The following amendments have been selected: amendment 1 in the name of Jane Hutt, and amendments 2 and 3 in the name of Rhun ap Iorwerth. If amendment 1 is agreed, amendments 2 and 3 will be deselected

The next item is the Welsh Conservatives’ debate on broadband access, and I call on Russell George to move the motion.

Motion NDM6126 Paul Davies

To propose that the National Assembly for Wales:

1. Regrets that the previous Welsh Government failed to deliver on its ambition in the 2011 programme for government that all residential premises and all businesses in Wales would have access to next generation broadband by 2015.

2. Recognises that Wales has the highest average of people who do not use the internet in Britain and calls on the Welsh Government to do more to promote digital literacy and set a more ambitious target for broadband exploitation.

3. Calls on the Welsh Government to:

(a) work with Ofcom, the UK Government and network operators, to deliver universal access to high speed broadband and mobile coverage;

(b) reform the planning system to promote telecoms infrastructure investment and network deployment;

(c) reflect on the progress made by the Scottish Government through its mobile action plan and bring forward a plan to deliver next generation mobile coverage in areas of market failure; and

(d) provide a timescale for its commitment to procure a contract to extend superfast broadband access to every property in Wales.

Motion moved.

Thank you, Presiding Officer. I’d like to move the motion in the name of Paul Davies and indicate my party’s support for both of Plaid Cymru’s amendments today. We won’t be supporting the Government’s amendment today, on the grounds that it doesn’t adequately reflect and acknowledge the failure in delivering the Welsh Government’s 2011 programme for government commitment to provide next generation broadband to all premises by 2015.

The Deputy Presiding Officer (Ann Jones) took the Chair.

Neither does its amendment indicate any kind of urgency in using the levers at its disposal to get on and sort out the lack of mobile coverage in large areas of Wales. Beyond a loose intention to work with the regulator and network operators, and an intention to reform the planning system, and an intention to reflect on the Scottish Government’s mobile action plan, there is very little in the way of commitments to reassure communities across Wales that find themselves without adequate broadband connectivity or mobile coverage.

Now, Deputy Presiding Officer, I don’t want to be ungenerous to the Government; the Superfast Cymru project has undoubtedly improved the availability of fibre broadband across Wales, benefiting both residents and businesses in the intervention areas, and I for one get very excited when I see an Openreach van parked up at various locations in my constituency, working on a particular green cabinet, but let’s just state the facts here: it’s undeniable that the Welsh Government has failed to deliver on its 2011 ambition to, and I quote,

‘ensure that all residential premises and all businesses in Wales will have access to Next Generation Broadband by 2015, with the ambition that 50 per cent or more have access to 100Mbps.’

Now, the reality is that we are well off providing universal broadband access to next generation broadband, and according to Ofcom’s ‘The Connected Nations Report 2015’, only 26 per cent of premises have download speeds of 100 Mbps. So, that’s just half of the Government’s stated objective. Now, a couple of weeks ago, my colleague, Darren Millar, responded to the Minister in regards to a statement, and what he said was the Government has overpromised about superfast broadband and failed to deliver, and the Minister dismissed his comments. Well, he is correct: the goalposts have been repeatedly moved, people have been fobbed off, and businesses have been unable to plan for the future. Constituents keep asking me why the Welsh Government just can’t let them know when their business or property is going to have superfast broadband. They get told ‘yes’, then they get told ‘maybe’, and then they get told ‘no’. All people want is to be able to have the Welsh Government be upfront with them on whether or not they’re going to receive an upgrade. So, I would urge the Minister to bring forward a timescale for your commitment to provide a contract to extend superfast broadband access to every property in Wales.

Now, given the fact that you have a gain share written into the Superfast Cymru contract, whereby the Welsh Government receives a profit share where take-up reaches more than 21 per cent in any area, I do ask why the Welsh Government has not been focused on broadband as it should have been, and why exploitation so far has been so woeful. Now, my understanding is that 0.6 per cent of the original budget allocation for the Superfast Cymru project was dedicated to marketing and communications, so I would say that there’s little wonder that Wales has still the highest level of people who do not use the internet in Britain, and the Welsh Government, I’d say, can’t be bothered to encourage people to use it, in spite of spending hundreds of millions of pounds in trying to provide it. Indeed, the evaluation of the next generation broadband Wales programme highlighted the lack of coherence and strategic approach to marketing and communications and has criticised the Welsh Government’s 50 per cent take-up target for its lack of ambition, when take-up is already expected to approach 80 per cent by 2020. So I would be grateful if the Minister could set out today how the Welsh Government intends to encourage universal take-up of next generation broadband and how it intends to improve digital literacy, which I suggest will be essential for Wales’s future economic prosperity.

