, Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language: Tata Steel
Formal consultation between Tata Steel UK and the UK steel committee, which, as Members know, is made up of the three steel unions, Community, Unite and GMB, concluded in April. Discussions have since been ongoing between the company and the UK steel…
, Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language: Tata Steel
Thank you, Llywydd. As Members will be aware, the news last week that Tata Steel could switch off both blast furnaces 4 and 5 at Port Talbot this week due to industrial action caused considerable anxiety for all parties, especially workers and the wider…
, Plenary
Debate on a Member's Legislative Proposal: A Community Energy Benefits bill
Deputy Presiding Officer, to summarise, community ownership is at the heart of our renewable energy policy and is a crucial element of our general plan to benefit from green energy investments. I think that legislation such as this can be too heavy a tool and…
, Plenary
Debate on a Member's Legislative Proposal: A Community Energy Benefits bill
Diolch, Ddirprwy Lywydd. I'd like to thank Members for their contributions to this important debate, and to highlight our absolute commitment to put community involvement and ownership at the centre of our energy ambitions. I'd like to make two main points…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Green economy inquiry: Panel 9 - Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
I think that's a slightly different question, Chair, and I think Governments everywhere probably are in that position, because there are other things that Governments have to address. The point I'm making to you is that we are looking to put in place the most…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Green economy inquiry: Panel 9 - Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
I think we are, yes. I think there are challenges that all Governments face in terms of the scale of the demand and the opportunity. It's a positive thing, really, to respond nimbly to that, and everyone is looking to improve their agility to be able to…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Green economy inquiry: Panel 9 - Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
I think the point about innovation is important. I would say that there are a number of ways in which we support innovation in steel production already. Even last week, or the week before last, a new, I think, £1 million fund was committed by Innovate UK to…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Green economy inquiry: Panel 9 - Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
Yes, as part of that broader mix involving nuclear and renewables, it's important to make sure that we're doing everything to decarbonise energy generation in Wales. We obviously have a history of nuclear in Wylfa and in Trawsfynydd, and I think we've seen…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Green economy inquiry: Panel 9 - Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
I think it's about culture change at the end of the day. I think that's what will enable us to get to the right end result. And that's why the legislation has developed in the way that it has, really. I had, in my previous role, plenty of scrutiny from the…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Green economy inquiry: Panel 9 - Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
Well, we've got a prior approach, haven't we, which is the well-being of future generations Act, which, in a sense, has just transition at its heart, I would argue. That's about living in a sustainable, just country. So, in a sense, we've got our own solution…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Green economy inquiry: Panel 9 - Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
Yes.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Green economy inquiry: Panel 9 - Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
Okay. So, there are two things. I think I do recognise some of what you're saying, because I do have some of those conversations myself, but I think it's quite a complex set of things that are going on behind that. So, I think part of it is about where you…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Green economy inquiry: Panel 9 - Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
Uncertainty.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Green economy inquiry: Panel 9 - Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
From a workers point of view, I think a lot of it is about making sure the skills that people have are ones that enable them to flourish in that changing economy. The personal learning accounts that we fund to enable people who are in work to reskill or to…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Green economy inquiry: Panel 9 - Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
I don't think we are segregating them, in reality. What we're basically saying to people is—. In a sense, the point we're making is that a lot of the skills that we need for the future are ones that we are currently training people to do, but applying them in…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Green economy inquiry: Panel 9 - Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
Some of it is about modelling what these roles look like, isn't it? So, Careers Wales have been working on a series of case studies showing young people progressing into green jobs, and some of those, at least, are up on the website already. They're…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Green economy inquiry: Panel 9 - Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
You identified Anglesey and Pembrokeshire. I would say that there are very good examples both in north Wales and in west Wales of developers working with local further education colleges, having made a commitment to do everything they can to recruit from the…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Green economy inquiry: Panel 9 - Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
I think this is a really fair point. I think one of the challenges that sometimes we have, for reasons which I think are probably unsurprising, is that busy employers often find it a challenge to articulate exactly what the skills mix is that they need today…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Green economy inquiry: Panel 9 - Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
There's an opportunity for us through that. That is certainly not an intervention that exists outside Wales only. There'll be opportunities for investment that come from that, which I think are very exciting and will enable us to meet some of the policy…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Green economy inquiry: Panel 9 - Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
I don't think it's about the cheaper one. The point I make about mandating local ownership is that that requires local ownership, and there may not always be that demand in a particular profile. I think the better way of approaching it is to make sure that we…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Green economy inquiry: Panel 9 - Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
We have got targets for Trydan Gwyrdd Cymru. I don't have them in front of me, but Ed probably—
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Green economy inquiry: Panel 9 - Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
Well, that, really, is some of the work that Ynni Cymru will be doing. That's specifically about making sure that we can support communities to have a more strategic view of how that funding can be deployed. So, that, really, is part of what that is there to…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Green economy inquiry: Panel 9 - Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
Well, we have actually been doing very well against our target for energy production from community ownership, and we've actually extended our target now in order to make it more stretching. So, our new target is 1 GW [Correction: '1.5 GW'] of capacity by…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Green economy inquiry: Panel 9 - Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
So, I'm making two points. One is about having the legislation that puts in place the faster system, and the separate point is about making sure we've got the capacity in the system to address the level of demand that we know is there.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Green economy inquiry: Panel 9 - Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
On the second point, there are definitely things we can learn from elsewhere, but there are things that elsewhere can learn from us as well. It's important to recognise that, I think. Some of the discussions I was having at the British-Irish Council at the…
