Written Assembly Questions tabled on 15 October 2014 for answer on 22 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 reference to the Superfast Cymru project, will the Minister provide an assessment of (a) the overall number and (b) the percentage of actual premises in the intervention area which, upon completion of the project, will still be unable to receive in excess of 24 Mbit/s despite their inclusion in the overall "premises passed" total? (WAQ67887)
Answer received 22 October 2014
The Deputy Minister for Skills and Technology (Julie James): As I have stated previously under WAQ67878, all premises passed and funded by the Superfast Cymru project will be able to achieve at least 24Mbps, with the majority achieving at least 30Mpbs. The contract aims to pass 95% of the ~730 000 premises (i.e. some 691,000 premises) in the contract intervention area at these speeds. Ultimately some of the remaining ~40000 premises will benefit from an uplift in speeds from the project at speeds below 24Mbps, but these will not be counted towards the contractual targets.
Russell George (Montgomeryshire): With reference to the Superfast Cymru project, will the Minister provide an assessment of (a) the overall number and (b) the percentage of actual premises in the intervention area in Montgomeryshire which, upon completion of the project, will still be unable to receive in excess of 24 Mbit/s despite their inclusion in the overall "premises passed" total? (WAQ67888)
Answer received on 22 October 2014
The Deputy Minister for Skills and Technology (Julie James): All premises passed and funded by the Superfast Cymru project in Montgomeryshire will be able to achieve at least 24Mbps, the majority of which will achieve speeds of at lease 30Mbps. I have previously stated under WAQ67879 that 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 and that we intend to deliver a new project to bring fast fibre broadband to those areas not covered.
To ask the Minister for Education and Skills
Janet Finch-Saunders (Aberconwy): Given that the banding system played a role in the selection of schools eligible for Schools Challenge Cymru, will the Minister make a statement as to whether the new-look system will have an impact on any progress measurements for those schools? (WAQ67886)
Answer to received on 22 October 2014
Minister for Education and Skills (Huw Lewis): A school's banding position over the last three years was one element of the national criteria used to select the Schools Challenge Cymru Pathways to Success schools. The measures that will be included in the Categorisation of Secondary Schools are being finalised and will be announced shortly.