The next item is the business statement and announcement, and I call on the leader of the house, Julie James, to make the statement. Julie James.

Diolch, Llywydd. There are two changes to this week's business: the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Services will make a statement shortly on Cwm Taf maternity services, replacing one on the out-of-hospital cardiac arrest action plan, which will now issue as a written statement. Additionally, Business Committee has agreed to withdraw tomorrow's debate on the Culture, Welsh Language and Communication Committee's report on its inquiry into non-public funding of the arts. Draft business for the next few weeks is set out in the business statement and announcement, which can be found amongst the meeting papers available to Members electronically.

Leader of the house, can I call for two statements today, please? One is from the Cabinet Secretary for transport infrastructure. I was very pleased to see the announcement of investment in the south Wales Metro that was announced this week—£119 million—but it's left a bit of a bitter taste in the mouths of people in north Wales, who are looking for investment in our own infrastructure. The leader of the house will be aware that I raised, just a couple of weeks ago, the concerns around the fact that the A55 is choked up, our rail infrastructure is also ailing. I think it is about time that we saw some significant investment in our roads and rail infrastructure in north Wales. So, I wonder if we could have a statement coming forward from the Cabinet Secretary on that particular issue.

Can I also ask for a statement on libraries in Wales? The leader of the house will know that it is Libraries Week. I took the opportunity to visit Colwyn Bay library in my own constituency just yesterday to hear more about their Reading Well project and their Books on Prescription scheme, which they're participating in—a wonderful scheme that gets people together, helping to overcome issues related to dementia, in particular, and helping to overcome social isolation. So, as a bit of a bookworm—and I'm sure there are others in this Chamber as well—I think it would be good to know what the Welsh Government's strategy is for the future of libraries in Wales so that the sorts of schemes that I'm seeing on my doorstep, in places like Colwyn Bay, can be extended into other parts of the country.

Taking, in reverse, that we're in Libraries Week, it gives me the chance also to highlight the fact that I'll be visiting the central library in Swansea on Friday as part of my constituency work, and I was actually at another library in Swansea last Friday. I'm also a bookworm, but it is important to point out that libraries provide an enormous range of services. They happen to also have books. So, I was very impressed by the services that were provided by the local library that I was holding a surgery in last Friday. They included a range of digital communication services; they included some social services, in the sense of social isolation and community opportunities to meet; they included services for children and a large range of other community services. I'm sure the librarian there is cringing as I don't remember some of the things that she showed me, but it was very impressive and I would encourage all Members to take part in Libraries Week, and, indeed, actually to support their local libraries, and I'm sure that all Members do do that.

In terms of his question on transport, the Cabinet Secretary's indicating to me that he'd be very happy to bring forward a statement that will allow him to highlight the very large amount of investment and work that's been going on in the transport network.

Leader of the house, you will be aware that bookshops the length and breadth of Wales are finding difficulty in the face of business rates and competition from online booksellers. As a result, over the past few years, very many independent bookstores have closed. The Booksellers Association notes that online booksellers have a huge commercial advantage as compared to high-street booksellers, who pay far more in rates. I’m sure that many of us would agree that bookstores play an important part in Welsh culture and would want to support these businesses in the face of very difficult economic circumstances.

Given the contribution that booksellers make to the society, culture and economy of Wales, would the Welsh Government be willing to make a statement on the additional support that it can provide, particularly in terms of business rates? We know that child minders in Wales are now exempt from business rates. Therefore, could the Welsh Government look to give further business rate relief to bookshops, given their social and cultural role?

I think the Member makes a good point about the role of bookshops, but, unfortunately, retail services are changing very rapidly and online sales of almost all retail products are having the knock-on effect that he mentions. We already have a very generous non-domestic rate relief scheme in Wales. I'm sure that most bookshops are of the size that they can take advantage of that. And I fear that the way that people shop for books and everything else has changed fundamentally and it will not be possible to roll that back.

However, I will say that a number of bookshops in my area—and, actually, the same area as Dai Lloyd's, and he'll be familiar with them—have been very successful in diversifying and holding a large number of other type of events inside the bookshop, and have cafes and groups and discussion groups and so on, and he will be as aware as I am of the success that some of those have had. I certainly applaud them, as I very much like attending a bookshop myself.

