We now turn to spokespeople's question. The first this afternoon is Mohammad Asghar.

Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Leader of the house, the Equality and Human Rights Commission report 'Is Wales Fairer?' states that domestic abuse continues to be under-reported. It is a sad fact that more domestic violence offences are committed than are reported to and recorded by the police. In view of this, does the leader of the house share my concern that the inspectorate of constabulary has found that two Welsh police forces failed to record 8,400 crimes in the last four years, including 110 domestic abuse cases?

Yes, we know that a lot of domestic abuse is hidden. We do know that people don't come forward and that there are inconsistencies of evidence across the piece. So, we work very hard with the police and crime commissioners, and actually with the lead police and crime commissioner, who is an ex-colleague that you'll all be familiar with, Jeff Cuthbert, who's taken the lead in this regard for the police forces around the right procedures, identification of and encouragement of people to come forward and then the right processes.

And one of the things that the national advisers have been advising us on in their now first year of office is to make sure that we have consistency across the piece in Wales, because a lot of these services are delivered by third sector organisations. And so, they're looking to see that we have a consistency of service, so that, just to give you an example, if you show up somewhere as a victim of domestic abuse—if you show up on a Wednesday morning in Ceredigion, you would get onto the same pathway as if you show up on a Friday night in the Heath hospital accident and emergency department. And making sure that you have that consistency approach across the piece is very much where we're going, and we have good co-operation with the police forces. But the work is still very much ongoing.

We know that there's under-reporting. We're very pleased that the figures are coming up. Deputy Presiding Officer, it's always difficult to know whether the rise in figures is because there's a rise in incidents or whether it's a rise in people coming forward and being more secure in the system, and I suspect it's a little of both in some areas. We're analysing the figures to make sure that we take the right lesson from the data.

Thank you for that answer, leader of the house. 'Is Wales Fairer?' also mentioned that

'A study of specialist domestic abuse services in Wales reported funding cuts in nearly half of specialist services for 2016/17'.

It goes on to say about

'a lack of adequate funding for specialist children and young people’s domestic abuse support services being of particular concern'.

What action is the leader of the house taking to ensure that adequate funding is provided to ensure this essential service is maintained in Wales?

So, what happens with our Act—the Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015—is that that drives a statement by local authorities as to a needs assessment in their area, and the needs assessment is then how we plan the services, and that's in its infancy. We've only just had the first iteration of that. The whole propose of that Act is to overcome some of the issues that you're talking about. So, we have a needs assessment for the first time against which we can assess the funding, and we also have a sustainable funding working group, because we want to make sure that the funding groups are not set against each other in competition for diminishing resources, but actually work together to maximise the amount that they can do with the funding available. And that is chaired by one of the national advisers, Yasmin Khan. We have just delayed the start of that because all of the stakeholder groups involved in it asked us to do so, so that they could make sure that the piece of work that we did was sustainable into the future. Yasmin, I know, has been chairing that group very effectively and will be reporting early next year on its outcome.

Thank you. Last year, Welsh Women's Aid expressed concern about the lack of refuge-based support for survivors of domestic abuse and their children. Particular reference was made to women from ethnic minorities, disabled women and, in a small number of cases, for men. At present, data on the number of refuges is not collected or held centrally in Wales. Does the leader of the house agree with me that this data should be collected, and what action will she take to rectify this? 

So, that's very much part of the same piece that I was just talking about in terms of the assessment of need. And what we're looking to do is exactly that, to make sure that we have a proper assessment of need across all of Wales, and that we provide services based on that needs assessment and not just—. These services, generally, grew up because got together back in the 1970s and 1980s and started something because they saw the need locally, and we've continued in that sort of fashion. But the whole point of the Act that the Assembly passed, and the needs assessment associated with that, is to get that proper all-Wales picture, so that we can plan the services according. In fact, last week, I launched the perpetrator standards. So, we're trying to standardise the service, so that people, as I say, receive the same service regardless of where they are and which pathway they pitch up in.

Thank you. Plaid Cymru spokesperson—Bethan Sayed.

We've had quite a few questions on superfast already today, but obviously we know that we had a statement from Superfast Cymru outlining a range of successes in the superfast programme, and I think it's worth noting there has been a big increase in the number of properties with access to superfast broadband of up to 34 Mbps, so you have made progress in the area. Technology, as ever, moves fast, so I'd like to ask what forward planning is being undertaken to expand on speed and bandwidth capacity as we move forward. Capacity is a really important issue, because people will want access from more than one device, businesses will need to be running on a certain bandwidth, so I'm wanting to understand, in terms of capacity in particular, what you're doing in this regard.  

