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

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:31 pm on 15 May 2018.

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Photo of Julie James Julie James Labour 6:31, 15 May 2018

I've listened to two excellent questions. We had a very good meeting of the Valleys taskforce in the Neath constituency, actually, very recently, where we went through, with the taskforce lead, exactly what's happening across the Valleys taskforce area. I think Lee Waters was present at that meeting. We came up with three very concrete actions, but I'm afraid I'm not going to pre-announce them, because my colleague Alun Davies would be very cross if I do, so you'll have to wait with bated breath for him to announce it to us. But, that piece of work has gone very well indeed, and we have some very creative and innovative ideas to share with the Valleys communities in some of the pilot areas and hubs, which I'm very delighted by. We will be helping the SMEs in that area to take advantage of some of the data-driven possibilities that have come forward, because we've done a big exercise in what public data is available and what can be shared in the Valleys communities as well. So, it's not just about the connectivity, it's about what can be done with the data that then travel over those networks.

We've also mapped the entire area for the best connectivity and we mapped those to the hubs that we've spoken about. My colleague the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Transport has just announced a cross-Government digital taskforce that will be looking to see what we can do to best grasp the economic benefits of that, and a number of you, I know, have been involved in discussing that with him, me and with Alun. We've been working right across the Government. My colleague the Cabinet Secretary for rural affairs and myself have had great long conversations about precision agriculture and some of the benefits that can be brought, through connectivity, for our farming industries as well. Many of our Valleys communities are in those categories, so a lot can be done with that, and I think we'll be very well placed as a result of our work, both on the connectivity—the hard stuff—but actually, more importantly, the skills and soft stuff that goes with it, to make sure that our Valleys communities really get the boost they deserve as a result of the expenditure that we've put into this.