Now, my inbox, on a regular basis, is full of people with concerns about their lack of broadband. Every day, I’ve got more than one e-mail asking me when they’re going to get broadband in their particular area. The other issue filling my postbag—or my inbox, now, probably, more to the point—is in regards to mobile coverage. Now, I’d say it’s essential that the Welsh Government uses the devolved levers at its disposal to work with the regulator and network operators to promote the telecoms infrastructure investment and network deployment. Members will be aware our motion also indicates the Scottish Government’s approach. The Scottish Government doesn’t have any additional powers to the Welsh Government in this area, yet they have put in place a mobile action plan, which commits to non-domestic rate relief for new mobile masts in non-commercial areas, reform of the planning system to support commercial investment in mobile infrastructure, and improving public sector assets for the telecoms industry, and various forms of collaborative work with the telecoms industry. In contrast, the Welsh Government in its amendment to this motion commits to reflecting on the progress made by the Scottish Government. Why don’t you just get on with it and bring forward a similar plan for Wales?

The Welsh Government is consistently, I’d say, playing catch-up here. The UK Government has already implemented proposals making it easier to upgrade existing sites and build new masts, and, in spite of representations from the mobile network operators and from myself, correspondence to your previous Minister, Carl Sargeant, still we have not reformed permitted development rights here in Wales, and we’re lagging behind England and Scotland. Please, Minister, don’t tell me that you’re going to have discussions with colleagues. Don’t tell me that your officials are talking to other officials. Tell me that you have an agreed plan of action, and that you have a timetable.

I very much hope that Members will contribute to this debate today, and I very much hope to have a positive response and a plan of action from the Minister.

Thank you very much. I have selected the three amendments to the motion. If amendment 1 is agreed, then amendments 2 and 3 will be deselected. I call on the Minister for Skills and Science to formally move amendment 1, tabled in the name of Jane Hutt.

Amendment 1—Jane Hutt

Delete all and replace with:

1. Welcomes the progress made in implementing the Superfast Cymru scheme which has brought high-speed broadband to over 610,000 premises across Wales and will provide access for an additional 100,000 further premises before project close in 2017.

2. Notes the progress of Access Broadband Cymru and its predecessor project which have provided broadband to over 6,500 premises across Wales using a range of innovative technologies.

3. Recognises the importance of high speed broadband and digital connectivity to businesses, communities and the economy in all parts of Wales and notes the Programme for Government commitment to offer fast reliable broadband to every property in Wales.

4. Notes the Welsh Government’s intention to:

a) work with Ofcom, the UK Government and network operators, to deliver universal access to high speed broadband and mobile coverage;

b) reform Permitted Development Rights in the planning system to promote telecoms infrastructure investment and network deployment;

c) reflect on the progress made by the Scottish Government through its mobile action in developing proposals in Wales; and

d) publish further information about extending fast reliable broadband access to every property in Wales.

Amendment 1 moved.

Formally.

Formally. Thank you. I call on Dai Lloyd to move amendments 2 and 3 tabled in the name of Rhun ap Iorwerth. Dai Lloyd.

Amendment 2—Rhun ap Iorwerth

Add as new sub-point at end of point 3:

‘explore establishing and funding a catch-all scheme to enable local authorities to fund a bespoke scheme to ensure no home or business in Wales goes without access to next generation broadband.’

Amendment 3—Rhun ap Iorwerth

Add as new point after point 3 and renumber accordingly:

Believes that adequate broadband is essential for commerce, healthy living, reduced environmental impact, social interaction, education and human rights.

Amendments 2 and 3 moved.

Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. I’m very pleased to take part in this discussion today, and I’m also very pleased to recognise that the Conservatives have accepted our two amendments. So, superfast broadband—we naturally accept and celebrate the fact that over 89 per cent of homes in Wales can have access to superfast broadband. It’s important to recognise that, but, of course, experiences in some local authorities in Wales are very different. Some are doing very well—in Merthyr, 98.32 per cent of households can receive superfast broadband, and in Blaenau Gwent, 97.9 per cent of households can have the same broadband. But, some local authorities—mainly those in rural areas—are missing out.

As I’ve said in this Chamber before, in Ceredigion, only 60.4 per cent of households can have superfast broadband. In Powys, only 65.67 per cent of houses can have the same superfast broadband service. BT figures this week confirm that less than 1 per cent of Welsh houses have a speed lower than 2 Mbps and less than 7 per cent of Welsh homes are under 10 Mbps. We understand, of course, that ensuring access to this service is going to be more difficult in some rural areas and in some urban areas where there are local problems, such as planning restrictions or physical restrictions that prevent laying cables. While it’s obvious that we need more expenditure to target these areas, we also need to recognise that we need to see more local co-ordination between individuals and community groups in order to deliver a superfast service.

