Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:39 pm on 25 October 2022.
Joel James
Conservative
2:39,
25 October 2022
First Minister, more than 60 per cent of the digital data that firms generate is collected, processed and stored for single-use purposes only. This could include outdated spreadsheets, multiple near-identical images, or the thousands upon thousands of unread or stored e-mails that will never, ever be looked at again. This type of data is known as 'dark data' or 'unstructured data'. It currently produces 2.5 per cent of all global human-induced carbon dioxide emissions, which is more than the total aviation sector combined at 2.1 per cent. Worryingly, the volume of dark data is growing at a rate of 62 per cent a year, and the subsequent carbon dioxide that is produced is predicted to account for more than the aviation, automotive and energy sectors combined in only just a few years. Government policy and technological innovations focus primarily on tackling traditional carbon emissions and carbon sequestration without addressing the growing problem of dark data, but part of this Government's digital vision is to drive economic prosperity and resilience by embracing and exploiting digital innovation. With this in mind, First Minister, what steps are the Welsh Government taking to ensure that public bodies and private companies in Wales are putting mechanisms in place to address the carbon dioxide from dark data? Thank you.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.