We very much followed the superfast roll-out programme with a business exploitation programme and the domestic exploitation programme—some of you may have seen there's a big yellow cartoon lightning bolt that arrives on your village green with a big sign—and then we run programmes for people to come and understand how to get the best out of the service that's arrived and how to assess the need for their business in particular. So, domestic use—unless you've got an enormous number of teenage children who all want access at the same time, it's fine at 24 Mbps or so, but most businesses have a bespoke need. And so one of the things with any new technology exploitation is making sure that the businesses do their business assessment of their need and the need for them to invest in the service correctly, because they need to understand what exponential growth can come from some of the accesses.

The business exploitation team follow the superfast roll-out around—doing two authorities at a time across Wales, in fact. We write out to everybody in the authority, and that alerts them to the fact that they could get it and, occasionally, it alerts us to the fact that we think somebody could get it and they haven't. And just in terms of proportion on that, we write thousands of the letters out and we get tens back. But it is a useful checker, if you like—an additional checker. But Bethan Sayed is absolutely right, because sometimes people wait for the superfast programme to come, they get 30 Mbps or so, but they run a large caravan site or a big farm business and, actually, they need 100 Mbps in oder to get their business need. So, the system is capable of delivering that, but they have to understand what they require and then we can help them get the best internet service provider, for example, and a system with planning for that. So, I'm very much aware of the point she raises, and it's a really good point, and so we are trying to futureproof the system in that way. 

And the last thing to say is there has been a really good report by south Wales university—the University of South Wales; I always say that the wrong way around—about what happens to small businesses when they exploit the internet properly and what happens when they don't. I've mentioned it a number of times, and it's in the Members' library. It is worth having a look, because it really is quite stark, the difference, and so we use that as a way to encourage people to understand that the investment is worth it for their business. It might seem like a lot, but it's actually worth it for the business growth. 

Okay, thank you. I'll make sure to get a copy of that. 

Just moving on, I think we have to look at technology across the piece, as broadband as a stand-alone option is often not enough for many people, even with increases in capacity. Can you tell us how you're planning to improve 4G connectivity? Last year, a report by Which? showed that Wales had the worst 4G coverage in the UK, with 4G customers in Wales on average only able to get a 4G signal just about 35 per cent of the time. We're now looking at the point where we are having 5G being introduced, but we risk being left behind here in Wales because we're still not accessing 4G, and therefore that could mean that many people are being left with technology that is obsolete. So, how are you going to address this to help us as a Welsh nation?

Yes, that's a huge matter of frustration to me, I have to say, because that's to do with the way that the UK Government sold the spectrum and the geographical coverage they either did or didn't put on it. So, it's clearly inadequate. I've mentioned many times in this Chamber my frustration at not being able to get them to see that having a single provider across 98 per cent of the land mass of Wales, which is what we have, is obviously useless. 'Come to my brilliant tourism business, but don't come unless you're on a particular network'—I mean, clearly that doesn't work. So, we've been working very hard with a range of other authorities in the north of England and Scotland who all have the same problem. Because outside the conurbations, we really need roaming so that you can connect to any network. 

The other thing is that people don't realise they can still make a 999 call. So, we've had some examples where somebody could have made that call, because their phone will connect to any network if they dial 999, even if it says 'no service' on it, because it might be their particular network that has no service. There is a network right across Wales for 98 per cent coverage, but it's just not good enough, so we are making that point.

Actually, one of the other things to say is that, as we roll the broadband out and as we get Wi-Fi signals being broadcast from much of our network, of course, Wi-Fi calling becomes available to people who wouldn't get 4G, so there is a back-up from the broadband roll-out. One of the reasons that we've structured the second lot of superfast the way we have is that we were targeting people who didn't have broadband or 4G, so that they couldn't get on the network in any way, and that's very specifically where those lots have been stated to go.

Two other things to say on that, though: we have lobbied very hard about the way that the next sets of spectrum—both low spectrum and high spectrum—are to be sold, because we do think the UK Government needs to understand that that's a problem, and we are joined in that by a large number of the big city mayors, oddly enough, and some of the consortium of local authorities in north England and in Scotland, because we all have the same problem.

Well, that's always a problem when there are monopolies in the system, and we need to try and get to grips with that and ensure that the UK Government hear us loud and clear here in Wales.

I would just like to finish by raising the issue of net neutrality. It's been around a year since net neutrality rules were repealed in the United States, potentially allowing providers to give preferential speeds for certain partner sites—I don't want to name them here today, but I'm sure you can think of them—while lowering speeds for competitors.