The Welsh Government’s access to broadband scheme, of course, is one that allows individuals to make an application for financial support, but the purpose of our amendment today is to give local authorities a prominent role, so that there is an expectation that local authorities co-operate with local groups in a strategic way, rather than the reactive system that is characteristic of the current system that we have.

Once the infrastructure is in place, it’s obvious that we need to make the most of the economic opportunities and social opportunities that arise from that access. It’s worth noting, of course, that fewer than one in every three people who can have a superfast service do take advantage of that service. The Government has already introduced a marketing and communication campaign in order to promote the use of broadband once it’s available in areas, but we need to look at the effectiveness of this campaign to ensure that more individuals and businesses make use of the new technology that is available.

This technology is vital for Wales as we try to close the huge gulf with the rest of the UK and Europe. I welcome the fact that BT Wales is introducing the G.fast service in Swansea, and I’m looking forward to seeing the review of this pilot scheme. But, as we welcome the fact that some parts of Swansea can have a speed of about 500 Mbps as their superfast broadband as part of this pilot, we must not forget those areas that still don’t receive a basic service. On that basis, I encourage Members to support the amendments that we’ve tabled. Thank you very much.

Digital connectivity is critical in our modern-day lives. Digital skills are becoming increasingly essential for getting access to a range of products and services. Those people equipped with the knowledge and tools to engage with the digital technologies tend to earn higher wages, reflecting their greater productivity. However, in Wales, a lack of digital infrastructure and poor digital skills mean that communities across the country face high levels of digital exclusion.

Wales has the highest average of people who do not use the internet in Britain. Welsh Government targets to provide high-speed broadband to homes and businesses have been missed. Deadlines have been extended with damaging consequences for jobs and the economy. The relentless pace of emerging digital technologies has already transformed the way we communicate and work. Businesses require a workforce with high-level specialist skills.

The Tinder Foundation reported that, already, almost 90 per cent of new jobs require digital skills. They found that 72 per cent of employers said they’re unwilling to interview candidates who do not have basic IT skills. A study in 2014 concluded that 35 per cent of jobs could become automated over the next 20 years. Jobs in office and administrative support, transportation, sales and services, construction and manufacturing are the ones most likely to be computerised or automated. This is the challenge facing Wales—a challenge that Welsh Government is failing to meet. In Wales today [Interruption.]—Yes, go on.

I thank the Member for taking an intervention and give my full welcome to the decision by Google Digital Garage to actually come to Wales for a period of three months to set up training schemes here in Wales—in fact, the first two days were in my own constituency in Port Talbot. The Welsh Government has been very much involved with them to actually bring them into Wales, so we can get that digital training.

That’s good news, but still we’re lagging behind many other countries. In Wales today, over 14 per cent never use the internet. That is a fact, David. Thirty-eight per cent are without basic digital skills. How are they going to employ people? Basic start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises lose out because of a shortage of domestic workers. I recognise that employers of low-skilled staff have a duty to upskill their workforce. But the Welsh Government must ensure that what is taught in the schools and colleges matches the requirement of businesses in Wales.

The digital competence framework aims to develop digital skills that are useful in everyday life and transferrable to the world of work. I welcome this. However, it is hard to see how effective this framework will be without complete roll-out of broadband infrastructure and effective skills training for teachers and parents.

Education is the engine for a more digitally skilled workforce. The Welsh education system must be designed to equip everyone with strong numeracy and literacy skills, including information literacy. Evidence shows that students who were only exposed to digital education in designated ICT classes suffered a distinct disadvantage when compared to those whose schools chose to mainstream technology and digital skills across the curriculum. But, students using technology in the classroom by itself if not enough.

Will you take another intervention?

Go on, David.

Again, thank you for taking the intervention. Do you therefore welcome Donaldson’s review, which puts digital competency and digital framework at the heart of some its work, and therefore the curriculum will actually involve what you’re actually saying?

Yes, I agree with it. That’s what I’m saying, we are lagging because of the policies in the past by the Labour Government. We are lagging behind; that’s what we are trying to work out to get it on board as soon as possible.

But, students using technology in the classroom by itself is not enough. This only translates into learning key digital skills through good teaching. Given the pace of technological advances, schools need to keep up with the latest innovations. Teachers need to be continuously upskilled so that digital skills can become more mainstream rather than as a stand-alone subject.

We must not underestimate the role of parents. Parents who are familiar with IT and regularly use it are able to play a crucial role in their children’s IT use in a way that does not distract from learning. So, parents need the resources at home to enable this to happen. Deputy Presiding Officer, the Welsh Government must ensure that investment in digital infrastructure and skills matches the pace of growth in this sector. This is vital if Wales is to secure a place as a digital world leader. Thank you.

