Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:30 pm on 23 October 2018.
I hope that my comments on the statement by the leader of the house, following on from the conciliatory tone set by colleague Neil Hamilton on an earlier statement, does not lull the Government into some sort of complacency. But, having said that, I thank the leader of the house for today's statement, and I wish to acknowledge and congratulate the Welsh Government on its successful roll-out of superfast broadband. Having read the interventions proposed to bring about the elimination of notspots, I believe that, given the extensive mixture of options on offer, we can be confident that the vast majority, if not all, of the premises in Wales will soon be able to access superfast broadband.
However, there is the matter of take-up of these broadband innovations. So, is the leader of the house able to expand on the promotional aspect of the roll-out and the incentives in place to both educate and encourage business, particularly SMEs, to take up superfast broadband packages? In particular, is BT, as the preferred bidder, putting in place strategies to encourage increased engagement with what superfast broadband can offer? Surely, it would be a great shame if, after all of the good work of the Welsh Government in the provision of superfast broadband, it is not taken up and acted upon by the business community.
Lastly, can the leader of the house expand a little on why the south-east region lags behind the other regions in the procurement lots?