, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Manufacturing in Wales: Evidence session 1 - Minister for Economy
There we are. But I just—. The point about the previous industrial revolution, I think some of those changes—working week, life expectancy—came around through other things as well. Organised labour, I think, was really important in helping to deliver some of…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Manufacturing in Wales: Evidence session 1 - Minister for Economy
I'd be delighted to see a successful cricket bat manufacturer in north Wales. There are challenges around that.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Manufacturing in Wales: Evidence session 1 - Minister for Economy
Very much so. So, I've protected not just the budget for foundational economy activity, but we're moving forward in what we're looking to then do. And actually, this area we're discussing, though, will have an impact in the foundational economy too. And I…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Manufacturing in Wales: Evidence session 1 - Minister for Economy
You might see a summit that involves businesses. I don't think you'll see what we would describe as a social partnership summit with the current iteration of the UK Government, so—. I think I am quite charming and persuasive sometimes, but there are limits to…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Manufacturing in Wales: Evidence session 1 - Minister for Economy
Well, there's always politics when you call for a summit and you're going on a trip abroad and you want people to see what you're doing. I accept that; that's the same with people in any party occupying Downing Street. I recognise that. Part of the challenge…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Manufacturing in Wales: Evidence session 1 - Minister for Economy
Look, there are obvious risks in deploying a new technology in any form, actually, but I don't think that it's helpful to have someone conjuring up images of a Terminator-style future. I don't think that that's very helpful at all. The risks also come with…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Manufacturing in Wales: Evidence session 1 - Minister for Economy
Well, I think that it refreshes and makes it clear about what we are looking for from them, and how Welsh Government resources will be used around this as well—clarity in the thinking about what we think is important, and, actually, clarity about investment…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Manufacturing in Wales: Evidence session 1 - Minister for Economy
Well, what informed the content of the plan was discussions with the sector themselves—so, businesses, trade unions, our key stakeholders—and also the reality that the context had changed. When the manufacturing action plan was originally designed and…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Manufacturing in Wales: Evidence session 1 - Minister for Economy
I think our competitive advantage for the future rests on a number of things. It rests on the fact that we already have a base. We have businesses that exist, we have a significant workforce, about 150,000 people, and it's a larger part of our economy than…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Manufacturing in Wales: Evidence session 1 - Minister for Economy
It's still me, Vaughan Gething, Minister for Economy, and to my left—.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Post-EU regional development funding: Minister for Economy
And if you don't want us to spend money on broadband infrastructure, that's fine as well, Sam, but in these areas we think that we are better off in having a conversation, in understanding what's devolved and we're responsible for. And in free ports, we came…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Post-EU regional development funding: Minister for Economy
Look, doesn't this come back to what's devolved and what isn't, Sam? So, the UK Government should spend money in every part of the UK; it's got reserved responsibilities for every corner of the United Kingdom. What's been devolved has been determined by…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Post-EU regional development funding: Minister for Economy
Well, the former EU framework set out a series of themes about where you could spend the money and how you could spend it. The design of the areas in which you can spend that money you'd need to have engagement with the UK Government on, but then it should be…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Post-EU regional development funding: Minister for Economy
Yes, I think there should be a budget that comes here that we then make choices on with our partners—
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Post-EU regional development funding: Minister for Economy
Look, in coming out of the European Union—and that's a choice that's been made—in having a new approach to what were structural funds, I think you'd need to have some overarching approach. And given that we're not in the EU, that would come from a UK…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Post-EU regional development funding: Minister for Economy
Actually, that isn't what they've said to me. They've been very clear that they recognise there's a problem with the money.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Post-EU regional development funding: Minister for Economy
I love my family, but they don't always agree with me, and sometimes they'd say that's because I'm wrong. So, it's not about saying that you can't improve what you have, but it is about, overall, whether it makes more sense. And the challenge then is, in that…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Post-EU regional development funding: Minister for Economy
Well, I don't have any problem in actually looking at what you can do to improve the way you make decisions, and the requirement for information, and how that's monitored and audited. In saying that we had a better deal with the previous way that structural…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Post-EU regional development funding: Minister for Economy
I think, positively, it's reinforced what stakeholders here in Wales valued in the sense of having the ability to work with a Government that's got a national view, but wants to share decision making regionally as well. It's reinforced the fact that people…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Post-EU regional development funding: Minister for Economy
In what sense?
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Post-EU regional development funding: Minister for Economy
I think, actually, the proponents of a universal basic income—and I appreciate we're straying off not just my ministerial responsibilities, but the subject—actually, a UBI, if you want to run a pilot, I understand the argument that says, if you do that…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Post-EU regional development funding: Minister for Economy
Well, if you look at the pilot we're running on universal basic income, you're actually looking at a group of people who have very, very poor outcomes in life. We spend lots of money on people through the care system and we don't buy great outcomes for those…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Post-EU regional development funding: Minister for Economy
Yes, because that just doesn't address the point about need. It's why having a whole-population effect, so that everywhere gets something—. Not every area has need. When I think about my constituency, part of my constituency, the southern arc of Cardiff, is…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Post-EU regional development funding: Minister for Economy
Yes. Look, those two local authorities still have to go and have entirely separate bidding processes. They both have got something out of the levelling-up funds. The five local authorities that haven't are Flintshire, the Vale of Glamorgan, Monmouthshire…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Post-EU regional development funding: Minister for Economy
I think there are three things. The first is the point that you've got a devolved policy context that we've been used to working in, and deliberately having something that cuts across that and deliberately ignores part of devolved policy making is unhelpful…
