Written Assembly Questions tabled on 13 October 2014 for answer on 20 October 2014
R - Signifies the Member has declared an interest.
W - Signifies that the question was tabled in Welsh.
(Self identifying Question no. shown in brackets)
Written Questions must be tabled at least five working days before they are to be answered. In practice, Ministers aim to answer within seven/eight days but are not bound to do so. Answers are published in the language in which they are provided, with a translation into English of responses provided in Welsh.
To ask the Minister for Economy, Science and Transport
Russell George (Montgomeryshire): With regards to the Superfast Cymru project, will the Minister outline the number of "premises passed" which will be unable to achieve 24 Mbit/s due to line length, line quality and other infrastructure issues? (WAQ67877)
Answer received on 20 October 2014
The Deputy Minister for Skills and Technology (Julie James): All premises passed and funded by the Superfast Cymru project will be able to achieve at least 24Mbps, with the majority achieving at least 30Mbps. The contract aims to pass 95% of the ~730 000 premises in the contract intervention area at these speeds. Ultimately some of the remaining ~40000 premises will have achieved an uplift from the project at speeds below 24Mbps, but they will not be counted towards the contractual targets. It is not yet possible to quantify how many premises of this type there will be.
Russell George (Montgomeryshire): Will the Minister outline how many premises in Newtown sit outside the Superfast Cymru intervention area and the footprint of commercial superfast broadband providers? (WAQ67878)
Answer received on 20 October 2014
The Deputy Minister for Skills and Technology (Julie James): There are 134 premises in Newtown and the immediate vicinity that fall outside of the Superfast Cymru intervention area and the footprint of commercial superfast broadband providers. We intend to deliver a new project to bring fast fibre broadband to those areas not covered. The new project will be delivered in two parts. Both will bring superfast broadband to areas not currently scheduled to receive it. These were identified through a review and public consultation earlier this year. The second part will also include those properties that were originally included under Superfast Cymru but where we were not able to provide access to fast fibre.
Russell George (Montgomeryshire): Will the Minister outline how many premises in Montgomeryshire sit outside the Superfast Cymru intervention area and the footprint of commercial superfast broadband providers? (WAQ67879)
Answer received 20 October 2014
The Deputy Minister for Skills and Technology (Julie James): There are 202 premises in the Montgomeryshire constituency area that fall outside of the Superfast Cymru intervention area and the footprint of commercial superfast broadband providers. We intend to deliver a new project to bring fast fibre broadband to those areas not covered. The new project will be delivered in two parts. Both will bring superfast broadband to areas not currently scheduled to receive it. These were identified through a review and public consultation earlier this year. The second part will also include those properties that were originally included under Superfast Cymru but where we were not able to provide access to fast fibre.
To ask the Minister for Education and Skills
William Graham (South Wales East): Will the Minister make a statement on the Jobs Growth Wales budget for 2015/16 and clarify whether or not in-year cuts are included in the recently published Draft Budget? (WAQ67880)
Answer received on 20 October 2014
Deputy Minister for Skills and Technology (Julie James): The Welsh Government budget for Jobs Growth Wales in 2015-16 will be £9.3m. A bid will also be submitted to WEFO for ESF funding for the Programme for 2015 onwards.
The in year (2014-15) budget cuts are not included in the recently published Draft Budget.
William Graham (South Wales East): Will the Minister explain how Jobs Growth Wales allocations are decided upon for providers and whether these allocations have been altered for the current financial year? (WAQ67881)
Answer received 20 October 2014
Deputy Minister for Skills and Technology (Julie James): The allocations are based on the youth unemployment statistics for each local authority area with 5% uplift for European Social Fund Convergence areas. Allocations are awarded to providers that have bid in the local authority area and have demonstrated a 70% positive progression rate for previous delivery of the programme.
To reflect the in year budget reductions the allocations have been reduced by 1000 opportunities across Wales. The Programme has already met its target of creating and filling 12,000 job opportunities by March 2015.