAQ51729
Lee Waters: What plans does the Welsh Government have for the £1.5 million budget allocated to support the foundational economy?
Lee Waters: Cabinet Secretary, I've seen the future, and it works. Last night, I had my first online GP consultation. I downloaded an app. I subscribed for a service at £5 a month. I was able to get an appointment within an hour. I sent the GP my notes and some pictures. I had a very good consultation, and within minutes a prescription had been e-mailed to a chemist of my choice. The pace of change...
Lee Waters: What lessons can be learned from the work of NHS Digital and the UK Government's on-line information service in reforming the delivery of the NHS Wales Informatics Service?
Lee Waters: Minister, you were right to say that this is a key utility and we should acknowledge that without the direct market intervention of the Welsh Government thousands of my constituents would be now without broadband. But of course there remain the frustrations of those who are left behind. I had a lively public meeting on Friday night in the community of Bynea just outside Llanelli, where there...
Lee Waters: Like the National Front.
Lee Waters: Why?
Lee Waters: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and in deference to you, I will be brief and ask just one question. I'm pleased to see in the statement that you say Transport for Wales will be looking at the whole journey door to door. I presume that therefore includes active travel as those key links at either end of the journey. Can you confirm that is the intention, because it's not mentioned in the...
Lee Waters: Thank you, First Minister. I welcome the fact that the new economic action plan includes, as one of the criteria for supporting new businesses, adapting to automation, but the implications of automation go way beyond that. It's estimated that some 700,000 jobs are at risk, and they hit upon every single portfolio. So, would you now look at how you can co-ordinate efforts by establishing a...
Lee Waters: 6. Will the First Minister establish a unit to explore how Wales can harness artificial intelligence and automation? OAQ51639
Lee Waters: Nobody has indicated, but I'm happy to offer a minute if anybody wishes.
Lee Waters: Apologies. I am unfamiliar with the rules of these debates, too. In education, for example, we need to ensure that we’re preparing young people for roles that do not yet exist, and we need to be mindful that many of these changes are coming in the next 10 to 20 years. I don’t know about you, but I still hope to be gainfully employed in my fifties. We must think about training for those...
Lee Waters: It's that scale of profound change that we're on the cusp of again. Right now, we're in the early adopter stages of the artificial intelligence revolution, but we can discern an outline of the type of change that’s ahead of us. I was blown away by the robot who was able to cook a meal by just being shown a 'how to cook' video on YouTube without any direct human input. Researchers at the...
Lee Waters: Diolch, Dirprwy Llywydd. 'And we will build brutal energy cut into a much better home. It's a movement towards the beautiful legal scams and better share. And it was a gingelly deal, and I don't think they're never worth in a middle deal to be parted to Mexico.' Not the most inspiring opening to a speech, I'll admit, but what sets this opening apart is what sets this debate apart. It was...
