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.