I commend the Welsh Conservatives for bringing this motion before the Assembly today. Russell George I think set out very neatly the problems that we’ve faced in the past and the limitations of what the Government has on offer for us for the future. UKIP will support the motion and, indeed, the Plaid Cymru amendments to it, and I hope that they will commend themselves to the majority of Members.

I thought what Russell George said about the Government’s lack of urgency does require some emphasis and underlining in bringing superfast broadband to the overwhelming majority of Welsh people. Admittedly, the Superfast Cymru programme has brought a rapid advance, and that’s to be greatly welcomed, but I still think we have to compare ourselves with other parts of the United Kingdom and indeed other parts of Europe to see how far behind we are in Wales. According to the thinkbroadband website, today, 88.3 per cent of households in Wales get speeds of 24 Mbps, but the measure in Scotland is not 24 Mbps, but 30—[Interruption.] Sorry?

It’s 30 Mbps here too.

Sorry. Well, in that case, I apologise and I congratulate the Government on following Scotland. [Laughter.] I should’ve been a diplomat, really.

But the regional and constituency variations, of course, are disguised within that global figure. If we take my region of Mid and West Wales, against the Welsh average of 89.4 per cent for 24 Mbps, it goes down, for Ceredigion, to 58 per cent; Carmarthen East and Dinefwr, 61 per cent; Montgomeryshire, 61 per cent; Brecon and Radnor, 63 per cent; and Dwyfor Meirionnydd, 74 per cent. For Llanelli, it’s 92 per cent and that’s the only constituency in the entire region that exceeds the Welsh national average. I do think that this is totally unacceptable in the second decade of the twenty-first century. Businesses depend, overwhelmingly today, for their success, and Wales depends, for a great deal of its prosperity, upon connectivity at the right speed and it’s holding us back in so many different ways.

One point that has not been made in the debate today that I think deserves some attention is broadband penetration by socio-economic group in Wales. According to the Ofcom report in 2015—which I appreciate will have been, to an extent, overtaken by recent developments—but in 2015, only 63 per cent of adults on household incomes below £17,500 a year had taken up broadband, in comparison with 92 per cent above that £17,500-a-year threshold. So, digital exclusion for those at the lower end of the income scale is a reality of which I think we should collectively be ashamed, in this Assembly, that we’ve got into this state now. It can’t come too soon that we should improve these statistics.

Russell George in his speech referred to a groaning postbag, or digital postbag, of complaints, and although he probably gets more from Montgomeryshire than I do, I do get some from his county, but also of course from other counties within my region. It is extraordinary really how, within a very short distance of a relatively urban area, people can be almost totally bereft of connectivity. I’ve stayed at the Waun Wyllt hotel at Five Roads near Llanelli, for example, which is just a stone’s throw from Llanelli—unable to get any mobile signal at all. It’s a big problem, I think, for many rural hotels and other businesses, that their businesses are held back by the lack of what is now regarded as an absolute necessity for modern living, not just for business purposes, but also for human interaction in so many different ways.

I have a complaint from a constituent in Llanwrda in Carmarthenshire who says he’s been waiting for fibre for many years, but his BT internet speed remains a pitiful 0.2 Mbps. He says: ‘I realise installing fibre is a difficult project, but on nine ocassions, Openreach or Superfast Cymru have given me a timeframe but then rolled it back when they’ve been unable to produce. In June 2016, my installation date was moved yet again and became September 2016’—and he still doesn’t have a connection, even now. I realise that that’s just an individual case, but if it was just one individual case, not one of many, then we could ignore it—not ignore it, but at least we could put it into perspective. But because there are so many of these instances, even now, I believe that the Government not only should be held to account for its past failures, but also for its present lack of urgency in rolling out a proper superfast broadband connectivity programme for the whole of Wales.

This debate is very timely, especially given some of the difficulties now presenting on broadband matters across Wales, and not least of all within Aberconwy. Rather than cultivating connectivity, the Welsh Government now has on their hands a major digital divide, with many caught up in a postcode lottery to access and download speed. Just 60 per cent of properties in rural Wales have access to a fixed speed of 10 Mbps, compared with 95 per cent in urban areas. I have many constituents who cannot even obtain speeds of even 1 Mbps, and similarly, Wales has the worst 3G coverage out of the devolved nations. A particular issue for my constituency is that a lot of the premises in the rural areas of Aberconwy are connected to cabinets that are simply miles away from their properties. Consequently, even when the cabinets have been upgraded with fibre to the cabinet, premises cannot take advantage of the digital development. The phone line connectivity and the basic infrastructure simply isn’t there, and it will come as no surprise that Conwy and Denbighshire have the lowest rate of internet usage, with 18 per cent of people not using this vital resource, now seen as an essential fourth utility.

