1. Will the First Minister make a statement on Welsh Government funding for major infrastructure projects? OAQ52551

Yes. The Wales infrastructure investment plan sets out plans to invest over £6.5 billion in infrastructure across Wales over the remainder of the current Assembly term. That includes our flagship infrastructure projects, such as investment in 20,000 affordable homes, and the south Wales metro.

Thank you, First Minister. In spring 2017, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance announced the Welsh Government's intention to undertake three major infrastructure schemes using the mutual investment model for this year. And according to Welsh Government information, they have a combined capital value—those three projects—of £1 billion. The Welsh Government stated that the mutual investment model, or MIM, will see private partners build and maintain public assets. In return, Welsh Government will pay a fee to the private partner, which will cover the costs of construction, maintenance and financing the project, and, at the end of the project, it will be transferred into public ownership. So, can I ask the First Minister would he outline the key differences between MIM and private finance initiative, and identify whether other schemes will be used, using the MIM model, in the future, during this Assembly term?

Well, the difference is that MIM has value for money among its core objectives. It won't be used to finance soft services, such as cleaning and catering, which has led to expensive and inflexible contracts in the historic PFI model, nor will it be used to finance capital equipment. We invest a small amount of risk capital in each scheme, ensuring the public sector participates in any return on investment. So, it's a different model to PFI. I can say that a public interest director will be appointed by Government to manage the public shareholdings and to promote the public interest more widely, and that post will ensure there is transparency about costs and the performance of private partners.

First Minister, broadband is a key part of our economic infrastructure within Wales. The UK Government has established the local full fibre networks challenge fund in order to bring on the next generation of digital infrastructure and to help local-led projects leverage commercial investment into the full fibre future—the gold standard of reliability in broadband. Will you join me in welcoming the news that Monmouthshire and neighbouring local authorities Torfaen, Newport, as part of the city region, have successfully bid into this scheme? And can you tell us how the Welsh Government's own plans for developing broadband infrastructure in Wales will dovetail into the success of areas like Monmouthshire, Torfaen and south-east Wales to make sure that we capitalise on this? These are the first areas of the UK to benefit from this new development. How is the Welsh Government going to make the most of it?

Well, we are involved as a Government with the projects that he has mentioned. It builds, of course, on Superfast Cymru, which has been hugely successful in bringing broadband to many communities that would otherwise not be served with broadband if it was left to the market because of their size. So, we look to work with the UK Government to deliver the best digital outcomes for all our communities.

Given the current level of interest rates and annuity rates, a debt service liability of about £150 million, over the course of 30 years, would unlock about £2.5 billion, using the kind of innovative financing method like the MIM that the First Minister referred to. Do you think that represents value for money, and, if it does, shouldn't we be much more ambitious in terms of the scale of the capital investment programme to maximise this historic opportunity of low interest rates?

I'm with him on ambition, but it has to be tempered of course with prudence. I can say that the MIM incorporates the best of the Scottish non-distributing model—optimum risk allocation, whole-life costing and performance-based payments, whilst ensuring that new investment is classified to the private sector, which is a hugely important issue of course that we've had to deal with in this Chamber many times. And it's therefore genuinely additional to investment from other public services. So, it's a different model from PFI. We will always seek to maximise the amount of funds available through the scheme, but we always have to bear in mind the affordability of our ambition for Wales.