I would like to ask for two statements. One is a Government statement providing an update on Welsh Government support and progress with the digitisation programme across the whole of the Welsh public sector. The second one—I know we had a written statement from the Cabinet Secretary yesterday regarding Virgin Media closure and action being taken, but I would like to ask if we could have an oral statement on it for me and, I'm sure, you and other Members representing the area. The loss of what is the best part of 900 jobs is a substantial blow to the area. I would hope that we could have an oral statement that would give us an opportunity to ask questions of the Cabinet Secretary over an issue that, to you, like me, is a very important one.

Yes, I will certainly discuss with the Cabinet Secretary the possibility of that, or of how we could communicate where we are with the taskforce on Virgin Media. I share the Member's concern about the actions of the company and some of the stories that are happening there. So, I'll certainly have that discussion with the Cabinet Secretary to see how we can best facilitate those discussions and public information on that.

In terms of digitisation, I am actually planning to make a statement on digital transformation sometime before Christmas, so I'll make sure that that gets timetabled accordingly.

Leader of the house, may I ask for a statement from the Minister for housing on what more can be done to tackle homelessness in Wales, please? A constituent recently contacted me to bring his case to my attention. A letter, actually, has come to me written by a homeless person in Newport high street. He's only 24 years old. Instead of reading his letter, which is very emotional, I'd rather say a few lines about what he's actually going through. He says he was working and living in a public house that the brewery decided to close down. He received one month's notice to leave. He went to Newport City Council for help, but they said his case was not a priority, because he was single and with no children—don't forget that he's only 24 years old. They placed him on a waiting list for a hostel. There again, there is an 18-month waiting list for homeless people. He says he just wants to get somewhere to live that is safe for him and he can get a job and move on with his life. Please could we have a statement from the Minister on what can be done to help our constituents in similar situations or conditions all over Wales? In a civilised society, we must look after homeless people and some measure must be taken by law not to have people sleeping rough, especially with the type of weather that we are facing, with extreme winters and extreme summers. Thank you.

The Minister is due to make a statement next month on changes to our homelessness policies, but I do think that the Member should take into account the effect on homelessness of his own UK Government party's universal credit roll-out and general assumption that young people can stay at home, because he's just pointed out that that's very frequently not the case.

I'd like to ask for a statement from the health Secretary, if possible, on the ability of private companies to access hospitals. The company Bounty, we know, provides starter packs to many new mothers and they also come to the wards to offer to take photos of the babies, and they do gather information that is then used to send marketing information to those mothers. Apparently, according to a freedom of information request, Bounty has paid £1,922 to Betsi Cadwaladr health board to have unfettered access to these maternity units across north Wales. I would like to know whether the Government feels that this is acceptable. Is the Government confident that measures are in place to ensure that this is safe? I’ve had mothers complaining that these people disturb them and their babies on the wards in question. Some mothers also say that they’ve received hundreds of marketing e-mails in the months and years after providing that information to companies such as this. We need assurances that the safety of babies, mothers and data is more important than the relatively small income that Betsi Cadwaladr gets for such a service.

Yes, actually, I share his concern around the data and I'm the Minister responsible for that, in fact, so I will look into that and come back to the Member.

I just wonder if we could have an explanation about why the out-of-hours cardiac arrest plan statement was withdrawn. I would understand if it's due to the very sad events of this weekend, but I really would appreciate it if we could get confirmation that we will get an oral statement rather than a written statement on this. I, for one, would certainly like the opportunity to ask questions in the Chamber on the plan. So, perhaps if the health Cabinet Secretary would reconsider and bring an oral statement, perhaps shortly, then I for one would be very grateful. Thank you.

To be fair to the Cabinet Secretary, that's a problem of the amount of business that it was possible to fit in. He was more than—[Interruption.] Well, he was more than happy to do it, but a number of things happened over the course of the last couple of days around business coming in and out of the agenda. So, it will issue as a written statement. It's my responsibility to see whether we've got enough time and I will discuss with him whether there is an opportunity to bring forward an oral statement, but we have actually got a pretty packed agenda. So, I will look to see if there's an opportunity to do that. But, in all fairness, it was not—. He was more than happy to make the oral statement; it's just that business prevented it.

Thank you, leader of the house.