5. Statement by the Leader of the House and Chief Whip: Broadband Update

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:31 pm on 23 October 2018.

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Photo of Julie James Julie James Labour 4:31, 23 October 2018

On that last point, I'm afraid I can't go into any detail, because we are absolutely in the negotiation as we speak. I'm very disappointed that I'm standing here without having concluded it. We do hope to conclude it very shortly. We're literally in the middle of the negotiations; I can't talk about that just at the moment. In terms of take-up, we're well up over the 50 per cent. I remind all Members that, if they can encourage people who could access broadband to take it up, we get a gainshare for that, and that's the reinvestment that we're talking about. That gainshare lasts long after the contract is completed, so take-up over the next five years should be encouraged as much as possible. Although it seems odd to the people who can't get it that people who can get it don't take it up—and very frustrating—actually, in terms of a new technology take-up, the curve of this is much higher than anything else. So, it's faster than electricity rolled out, or telephones or anything else. So, it's actually well ahead of the curve that you'd expect for a new technology take-up, which shows the nature of the change in our society as we really go forward into the information age. That gainshare, as I remind Members—. The original plan was that, once it went over 21 per cent take-up, we got the gainshare. Well, that was an estimate by the technology company at that time of what the take-up would be. We're well up over 50 per cent, which shows the difference in society.

We do have a business exploitation team that goes around showing people what their business would look like if they got online, and helping them get the skills and knowledge to do that via Business Wales and the superfast business exploitation team. I hope all Members will have seen our fabulous lighting strike—there are lovely photos of me standing beside it in various places around Wales. When superfast arrives in a village, we take the lighting rod and we put it in the middle and we try and encourage as many people as possible to come forward. And that's what I was saying about the 550 seminars and all the rest of it that we've had, explaining to people how they can be assisted in both self-employment, and with their business, in taking it up.