For our Welsh farmers, the Welsh Government has moved farming applications and registrations online, such as Rural Payments Wales and EID Cymru. However, without a reliable connection, many farmers now have to outsource this work, at cost, or potentially face serious penalties. In 2014, nearly £0.5 million was accrued in penalties by our hard-working farmers: it simply isn’t fair. The failure to provide superfast broadband to many remote areas has actually served to increase the isolation of our rural communities, creating a massive digital divide between the haves and the have-nots. With banks closing on a weekly basis, it is assumed by city banks that business owners will simply go online, but if only they could. It is now, therefore, a given that all communities must have access to next generation broadband and the taste of connectivity that other parts of the UK simply take for granted. Ninety per cent of small businesses in Wales have cited that a reliable interconnection is crucial to their operations, and seen equally as important as any other basic utility. So why, therefore, is it that only 58 per cent of homes and businesses have access to superfast broadband that works effectively?

But I would, in speaking, like to thank the Minister Julie James AM for her advice and assistance with some of the tricky issues I’ve raised with her department recently. I actually do believe that you are doing your best to fulfil the targets promised and those aims. But, I have to say, there needs to be a corporate approach by this Welsh Government with all Cabinet Secretaries and the First Minister himself, to provide more resources and to provide you with the support to carry out your work and the task ahead of you.

North Wales has just recently been named in ‘Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2017’ as one of the top regions in the world—fantastic. But if those in the hospitality industry and our rural businesses are only offering a third-class internet service, this is going to impact negatively. It is estimated that an increase in digital capabilities of SMEs across the UK could unlock economic returns of £18.8 million. These must be supported to capitalise on such opportunity.

Digital growth is key to driving forward innovation in our economy, with 12 per cent of GDP being generated through the internet. However, in Wales, we have an outdated infrastructure to support a faster broadband provision. Issues raised locally at surgeries of mine are that BT Openreach and superfast broadband simply don’t talk to one another—silo working. There isn’t a joined-up approach when difficulties arise, and a lot of buck passing takes place. So, it does follow that, on behalf of the people and businesses in Aberconwy, I want to place on record my extreme disappointment that the previous Welsh Government failed to deliver on its own ambition in the 2011 programme for government that all residential premises and businesses in Wales would have access to next-generation broadband.

The recent statement by the Minister makes clear that £12.9 million of funding generated through predicted take-up levels can, hopefully, be used to provide superfast broadband access ahead of the end of the current contract on 27 December. However, I agree that this extra funding will only go part of the way to addressing the remaining unconnected premises and more focus must be placed on BT’s overall performance as regards their infrastructure. Again, I would reiterate, I am asking the Welsh Government to support and act on the calls of the Minister Julie James AM to look to extend deployment to 2018 and beyond, to take up the mantle and to ensure that this fourth utility is delivered universally.

Although digital connectivity is now critical to our day-to-day lives, too many communities across Wales face high levels of digital exclusion, and Wales has the highest rate of non-internet usage in the UK. Against its target for the Superfast Cymru project to reach 96 per cent of properties existing in 2011, the Welsh Government has extended the completion of the build phase to June 2017, following an open market review that showed that the number of premises needing to be addressed under the project had increased. When I questioned the Minister for Skills and Science regarding this in the Economy, Infrastructure and Skills Committee, she stated the Welsh Government was

‘only allowed to intervene in the market where no commercial operators said they would go.’

She cited, for example, no Superfast Cymru in central Wrexham, Swansea and Cardiff accordingly. She said that

‘if you look at a map of Superfast Cymru, it excludes all of the areas where the commercial company said that they would roll out.’

But when they conducted another open market review, after concerns were raised with her by many Members, including myself, this showed that the commercial operators have revised their plans and would not be rolling out into those industrial areas. She added that, in consequence, 42,000 premises had been added to the original target and the deadline extended by a year.

FibreSpeed in north Wales was developed as a public-private partnership after winning a competitive tender from the Welsh Government to provide high-speed broadband services across north Wales industrial estates, business parks and other locations to increase economic growth. The Welsh Government made a significant investment in this, understood to run into many millions. Questioning the then Deputy Minister for Skills and Technology here in June 2014, I referenced a letter sent to Members by FibreSpeed expressing concern that the FibreSpeed investment had been overbuilt by Superfast Cymru and that they were seeking guidance from the EU Commission on potential breach of EU state aid rules. In an October 2014 letter to Members, the Deputy Minister for Skills and Technology, who is also the current Minister for Skills and Science, responded to my question, stating that through discussions with FibreSpeed Ltd, and via a prior legal technical exercise undertaken by the Welsh Government, the 2014 open-market review had determined that the 793 postcodes serving business-only premises would now be included in the scope of the new Superfast Cymru infill project on the basis that FibreSpeed does not intend to provide broadband connectivity to business premises in the future and its pricing is deemed unaffordable. So, Minister, the Welsh Government has some serious questions to answer. How many millions of thousand pounds were wasted on a Welsh Government project resulting from a Welsh Government tender? What went wrong and why were FibreSpeed placed in this position?