The EU has strong open access laws. However, there is nothing stopping the UK Government from altering those laws when those powers return from Brussels. We're already seeing a creeping increase of preferential treatment of certain platforms on mobile devices. I don't want to see anything like this happening when it comes to net neutrality. Have you considered what you will be doing on this agenda as a Welsh Government? Obviously, if there will be a US trade deal they might want to see something like this happening, but this will penalise people and will create more of a market in an already very marketised area. So, what are you doing, potentially, to mitigate this? 

We've been making representations to that effect, and that's a very good example of one of the benefits that the European Union brings—the other one, of course, is roaming right across Europe, which doesn't necessarily happen after Brexit. So, very much as part of our preparedness for it, we are lobbying the UK Government and actually having negotiations with Europe itself about how best to have that interoperability, I believe the actual phrase is—so, how we can, basically, pass those laws into our law. We're very actively pursuing that.

Net neutrality is, actually, very likely to be a subject at the World Trade Organization as well, because it's becoming a big thing across the world. So, we are keeping a weather eye on that, because we have very much benefited from the European Union standards in this regard.

Thank you. The UKIP spokesperson—David Rowlands.

Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. First, leader of the house, can I make reference to your statement on the Superfast Cymru scheme, and acknowledge the success of the implementation of such a massive and mammoth task, and, indeed, the increased provision of mobile phone provision that you've had?

Following on a little from Bethan Sayed's comments, I know that you will be aware that 5G technology is already starting to outdate some of the advances made in Wales's information technology and mobile infrastructure. So, can you please update us on the current status of the preparations for implementation of 5G in Wales? Would it be possible to provide some information on the sources of technology that will be used to implement that roll-out?

Yes, 5G is very interesting, because, really, you need 4G in order to be able to advance to it. So, what we've been doing is working to make sure that people don't have to start with nothing and then climb up the ladder, so that they can leapfrog it. There are lots of issues there, so we have a number of test beds around Wales—Cardiff is actually part of the national test-bed programme. We've appointed Innovation Point, which is a wholly owned Welsh Government company, to advise, stimulate and co-ordinate activity on 5G in Wales, including opportunities to secure funding from the test bed and trials fund from the UK Government. So, we're very actively involved in that.

I will say, though, that 5G is not the only thing that's worth investing in. There's another technology, which is a low-frequency technology, called the long-range wide-area network—LoRaWAN—which we're also very keen on investing in. That, for example, would be very fundamental to precision agriculture. I had a great visit up to Glynllifon college the other day to look at what they're doing with precision agriculture. And although it's not the flavour-of-the-month technology, it's still very important technology to Wales, and we're very much a world leader in it. 

Thank you for that answer. I'm sure that the leader of the house is aware of the international concerns regarding Chinese companies, who are said to be world leaders in fifth generation technology. What steps will the leader of the house be taking to ensure that the issues that have led to the USA and Australia banning some Chinese product suppliers do not occur in Wales?  

We've been very much part of the UK Government's competition, where business-led consortia, including local authorities and academia, can apply to get a slice of £25 million-worth of funding, as I said, from DCMS. And that's looking to support the development of all of the technology; it's not just the connectivity—it's all the widgets, if you like, that go with it. So, 5G doesn't go very far; it's a wide signal that doesn't go very far, so you need a lot of widgets on street furniture and so on. So, we're very keen on making sure that the supply chains are viable here in Wales and in the UK overall, and that we aren't reliant too much on external technology. Indeed, Deputy Presiding Officer, it's been this Government's aim always to fill in gaps in supply chains for Welsh companies where at all possible, and this is clearly an opportunity.  

Again, I thank you, but I think you'll see that the thrust of my questioning is that, for instance, the European Commission Vice-President, Andrus Ansip, has said he was concerned that Chinese technology companies were required to co-operate with Chinese intelligence services on things such as mandatory back doors, which are designed to allow access to encrypted data. With those concerns in mind, leader of the house, can you assure us that all third-party suppliers will be thoroughly scrutinised? 

Yes, indeed, and we belong to the national cyber security network, and we are committed to the national cyber security strategy. I've had a number of very good meetings with the National Cyber Security Centre, and they've visited us twice to make sure that our cyber resilience plans are in order. The Cabinet Office has made funding available to Wales for cyber resilience, and we've allocated money to projects across Wales to strengthen cyber resilience through our cyber resilience revenue grant, which is quite hard to say. We've also awarded funding to the Welsh Local Government Association for the 22 local authorities to achieve the cyber essentials plus certification, to support them in strengthening cyber security within their organisations to a recognised Government standard. So, we're very keen on making sure that we have all of the cyber resilience in place to ensure that we don't have the sorts of problems that David Rowlands is outlining there.