6. Statement by the Leader of the House: Update on Digital Connectivity in Wales

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:03 pm on 15 May 2018.

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Photo of Adam Price Adam Price Plaid Cymru 6:03, 15 May 2018

I was quite struck by what you just said, leader of the house, in terms of your tour round Wales. I'm very grateful we've had a conversation as well about you and your officials coming down to some of our communities in Carmarthenshire that are facing the frustrations that will be shared by many people and many Members across this Parliament. I'm grateful for that, but I'm very struck by you saying that, actually, communities that you, Welsh Government, thought had been connected, you find by going to these public meetings aren't. That is, at a national scale, I suppose, a parallel experience to what individual constituents of ours have felt, haven't they? They've been given information by Openreach about dates of the provision of the service and, of course, then the goalposts shift ad infinitum. Is there going to be any financial penalty as a result of that? Do you share the anger that some of the constituents felt in the way that you've been misled, and then you come to those communities and you find that out, actually, and you understand how those people feel? I'd like to know a little bit about what the consequences are for Openreach, in terms of the way that they have, by their own admission actually, in front of the Economy, Infrastructure and Skills Committee, communicated appallingly. I accused them of lying, and they weren't very happy with that. We can choose our own language for it, but, unfortunately, what you've said confirms the experience of many constituents.

In terms of the money that you referred to in your statement, you said that, of the £80 million, £62.5 million will be used to fund the Superfast Cymru successor project. Perhaps you could remind us what the other £17.5 million will be used for. What's the relationship of that money to the £31.5 million that you mentioned in the Wales infrastructure investment plan?

You mentioned full fibre. We've talked a little bit about this. To what extent, in the next wave of the UK Government's programme in this area, and the bidding process, do you see the potential for an all-Wales bid? There have been some localised and regionalised bids within Wales, but do you see some advantage of building a kind of digital fibre spine in the whole of Wales and connecting as many communities as possible at once?

I was quite interested in the comments that you made about Powys, et cetera, in terms of fibre to the premises. A year ago, in the last figures that I looked at, I think Kingston was at 50 per cent of fibre to the premises, probably because of their unique history of public ownership—Kingston Communications as was, or KCOM now. That allowed Hull City Council to build up its infrastructure. The Counsel General floated this possibility—it was in the Plaid Cymru manifesto—of a publicly owned telecommunications infrastructure and broadband company. Is this something that the Welsh Government is actively exploring?