Responding to me in committee, you also stated that the Welsh Government had just specified a percentage and number in its Superfast Cymru contract and that it’s entirely up to the deliverer, BT, to get to the premises number. However, we also understand that BT missed out many thousands of users by classifying premises such as student halls of residence and holiday parks as single addresses. In north Wales, I’ve attended two meetings with the British Holiday and Home Parks Association’s Clwyd branch and BT Wales’s next-generation access manager to address the provision of broadband in rural Wales, which continues to affect park businesses and their ability to meet the demands of customers—the visitors on whom the north Wales tourist economy depends, echoing the comments made by my colleague Janet Finch-Saunders. The BT programme manager has proved an invaluable contact for them, providing information on current and future provision, including the Welsh Government scheme to help businesses such as these to access fibre on demand. However, park businesses have told me that the problem is finding someone to sell the product. BT Local Business denied all knowledge of the Welsh Government fibre-on-demand scheme, and when they finally tracked down a company prepared to sell this, it was in England. As they stated, it gripes them to go to an English company to buy a Welsh project that is financially supported by the Welsh Government. They added that, for one thing, retail price put it out of the reach of many businesses in Wales.

Against England’s 95 per cent target, the UK Government published the findings of its £10 million innovation fund pilot for the final 5 per cent most remote communities in England in February. So, finally, Minister, when and how will the Welsh Government take action to reach the final 4 per cent of premises here, and not just the first 96 per cent? Thank you.

I call on the Minister for Skills and Science, Julie James.

Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Can I begin by thanking the Welsh Conservatives for bringing forward this motion today? I also thank Members for their contributions to the debate. I thank them because it’s very clear that there is a critical importance around digital infrastructure for the people, communities and the economy of Wales. As has been made very clear in the contributions today, there is no need to reiterate the growing importance of high-quality fast broadband connections to both homes and businesses right across Wales. I will just bother to reiterate that, as the Welsh Government, we have made it more than plain that we want as many people as possible to be able to access fast, reliable broadband services and, crucially, for them to be able to make the most of that access.

Mark Isherwood did a very good job for me in explaining how the superfast project worked, and I’m very grateful to him for that, but I will just reiterate a couple of the points. Superfast Cymru is a project that is designed to deliver 30 Mbps downloads, and not 24 Mbps, to the people of Wales. It is a market intervention. That means that, without the intervention of a Government programme, we would not have had any superfast or other roll-out of any kind of broadband service to those areas that could not command a commercial market.

We have been in conversation with the UK Government about this for quite some time, and I’m delighted that the UK Government has now seen fit to bring forward a Bill that puts a universal service obligation in place, but it is important to remember that this is not currently considered to be infrastructure. So, this is not something that we can just go and do whenever we want to. We can’t just throw money at it and build some more or anything else. We have to go through a state aid programme in order to do a market intervention. So, it’s been a long time coming to get it to be a universal service obligation. We’re delighted with that, but Members would do well to remember that the universal service obligation currently proposes 10 Mbps and not 24 Mbps or 30 Mbps, and that we’re currently working very hard to make the UK Government see some sense and put some accelerators into that, so that, at the very least, it will go up from 10 Mbps in the future, even if they didn’t see fit to put it higher than that in the past.

I’m grateful to Janet Finch-Saunders for acknowledging the meetings that we’ve had and so on. But I’m quite genuine in this—this is not a party political thing in any way. We do actually need to make sure that the Government’s universal service obligation is fit for purpose and actually assists us in our mission to get this broadband out across Wales. So, if any Members want to contact me, I will tell them what our concerns are—and I think I’ve provided them already to Janet Finch-Saunders. I’m happy to provide them to anybody else who wants them, so that they can assist us in helping the UK Government to arrive at a position where the universal service obligation is actually something worth having, and that we can then fund it accordingly. So, I just wanted to make those points.

In terms of the commitments that we’ve heard a lot about us breaking, obviously you won’t be surprised to find that I refute that. It’s important to remember that the percentages and the numbers of properties change all the time. If we just set a level of properties in 2011 and said, ‘We’ll get through all of those’, then everything built after that wouldn’t have any broadband. It’s a truism to say so, but it’s worth repeating. And actually, one of the reasons we did the further open-market review was to include in some of the properties that were built afterwards. Again, it’s a matter of some concern to us that the UK Government is not seeing fit to put that universal service obligation into all new builds at the moment. So, you do have a ridiculous situation where you build a new housing estate and then afterwards you dig up the road to put broadband in. Clearly, this is not sensible. I appeal to all Members of all political parties to get on board with trying to persuade people to get some common sense put into some of these universal service obligations.

