Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. If I want to check my bank balance, listen to music, watch a film or, indeed, turn my heating on, I instinctively get out my smartphone, and I can do that because I can rely on fast broadband coverage. Access to reliable and fast broadband is increasingly a necessity, but the responsibility for providing it is not ours; it is the UK Government's. But without the direct intervention of the Welsh Government, over 50 per cent of people in Wales would not have access to fast fibre broadband.

Telecommunications is not devolved, but just as we've had to do with rail investment, the Welsh Government have diverted money from building schools and hospitals because the Government that should have acted did not. Using EU money and our own funds, we stepped in, and on the twentieth anniversary of the creation of a devolved Government, we can say with confidence that, without devolution, 730,000 premises across Wales would not have access to fast broadband. And we continue to deliver more. We're on course to provide full fibre connectivity to a further 26,000 premises by 2021, and we are talking to Openreach about increasing that number. But as my ministerial inbox demonstrates, there are still people and communities who are not yet connected.

Now, the Prime Minister has belatedly said that there'll be a gigabit broadband sprouting in every home by the end of 2025. We don't yet know how this'll be achieved or, indeed, the detail of how it'll be funded. And even if it does come about, the scheme will not start for another four years, and it will not be complete for another 14 years, two years after experts predict we'll see driverless cars on our roads—cars that won't move without digital connectivity. Nevertheless, Llywydd, we welcome the fact the UK Government does now intend to act, and we stand ready to work alongside them to make sure that if they do follow through, the needs of the Welsh communities are understood and acted upon.

It's vital that all communities are reached, and we know from our own superfast programme that the costs of reaching rural communities is higher and the commercial returns lower. And we are concerned that left to themselves, commercial companies will focus first on boosting the speeds of customers in urban areas who already have good broadband. Just as in the previous generation of technological advancement, it took extra investment and engineering know-how to get good television coverage to all of Wales, and the same is true again with broadband and mobile. Private companies will never do this because it simply isn't profitable, so the UK Government has to take bold action to make sure that everyone is connected and can take part in the fourth industrial revolution.

So, we'll be seeking assurances that the amount of funding from the UK Government is enough to reach all parts of Wales. And based on what they have said, action will not begin to be taken until 2023 at the earliest, so, even though this is not a devolved area, we will continue to act to make sure that the people of Wales are connected to this vital infrastructure, and we will focus our efforts on where both the private sector and the UK Government are not acting. So, building on the work that we have been doing, I can today announce that we will be creating a new £10 million fund to help the final 5 per cent of people who are still online. And because of the innovative way that we've negotiated our contract with BT—and I must pay tribute to my predecessor, Julie James, and our dedicated team of officials—we are receiving a gainshare from the Superfast Cymru contract, which we always intended to use to further advance broadband delivery across Wales.

Now, this fund will not just be for rural areas, but it'll be open to any community in Wales that has not yet been reached by our superfast scheme. I want to work with local authorities and other partners to design the fund in a way that'll best help them to respond to the needs of the communities to get them connected. Now, some councils are already taking the initiative to help people access grants, and I want to see how we can scale that to a regional level. Representatives from local authorities and my officials have already come together to form a digital rural infrastructure taskforce to recommend practical actions that can be taken in the short term to address particular challenges in rural Wales. We're also working alongside local authorities to attract funding via the UK Government's local full fibre network and rural gigabit connectivity schemes to upgrade copper connections to public sector buildings. And this will help drive full fibre into the heart of local communities, and this collaborative working will also develop the relationships and lay the foundations for the new project.

I also, Dirprwy Lywydd, want to see how we can encourage community groups and social enterprises like those in Michaelston-y-fedw, west of Newport, where locals have come together to lay their own fibre, and to harness technological innovation like the project I visited in Monmouthshire where communities have been connected to broadband by using television signals and existing masts while they wait for full fibre connections to be made viable in the longer term. In summary, I want to make it easier to get people connected who've not yet been reached by our significant investment and I want to—[Interruption.] Yes, of course.