, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial scrutiny—Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
Well, I'm not able to comment specifically on that because those negotiations are active at the moment, so I don't think that that would be right for me to do. But, I have asked the UK Government for their officials to engage closely with Welsh Government…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial scrutiny—Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
Yes, absolutely. Absolutely.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial scrutiny—Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
So, there may be some further changes in this. Because it's in a transitional period, that doesn't come in to full operation just yet, so it's not possible to identify exactly yet, but I think it is an important thing. And I think it's good as well that the…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial scrutiny—Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
I think there's probably a number of reasons for that, but I think it is absolutely the case that there are businesses in Wales who would previously have exported to the European Union who, whilst they're still doing that, are finding it a lot more…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial scrutiny—Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
Well, we've got the review coming up, which is, effectively, an implementation review of how the agreement currently operates, if you like. So, there will be an opportunity in that context to, we hope, make some adjustments. Some of that is around the…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial scrutiny—Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
Yes.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial scrutiny—Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
—able to answer questions on that in due course.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial scrutiny—Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
That's the paper I've just referred to, which we'll publish after the election, so we'll be—
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial scrutiny—Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
I think we're about to publish an approach-to-trade policy paper, which will come out after the general election, which will flesh out some our broader objectives in relation to how we seek to influence UK Government policy in this area. Our principal focus…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial scrutiny—Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
Okay, we'll follow up with that.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial scrutiny—Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
Helen, are you able to help with that?
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial scrutiny—Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
That's why, yes, absolutely.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial scrutiny—Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
I think I'm right in saying that the impact of the border target operating model is—. It's a regime for import, isn't it, so the cost for Welsh producers and Welsh exporters won't be governed so much by that; it'll be governed by the EU's regime for UK goods…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial scrutiny—Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
I think construction of those is still on track, actually, for spring of next year, but the checks themselves, I think, aren't likely to be coming in then, in my view.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial scrutiny—Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
I'd probably describe Spring 2025 as very ambitious indeed at this point. My own view is that it's unlikely that that date will be met, and that we will be doing well to have got there by the autumn, say. But we aren't in a position to review that at the…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial scrutiny—Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
The levy is an employment tax that's levied by the UK Government, in all practical effect, isn't it? That's really how it operates, actually, both in England and Wales. The principal challenge that we have, and the reason I think you asked the question in the…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial scrutiny—Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
Thank you for what you said about the letter; I thought it was important to be pretty categorical about our view about how the levy works. Those of us who were around when the levy was introduced were making these points at the time, and you were one of them…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial scrutiny—Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
If there is anything more we can tell you, we'll drop you a note on that.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial scrutiny—Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
I don't myself have information beyond that. Aine, do you have anything we can share today?
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial scrutiny—Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
I was at the RenewableUK Global Offshore Wind conference last week, and had a good opportunity on an informal basis, if you like, to have a discussion with the Crown Estate there, and registered our enthusiasm for making sure that we are able in Wales to make…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial scrutiny—Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
We will continue to support it. I've been championing the foundational economy, together with other members of this committee, actually, since we were elected many years ago. So our commitment remains absolute. What we are doing at the moment is working…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial scrutiny—Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
No, I think it does align perfectly with that, actually. What it talks about is restoring the powers to the Welsh Government that we previously had. But as you will know, as part of the European Union we had an EU-wide framework for how those funds are…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial scrutiny—Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
I think there are some aspects of that that are in the ways of working relationship space, and some are in the policy space. In terms of ways of working, I think it's fair to say that what we've seen, in particular latterly under the current UK Government, is…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial scrutiny—Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
Well, some of it was about—. There was a range of things, actually, but some of it was about how we can make sure that the experience businesses have of engaging with the Government's business support offer is more easily accessible, to be honest, and is…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
General Ministerial scrutiny—Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language
Well, there is already work that we do to support productivity, obviously, but what I'm suggesting to you is that we need to make sure that we do as much of that as we possibly can. So, that's why one of those five short turnaround reviews—and this will…