Anyway, turning to what we’re doing, we’re working very closely with Ofcom, the UK Government and the network operators to deliver better digital infrastructure with what we’ve got now, right across Wales. We’ve been trying to improve broadband coverage right across. Also, you have to bear in mind that the increasing demand for mobile data has complicated the picture. When we started these programmes, broadband and mobile were two very different things, but now they’re not. So, the technology has moved very substantially as well, and we’re very keen to keep on top of that.

I’m hosting a round-table meeting later this month, which will include representatives from Ofcom and industry, to discuss how we can improve mobile connectivity in Wales. That debate will focus not only on the plans of industry to expand mobile coverage and capacity, but also explore all the levers we have available to us here in Wales. Obviously, one of the primary levers there is the planning regime. I’ve commissioned some research to look at changes and proposed changes to planning in England and Scotland on mobile phone infrastructure, how they apply to Wales, and alternative approaches appropriate to our topography and population density in Wales. Just to put that in English, I’m not all that certain that the people who live in our national parks really want a 250 ft mast every 10m in order to get mobile connectivity. So, clearly, there’s a trade-off between what you want to get and what you have to have in order to get it. We want to make sure we get that right for the people of Wales. Russell George, I know, has problems with other types of masts with generators on the top, and I’m not too sure that his constituents would be all that happy with masts carrying mobile signals either.

So, we know we want to do it, but we want to do it right. We want to make sure that we get that balance right and that people get the connectivity, but not at the expense of other amenities, which is why people live in the national parks and want to come and visit us in the first place.

So, we’re doing that piece of research. We want to get it right for Wales. We know that having access to the digital technologies, and the motivation and skills to use them effectively are more important than ever, and people’s perception of what they’re prepared to put up with to get that is changing. So, we do want to get that right.

In terms of digital exclusion, we’re very committed to tackling digital exclusion and improving digital literacy, which aren’t quite the same thing. So, I’d like to thank Mohammad Asghar for his contribution, but just point out that basic digital literacy—the ability to actually get online, organise some files and folders, do some basic things with public services and so on—is not the same thing as having the skills necessary to work in a digital economy. We need both of those in our society and we’re working very hard to get them.

We have a digital competence framework that I hope all Members are familiar with, and which we have just recently launched. Indeed, I visited a pioneer school in my colleague Mike Hedges’s constituency on Monday morning to look at the digital competence framework in action, and it was very impressive indeed. I’m sure that Members will all have schools in their areas that will be able to show them how that’s working. I think that it’s important to realise that Donaldson is really working well in Wales, and that the advance we’ve made here in Wales of saying that literacy, numeracy and digital competency are the basic frameworks of a modern education are alive and well and very much at the forefront of educational thinking in Wales.

We’re also delivering our Learning in Digital Wales programme, including Hwb, the all-Wales platform for schools, and increasing broadband speeds for schools as part of the programme.

We need to get a buy-in, though, for all organisations and wider society so that we can achieve a truly digitally inclusive nation. So, during a recent oral statement I made on this issue, I provided Members with an update on time frames of possible future intervention to further extend superfast broadband. Work is well under way with plans to launch a further detailed formal open-market review process later this autumn. Once we’ve got the outcome of that review, we’ll be in a position to confirm both whether and how a new procurement to provide access for further premises can be taken forward. I’ll provide more information on that as the process continues, as I’ve said in my statement. I’ll make sure that Members are kept up to date.

I just want to correct the misconception, though, that Superfast Cymru has slipped. The completion date was moved back and it was due to projected negotiations between the UK Government and the EU on the national broadband scheme. Members will recall that that further 40,000 premises followed an open-market review and it was in line with similar contracts of this size. So, there we are.

Just to round this off—and I’ve said it lots of times and I’ll say it again—I make the same offer that I made to everybody at the end of my statement: if you have specific problems in your constituency, I’m very happy to come with you and explain how we can address them. In terms of the overarching programme, we are very much on top of BT. I have very regular meetings with them. We are in regular touch about their performance to the target dates. I assure Members that they are not under any impression that I am complacent about their ability to deliver the contract. I share Members’ frustrations about the slipping timescales for individuals, but my issue is whether the whole contract delivers overall, and I assure Members that it will so deliver, or BT will pay the very serious financial consequences that arise as a result of that failure and we will then use that money to make sure that their failure is covered off. However, I will say on behalf of BT that they are very co-operative with that, that they come to the meetings with full information and that we have no reason to think that the contract will not be successful in its outcome.

