1. Will the First Minister provide an update on Welsh Government plans to improve digital connectivity in north Wales? OQ57754

I thank Carolyn Thomas for that question, Llywydd. Full-fibre broadband connectivity has been provided to 9,200 homes and businesses across north Wales through our current £56 million investment. The Access Broadband Cymru and the local broadband fund schemes are also available to improve broadband connectivity.

Thank you for the answer, First Minister. Digital connectivity has never been more important, and urgent action is needed to ensure no community is left behind. For broadband infrastructure to be cost-effective, it will need to be designed comprehensively with long-term benefits in mind that serve everyone. Communities right across north Wales, including rural Wales, are underserved by corporate providers due to being less profitable. Installing such a network would help mitigate digital exclusion, create skilled jobs and attract high-tech industries. In Liverpool, a joint venture project has been championed by Liverpool city metro mayor, Steve Rotheram, and this partnership means that public investment gives the authority a stake in the organisation, and, in turn, rather than profitability being the only concern, social benefit, and the public can continue to reap the benefits for years to come. Does the First Minister agree with me that such a joint venture project would be in the interests of the Welsh public, and would officials be willing to investigate such an option to dynamically drive forward digital connectivity in north Wales, which is currently happening on a piecemeal, very slow basis? Diolch. 

Llywydd, I thank Carolyn Thomas for that. I'm pleased to be able to say to her that Welsh Government officials have already met with the company who are working with our colleague Steve Rotheram, in the Liverpool city region and developing that very innovative solution for that city. We will continue to work through the North Wales Economic Ambition Board, who have made digital connectivity one of their priority areas. There's £25 million being provided for digital connectivity, and there are, as I know the Member will know, four different components to the plan that the north Wales growth deal has developed: connected campuses to make sure that young people have access to broadband; connected corridors to make sure that businesses are connected; key sites, both public and private; and then reaching the final few per cent of people who are at the hardest, most distant end from digital connectivity. Three of those four purposes could be served by an arrangement of the sort that has been developed in the Liverpool city region, and we will continue to work closely with the economic ambition board to see whether the idea that has been developed in Liverpool and whether there are aspects of that that could be successfully transferred as part of the effort being made in north Wales. 

First Minister, despite BT having been paid approximately £220 million to bring superfast broadband to around 96 per cent of premises between 2014 and 2018, and the organisation currently running a successor scheme to connect 39,000 premises, it still remains the fact that there are premises across Wales with unreliable internet. And in my constituency of Aberconwy, I have people who cannot receive any service. So, according to Business Wales, superfast broadband can have a positive impact on profit margins, staff productivity costs, and much more. Now, given the undeniable benefit there is, an immediate step that I feel you as our First Minister could take to provide a superfast internet hub for businesses in Aberconwy is to repurpose at least part of the underutilised building in Llandudno Junction—the Welsh Government building—to become a flexible digital working hub. Now, you did respond very positively to this idea on 9 November, so an update on that would be great, because, I tell you now, I've actually received enquiries from businesses wanting to actually go into that building. I wrote to you on 21 January, and I'm still yet to receive a reply, so an update would be really appreciated. Diolch, Llywydd.

Llywydd, I thank the Member. It's good to see her do her bit for International Women's Day on the Tory benches in this Chamber. She will know that digital connectivity and telecommunications are not devolved to the Welsh Government. Every penny that this Government spends in this area is a penny that we spend because of the failure of her Government to invest properly in Wales. And I remember, Llywydd, as others will, that her party went into the last Senedd elections, in May of last year, with a manifesto commitment not to spend in non-devolved areas. So, while she urges me to do more, had she been—[Interruption.]—had she been—[Interruption.]—had she been in power, not likely of course, but had that happened here, there'd be no expenditure at all on this matter by the Welsh Government, because that is the policy that her party put in front of the people of Wales, to be, of course, so comprehensively rejected, which is why we do go on investing in superfast broadband in all parts of Wales, including to the Llandudno Junction office.

I did respond positively to the Member. We are very keen to have remote working hubs, where people can come, don't have to travel the distances they've had to in the past, learn the lessons of the pandemic, and to use buildings for more than a single purpose—whether that is in the Llandudno Junction context, the Welsh Government's use of it, but it may be possible for the building to be used for wider purposes, by other public sector bodies, third sector organisations, private sector partners in a number of the hubs we've developed elsewhere in Wales. So, this is a continuously developing programme. There are, inevitably, as I know the Member will understand, some additional security issues that have to be thought of when you're allowing wider access to a building where there is sensitive information in circulation, and safety of staff and other users. But I can assure her that the basic idea is one we continue to think of positively and want to take forward.

I declare an interest as a member of the 5G EDC project consortium—an unpaid member, Llywydd. We've heard about the societal benefits of a full-fibre spine in north Wales, First Minister, but another advantage to having that network in north Wales is the ability to go on and develop 5G technology for the future, in rural communities that perhaps are hard to reach with traditional methods. I want to see north Wales be a global leader with this. We've heard again where the UK Conservative Government has let north Wales down with regard to full-fibre technology within this space. First Minister, I know officials have had conversations already, but will you instruct them to have further conversations with Bangor University and their partners in developing this type of technology so that we can become the global leader? And how can the Welsh Government support further, in funding these types of projects, where the UK Conservative Government, and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, fail to do so?

Llywydd, that's a very good example that Jack Sargeant cites of exactly the point I was making earlier, about the way in which the Welsh Government has had to step in to make good for the lack of investment—not just lack of investment, but lack of interest, Llywydd—in making sure that parts of north Wales have the investment that is needed. Jack Sargeant is right, Llywydd—our officials have already had discussions with the Digital Signal Processing Centre. It's another project where the North Wales Economic Ambition Board has been part of the development of the centre, including some millions of pounds in practical investment. There's an application that the Welsh Government has seen, and will be considering, to fund research into 5G and to deliver 5G broadband projects, particularly on Ynys Môn, and my officials will, indeed, be continuing those discussions with the centre.