15 Mehefin 2022 , Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Craffu ar waith Gweinidogion – Gweinidog yr Economi
I'll ask Andrew to share his perspective, as part of the team that's been doing practically some of this between officials. In part, it's been positive. So, there has been engagement through negotiations in areas where the UK Government recognise we have an…
15 Mehefin 2022 , Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Craffu ar waith Gweinidogion – Gweinidog yr Economi
We have repeatedly asked, and made, I think, an entirely logical case and reasonable case, that we need to be engaged because of the impact on devolved responsibilities. As yet, unless Andrew's got an update, we don't have a structure, and we don't have an…
15 Mehefin 2022 , Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Craffu ar waith Gweinidogion – Gweinidog yr Economi
Well, that depends on the scale of the impact. So, trade deals almost always, because of the scale of the negotiation that takes place, have a direct impact on devolved competencies and workers and businesses here. But the ability to conclude a trade deal is…
15 Mehefin 2022 , Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Craffu ar waith Gweinidogion – Gweinidog yr Economi
Well, the HMRC data—access to that would be really helpful for us. With HMRC being reserved, understanding trade flows and the data that goes through HMRC would be really helpful, not just the volume but actually the sectors as well. And that would be helpful…
15 Mehefin 2022 , Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Craffu ar waith Gweinidogion – Gweinidog yr Economi
So, we provide reports on the individual aspects of each of the deals, and we do an assessment of them, but we are looking at how we could provide a report on the cumulative impacts. So, for example, if you looked at one of the areas of challenge—the tariff…
15 Mehefin 2022 , Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Craffu ar waith Gweinidogion – Gweinidog yr Economi
Prynhawn da. There is a lot of similarity between the broad markets in the deal, and that shouldn't be surprising, given the Australia deal came first. And it set, if you like, a floor, if not a ceiling. There are some—. I'll bring Andrew Gwatkin in, because…
15 Mehefin 2022 , Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Craffu ar waith Gweinidogion – Gweinidog yr Economi
My understanding is that when you look at the progress being made, yes, and, actually, when we get the whole of the social care sector to be a real living wage employer, then you'll see that that has improved. And, actually, we've narrowed the gap to the rest…
15 Mehefin 2022 , Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Craffu ar waith Gweinidogion – Gweinidog yr Economi
Again, it's one of the things we do practically do. So, as Ministers, you can change things by directly changing policy. You can change the law, which is an even harder change. You can change things with money, and there's the leadership space as well, and…
15 Mehefin 2022 , Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Craffu ar waith Gweinidogion – Gweinidog yr Economi
The Welsh Government continues to have a leadership role here. The Welsh Government is a real living wage employer, as indeed is the NHS, the biggest individual employer in the country, and it's part of what we're doing, for example, in the social care sector…
15 Mehefin 2022 , Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Craffu ar waith Gweinidogion – Gweinidog yr Economi
We've obviously got the competence to do that, and we've had different pay settlements. When I was the health Minister, we had slightly different pay settlements to other parts of the UK in the NHS. So, that's why NHS Wales continues to be a living wage…
15 Mehefin 2022 , Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Craffu ar waith Gweinidogion – Gweinidog yr Economi
If there was Welsh Government support available—again, it comes back to the point that's been made, and again in Hefin David's recent round of questions about priorities—one of the things about that is, if we spend more money on finding ways to directly…
15 Mehefin 2022 , Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Craffu ar waith Gweinidogion – Gweinidog yr Economi
Well, more and better jobs, and the challenge in doing that in the times that we're going through is really significant. And so I've tried to see the opportunities to invest, but also the support decisions, through that broad lens. So, how do we make sure…
15 Mehefin 2022 , Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Craffu ar waith Gweinidogion – Gweinidog yr Economi
Yes. So, I offered and we hosted the UK Steel Council at its meeting on Monday in Cardiff. We asked the steel council to come to Wales because we're a really significant part of steel producing in the UK. So, it seemed appropriate to ask the steel council to…
15 Mehefin 2022 , Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Craffu ar waith Gweinidogion – Gweinidog yr Economi
Any of those measures about business support and having reduced levels of business rate payments, well, those are things that we have done for the first half of this year. So, there is help with business rates, there's the broader context of making sure…
15 Mehefin 2022 , Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Craffu ar waith Gweinidogion – Gweinidog yr Economi
No, and I think it's important to understand why. We are going through very early consultation and engagement with the sector on the tourism levy. It's not going to happen in the middle of August this summer. We have been really clear that this is about…
15 Mehefin 2022 , Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Craffu ar waith Gweinidogion – Gweinidog yr Economi
Well, in retail, tourism and hospitality, it has been a real squiggly line of unevenness, hasn't it, because on the one hand food and drink retail, particularly local, continued to have significant spend go through it; other areas of more discretionary retail…
15 Mehefin 2022 , Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Craffu ar waith Gweinidogion – Gweinidog yr Economi
Yes, it's the exercise that Sioned's referring to on looking to see how much money won't meet the criteria that have been there. It'll take time for that to run through, but I'm happy to provide an update for the committee about how that money has been used…
15 Mehefin 2022 , Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Craffu ar waith Gweinidogion – Gweinidog yr Economi
But to help the finance Minister, we'll certainly be pointing out how that money could be used to support the economy with some of our commitments within the programme for government and the way that we find, in the current position, we want to support jobs…
15 Mehefin 2022 , Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Craffu ar waith Gweinidogion – Gweinidog yr Economi
Okay, so I can't help you off the top of my head with the level of resource that has been either returned or clawed back from the £2.6 billion we used to support businesses. I think that over 300,000 grants were offered to businesses through the coronavirus…
15 Mehefin 2022 , Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Craffu ar waith Gweinidogion – Gweinidog yr Economi
Okay, so we have provided support already, in terms of the cost-of-living crisis, and the money we provided to households, the £380 million package I referred to earlier—that has a direct impact on households' ability to spend. The households we're talking…
15 Mehefin 2022 , Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Craffu ar waith Gweinidogion – Gweinidog yr Economi
You're right. One of the features of coming out of the COVID pandemic was that, part way through the pandemic, we thought at the end of it there would be significant unemployment, and, actually, that hasn't happened to date. As we see, though, some of the…
15 Mehefin 2022 , Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Craffu ar waith Gweinidogion – Gweinidog yr Economi
That's definitely been part of our conversations within the Government. We don't just talk about the direct household pressures; we do regularly talk—and it's been part of the conversation I've had today with directors—about the reality of cost pressures on…
15 Mehefin 2022 , Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Craffu ar waith Gweinidogion – Gweinidog yr Economi
I think the starting point is that it was a step in the right direction. So, having been told there was no way that a levy could be introduced on the excess profits made from oil and gas mainly, but broadly in the energy sector, to then shift that position…
15 Mehefin 2022 , Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Craffu ar waith Gweinidogion – Gweinidog yr Economi
I don't share Richard Wyn Jones's view, but I recognise the way that he's put it is provocative and he's not unaware of that. But I know there is also a concern that we should be putting more directly into research. But, again, it ignores the reality of how…
15 Mehefin 2022 , Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Craffu ar waith Gweinidogion – Gweinidog yr Economi
Well, I think the strategy will help us to be clear about what the Government wants to see happen, and there's a sense that that is important for people, both in the private sector as well as in higher and further education as well, so I think that will help…