I think Members have been invited by BT to a further update on that, which I’m hoping to attend myself. BT are also very helpful in coming out to Members’ constituencies with me and explaining some of the details on the ground. Overall, I want Members to understand that this is actually a very successful contract, that actually Wales is at the forefront of digital inclusion and digital literacy and digital connectivity, and that although some of the figures seem low, actually they’re very high. I recently had an experience in a European capital city where I could not get my phone to connect to anything at all. So, I do think we’re in danger of talking ourselves down. I understand Members’ frustrations, but, actually, we should be very proud, as all of us are, of the commitment of the Welsh Government and the place of Wales in the digital future for the twenty-first century.

Thank you very much. I call on Russell George to reply to the debate.

Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I’d like to thank all the Members for contributing to this debate today. I did notice that there weren’t any Labour Member backbenchers that contributed, apart from David Rees popping up a couple of times for some interventions, so perhaps that’s a sign that broadband is good in all those constituencies, which would be welcome news. And I should say as well—David. [Laughter.]

Thank you. Just to clarify a point, broadband is problematic in some areas of my constituency as well.

Thank you, David, for your third intervention in our debate today—it’s welcome.

I should say, to be charitable to the Minister, I agree absolutely with Janet Finch-Saunders that I do think that the Minister is very passionate in her area here and I very much welcome that. She’s agreed to come to various constituencies with Members and explain the situation. Even if there’s a few hundred people frothing at the mouth, she’s willing to come, and I think that should be very welcomed. I also pay tribute to BT who are also very engaging, I think, with Assembly Members—always willing to meet and correspond as well, and come to constituencies as well. So, I thank the Minister for that.

There are a few issues I would raise. I think, first of all, there is, of course, a great frustration—the Minister’s right and she accepts that—but, certainly, the frustrations are, I would say, not only in rural areas but urban areas as well, as David Rees has pointed out. I did take Neil Hamilton’s contribution—I listened very carefully to him—a very good contribution, and of course his region covers, I think, nine constituencies and only one constituency actually has above the Welsh average for superfast broadband. I think that just demonstrates that this is very much a rural problem—not exclusively, but very much a rural problem. And that, of course, ties in as well to Janet Finch-Saunders’s points with regard to the farming community as well. We know that the biggest issue is in rural Wales—that’s where farming businesses are located—and the Welsh Government has put ever more pressure on making sure that Welsh farming businesses submit applications and certain documents online. Well, they simply can’t do that if they haven’t got good, fast, reliable broadband.

The Minister also made the point, quite rightly, that there are changes to the way in which mobile networks and mobile operators—. Mobile is changing and evolving. Mobile now is for data as well as voice calls, and I accept that. That’s happened more in recent years, and I accept that there are issues there with regard to delivering broadband. But, in many ways, that could be a solution, of course, to delivering broadband in particular areas; if there’s good, fast, reliable mobile, then of course that also meets the demand for broadband, via access over the mobile network.

Dai Lloyd also, in his contribution as the Plaid spokesperson, called for the establishment of a bespoke local scheme to ensure that no home or business in Wales goes without access to next generation broadband. This certainly, I think, has merit, and I certainly think that that’s an issue that should be explored. He also pointed, of course, to Blaenau Gwent and the fact that 99 per cent of Blaenau Gwent has access to superfast broadband. But, of course, that’s access; it doesn’t mean that they’ve got that broadband, it means they’ve got access to it. And you’ll find, actually, that only a small fraction of those in Blaenau Gwent who can access broadband have actually taken that up, which of course is very much the point of our debate today with regard to highlighting the lack of take-up, which is a point that he later made himself.

He also spoke of the fact that digital connectivity is now an essential part of modern life, which contributes not only to economic prosperity and delivering a tangible uplift in skills and educational performance, but also has a positive impact on healthy living and the environment. Indeed, I fully agree with that, and I fully agree that access to broadband is rapidly becoming a human right, not a privilege.

So, in conclusion, Deputy Presiding Officer, I would say that the intention of the Welsh Conservatives in this motion today is to call on the Welsh Government to devote a lot more time, effort and resource to ensure that we have a telecoms infrastructure that is fit for the twenty-first century Welsh economy. Whether it’s connecting with family or friends, or helping children to study at home and do their homework, or driving growth for local business, digital connectivity is now a crucial part of our day-to-day lives and Wales can no longer afford to be the poor man or woman of Britain, as it sadly is at the moment. But when it comes to broadband take-up and mobile coverage, I think that this has to be a top priority, because certainly I would like to be here in a few years’ time when my inbox is a lot less full of people contacting me with broadband and mobile issues. But I certainly hope that the Welsh Government’s current commitment to have all of Wales having superfast broadband by the end of this Assembly term will be delivered. I want to be standing here in the future saying, ‘Thank you, Welsh Government, for delivering this and for reducing my inbox considerably.’ But I very much commend this motion to the Assembly today, and I urge Members to support it.

Thank you very much. The proposal is to agree the motion without amendment. Does any Member object? [Objection.] Therefore, I will defer voting under this item until voting time.

Voting deferred until voting time.