, Plenary
Statement by the Minister for Economy: Policy Statement on Apprenticeships
I thank the Member for his comments and questions. When it comes to the budget envelope that we have, it's an undeniable reality: we have £1.3 billion less in our standard budget in real-terms spending power, which is more than the entire budget of Cwm Taf…
, Plenary
Statement by the Minister for Economy: Policy Statement on Apprenticeships
Dirprwy Lywydd, in our policy statement on apprenticeships, we have developed a strategic framework for the future of the apprenticeship programme. There is a focus on addressing the challenges that both individuals and employers face due to the impact of the…
, Plenary
Statement by the Minister for Economy: Policy Statement on Apprenticeships
Diolch yn fawr, Dirprwy Lywydd. The world of work is changing. Even in the last five years, the economic and social environment has changed significantly. Over the next two decades, there will be further change and the core competencies of a wide range of…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Minister for Economy - Tata Steel session
Thank you. Diolch yn fawr.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Minister for Economy - Tata Steel session
No. So, we've actually had correspondence from the chair of the enterprise zone this week, and so there is a conversation that is continuing with my officials about what they are looking to do and how that is part of the coherent whole. That's my point: it's…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Minister for Economy - Tata Steel session
The biggest intervention we're still working through is what's taking place with the free port, with the range of tax incentives that are going to be available there as well. So, it is about the successful delivery of that. I think trying to run almost a…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Minister for Economy - Tata Steel session
We're planning for the worst, but also arguing and fighting for the best deal for steel. I think it's more than hope.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Minister for Economy - Tata Steel session
There are three hypotheticals in there, at least. If both blast furnaces close before the end of the calendar year, before a general election, then we will see significant job loss within 18 months, and my priority would be how do we support people in this 18…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Minister for Economy - Tata Steel session
Absolutely. The turbines are often made of composite materials, so they're not 100 per cent steel, but the columns and the platforms are. So, you're going to need to make those somewhere, and, as I've said on more than one occasion, workers in Rotterdam have…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Minister for Economy - Tata Steel session
In a previous conversation, Tata have said that they think they make about 40 per cent of the materials that could go into floating offshore wind currently in Port Talbot. The challenge then is where is that, how much of it do they make, and how does it match…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Minister for Economy - Tata Steel session
The current remit is only set around Port Talbot. It isn't set up to deal with downstream business impacts. So, if it's going to expand its remit to other sites, then it's got to think about whether it has the capacity to do that in terms of people, whether…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Minister for Economy - Tata Steel session
We're doing that work anyway, regardless of the situation in Tata. That's what we're doing in our net-zero skills approach. We're trying to get a clear idea on the skills that will be required, what businesses are telling us they require now, what we might…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Minister for Economy - Tata Steel session
We need to understand the current skills and how those current skills actually match up to economic opportunities. Some work is being done. Neath Port Talbot are leading on a commission to look at a local economic action plan that will try to identify, within…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Minister for Economy - Tata Steel session
Yes. We've been clear that we don't think that the current sum on the table is enough, if the job proposals go ahead with the redundancy that's talked about. Our primary ask, though, is to look again at the proposals and the level of investment and the value…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Minister for Economy - Tata Steel session
Yes. And so the transition board is one thing, and the transition board isn't going to run in and sort of take control of all interventions and say, 'We are now in charge of everything.' That wouldn't work. It couldn't work either. There isn't the capacity in…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Minister for Economy - Tata Steel session
I think the mistake that is made in running this argument is that it's as if the transition board is the only intervention, whereas, actually, the transition board has to work alongside all those other interventions—
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Minister for Economy - Tata Steel session
And in that, we've worked constructively with Jobcentre Plus, who gave a presentation to the transition board as well about the likely jobs market in the area.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Minister for Economy - Tata Steel session
So, we've got our employability programmes—the support we roll out through ReAct+, through Communities for Work Plus—but it's also about what we do with apprentices. Now, I would expect Tata to honour the commitments they've made to apprentices, but we may…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Minister for Economy - Tata Steel session
No problem.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Minister for Economy - Tata Steel session
There's been a direct discussion—I raised it with them on Thursday, when the First Minister and I met with them, pointing out that Baglan has a gas connection and they would need to look at the amount of gas that could be generated, what that might mean and…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Minister for Economy - Tata Steel session
So, I've said on several occasions that I think the real economic impact would be north of 10,000 jobs, if these proposals go ahead. Having 10,000 jobs essentially lost or reduced in 18 months is a really significant impact. That's why I think that the £100…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Minister for Economy - Tata Steel session
It really does depend on the pace of the job losses as well as the scale of them. So, redundancies of this nature will leave a very long tail economically within the communities—I was rehearsing earlier. There is alternative work. There are alternative…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Minister for Economy - Tata Steel session
I think it’s the balance of capital investment compared to operational investment. So, the running costs: Tata have always been upfront with us; they don’t expect the Government to help them with their running costs. What they are looking for is a deal on…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Minister for Economy - Tata Steel session
There are a number of technical aspects to what might be possible. There's the capacity within the steelworks to actually roll and deal with the steel that's produced by whatever means. I don't want to get into using technical subjects as if I'm actually a…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Minister for Economy - Tata Steel session
That's been part of previous conversations, and, indeed, last Thursday, when the First Minister and I met with the Tata leadership, we went through this very question again. The First Minister was able to point out that he had been to a meeting with the Crown…
