Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Social Justice – in the Senedd at 1:33 pm on 4 May 2022.
Thank you, Natasha Asghar. That's a very important question as well. Interestingly, we do know through our national survey for Wales that rural and urban aren't necessarily the underlying cause for digital exclusion—93 per cent of people in both rural and urban areas use the internet. But, as you say, in terms of digital inclusion and access to health, it's important to also acknowledge that £2 million per annum has been invested in that programme—the digital inclusion and health programme, Digital Communities Wales: Digital Confidence, Health and Well-being—since July 2019. In fact, I had a meeting about this with the Minister for Health and Social Services and Cwmpas, which are working to promote the Digital Communities Wales programme, just last week, and we looked at these particular issues in terms of access to health. It's interesting that, also, for example, health boards are taking responsibilities. Hywel Dda is working closely with Digital Communities Wales to consider how to embed digital inclusion within their plans and are also signing up to the digital inclusion charter. But, finally, on this point, we are very keen to work on the minimum digital living standard for Wales, and that's been now taken forward—we've commissioned the University of Liverpool to follow up this work.