Broadband Services

Part of 2. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:23 pm on 29 June 2021.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 2:23, 29 June 2021

(Translated)

I’d also like to thank Paul Davies for that supplementary question. I saw the research that he referred to on the impact of the pandemic on those living alone and on older people in particular. We are driving forward with the investments that we have provided as a Government. As I said in my original response, it isn’t our responsibility to provide broadband services here in Wales, but we have invested millions of pounds in order to provide access to those services in all parts of Wales. The pandemic has shed light on the importance of this. We will continue with all programmes that we have in place and will provide additional funding for that. In addition to the funding that we’ll provide to help people who will pursue the new UK Government scheme, we are proceeding with a local fund that provides £10 million to local authorities and businesses to help them. There will be more funding for the Superfast Cymru successor programme. It's the Government's intention to build on everything that we have done in the past, and to do it in a way that assists people in all parts of Wales, and focuses on people who've not had access to broadband and who live alone.