7. Will the First Minister provide an update on the projected timetable for the dualling of sections 5 and 6 of the A465 Heads of the Valleys road? OAQ54947

I thank the Member for that, Llywydd. It's expected that tenders for the dualling of sections 5 and 6 of the A465 will be received next month. Ministers will then consider the project's full business case. Provided that remains satisfactory, we expect a contract to be let in the summer of 2020, with construction due to start by the end of the year.

Thank you, First Minister. I know you've been a strong supporter of this project, which has been so important to my constituents, not least in your former role as finance Minister when you put forward the mutual investment model that will ensure that this project is delivered. I know there have been some concerns about the impact of delays and increased costs in dualling earlier sections of the road, and this can be set against recent reports that geological survey work on the Hirwaun to Dowlais section wasn't carried out until more than a year after procurement of contracts began. In at least one case, exploratory drilling has been postponed until construction is under way. This surely must raise some concerns about how both costs and engineering techniques have been drawn up for this section thus far and, with that in mind, what lessons has Welsh Government learnt from the dualling of the A465 section 2, and how will they be applied to the dualling of sections 5 and 6?

I thank the Member for the important question. She is absolutely right to say that there are lessons to be learnt from the way in which the dualling of section 2 of the A465 has been carried out, both in the way in which contracts are drawn up and the way in which risks between the Welsh Government and the contractor are spread. Indeed, to turn to the specific point that Vikki Howells made, in that contract the collection of data—for example, through ground condition surveys—was the responsibility of the contractor; I think one of the things we will have learnt from that is that, in future, it would be better if the Welsh Government took responsibility for that, given some of the things that have transpired since. 

But I'm very grateful to Vikki Howells for the opportunity just to be clear—because I think there may have been some confusion about this—that section 2 of the A465 was not a mutual investment model programme, whereas the contract to be used for sections 5 and 6 is to be discharged through the MIM arrangement. It's a fundamentally different approach; it's a fixed price, lump-sum contract, in which the Welsh Government will not pay for the service until it is operational. That will incentivise the contractors to deliver the programme on time. The risk of cost increase and programme delays sits entirely with the appointed service provider in the mutual investment model. We will learn the lessons from earlier sections, but the model we will use for sections 5 and 6 will have all those additional benefits that we think, in this instance, using that form of contract will bring. 

Finally, question 8, Leanne Wood.