5. 5. Legislative Consent Motion on the Telecommunications Infrastructure (Relief from Non-domestic Rates) Bill

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:53 pm on 17 October 2017.

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Photo of Jane Hutt Jane Hutt Labour 3:53, 17 October 2017

Well, those are important questions, which I’m sure that the committee will have considered in looking at this proposed LCM. It is important to recognise that these proposals would introduce a five-year non-domestic rates relief scheme for new full-fibre infrastructure from April of this year, and it can be back-dated, of course, to 1 April 2017 for eligible infrastructure. I’ve made the point that we feel that it is important to take this opportunity, albeit we are already making progress in terms of mobile phone connectivity as well as superfast broadband here in Wales. We have, of course, our own mobile action plan, outlining what we as a Welsh Government want to do in terms of creating the right environment to improve connectivity in Wales. But we don’t want to have the—. You know, it is about: what’s the point? What levers do we need? We don’t have the main levers as they do rest with UK Government and Ofcom, and it’s important, I think, to emphasise there’s not a single solution to boost mobile connectivity. You’ve mentioned the point about parity and the issues in terms of the interconnected nature of the relevant Welsh and English administrative systems. I think we feel that we need to have fibre relief parity with England. If we didn’t have that parity, the new fibre market in Wales would be suppressed, as infrastructure providers opt to invest where they will get better returns, potentially seeing Wales moving into digital stagnation over time. So, that provides the case, I think, for us to ensure that we do take advantage in terms of legislative competence. It will help stimulate investment in fibre, and it will encourage competition from smaller providers in a market that is dominated by one major player. So I hope that answers the points that Adam Price has made.

Of course, the provisions—just finally—give Welsh Ministers in relation to Wales powers to prescribe further conditions that must be met for the relief to apply, powers to set the levels of the relief by prescribing the amount of relief in regulations, and powers to impose duties or confer powers on valuation officers.