Part of 2. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:19 pm on 29 June 2021.
Thank you for that response. I would be very pleased if you could confirm that those funds are all open and live at the moment. I have been contacted by some communities, including Llanrhaeadr-yng-Nghinmeirch and Cyffylliog in Denbighshire, who have agreed to work with a company to bring fibre broadband to the area, taking advantage of the funding that is available from the UK Government, and the intention then of benefiting from the additional funds that come from the Welsh Government. Before the election it was said that that funding would come to an end because of the electoral period. Since then, they're still awaiting assurance that those funds are open again, and that, of course, as you can imagine, is the cause of some frustration, because there are over 1,000 homes in the area I'm talking about—the majority of them have poor access to broadband. And we know about other areas in Wales, mostly in rural areas, that are facing the same situation. So, can you confirm when these communities will have confirmation that funds are available to tackle a problem that continues to be a problem that is more than any one of us would have wished?