Vaughan Gething: There are a couple of different points I think that we should make. There is the fact that because replacement funds have not been made available, we are over £1 billion down over three years; that's a matter of fact, not opinion. That directly affects research, development and innovation funding. That's, again, an inescapable fact. When it comes to improving the return for Wales from UK...
Vaughan Gething: We are using our skills, business support and economic development levers to help create and safeguard good-quality employment and to help improve progression opportunities. This supports our efforts to increase gross disposable income per head as part of our economic mission and our approach to a well-being economy here in Wales.
Vaughan Gething: I'm not sure that we need a deep dive, but what I did do at the start of this term, in work that I commissioned Jonathan Portes to do for the Welsh Government, was to look at a range of our challenges and factors. It includes both the reality that, as the Member has said, in some parts of Wales we're seeing a population move away from those areas. That's a big challenge in making sure that we...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you. The levers to tackle cost increases for businesses, interest rates for borrowing, taxation of windfall profits and regulation of the market lie squarely with the UK Government. Our priority is to support businesses to decarbonise and save, and we look for opportunities to help them to do so.
Vaughan Gething: There is particular support available through Business Wales, and some of the energy efficiency advisors look at what might be possible for those businesses, because it will vary from one business to another. I recognise the point the Member makes about off-grid businesses and their energy costs as opposed to those businesses seeing energy cost increases who are on grid as well. It also...
Vaughan Gething: Well, we do certainly recognise that pubs are an important part of community life, not just as businesses employing people, but giving places a sense of place as well. And I've recognised again the way that pubs have been highlighted today and the brewing businesses have come up on more than one occasion in this set of questions: the challenges of raw material increases, the challenges of...
Vaughan Gething: Yes. I expect to launch our net-zero skills action plan in early 2023, and no later than the end of February 2023.
Vaughan Gething: Yes, I'm happy to confirm about some of the challenges that we needed to take on board. As you've seen, during the year, there have been a number of different events. It was our expectation that we would accomplish it within this financial year, we then had to deal with the shocks that have come at various points in the year, not just the autumn, but we then, as we'd reached the autumn and...
Vaughan Gething: Well, I should just make the point that, in responding, I won't be making any kind of indication about the free ports and the competing bids. It was mentioned in the question, and I just want to make that absolutely clear. However, my officials are reviewing the bids, together with UK Government officials, as the bidding deadline has finished. But I think you're right to point out that this...
Vaughan Gething: The Welsh Government continues to have discussions with a range of partners in supporting the cultural, sporting and business life of the capital city, which already contributes to making Cardiff a vibrant and attractive destination, both today and into the future.
Vaughan Gething: I should note that I have to answer in very broad terms, given that this is in my constituency. I can't have ministerial discussions on this particular point, but I certainly do take up the opportunity to talk with the council and other partners about this and other areas of interest within the great and glorious constituency of Cardiff South and Penarth.
Vaughan Gething: Welsh Government continue to work collaboratively with Newport City Council and the Cardiff capital region to help build a strong economy in Newport and the surrounding areas.
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the question. I recognise what the Member had to say about Jayne Bryant. Nexperia is, of course, in her constituency, but I recognise the Member will have a number of constituents who work there as well. I had the opportunity to meet a group of staff from Nexperia in a meeting hosted by Jayne Bryant, and I know other Members took the opportunity to drop in to listen to them too....
Vaughan Gething: Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. The Welsh Government has consistently highlighted the importance of harnessing science, research and innovation to address societal challenges. To meet these and capitalise on opportunities, we need a coherent, co-ordinated and collaborative approach. A new innovation strategy for Wales is being developed in line with our commitments in the co-operation agreement...
Vaughan Gething: Critically, a small nation cannot have strength in depth right across the board. We can, however, point to clusters of technology in Wales that lead their field. The south Wales compound semi-conductor cluster is one. Combining industrial excellence and world-leading research, this cluster delivers the components that make our modern world work. Today, I confirm our clear ambition for Wales...
Vaughan Gething: I'll just deal with what I was modestly confused by, almost as if Wylfa and Trawsfynydd were on the same site in some of the points. The Traws site is an obvious candidate for the proposal we're talking about today, but in moving forward with the business plan, it will be site agnostic. Trawsfynydd has a nuclear licence for development, the other site being Wylfa, but we'll need to look at...
Vaughan Gething: There are a couple of specific questions. On the £18 million by the end of this Senedd term, we've yet to pass the budget we've just laid in draft form, and of course that's got to go through scrutiny and a final vote. We then have other budgets, and of course we'll look to the future of research funding in those future budgets. It all depends on not just the overall settlement the Welsh...
Vaughan Gething: I think the two detailed questions are actually around some of the points that we're looking to address in both the technical specifications around what we'd want to do on the site, but then the broader call for people to be involved not just in the creation of a radioisotope production facility, likely to be in north-west Wales because of the likely candidate sites, but what that then means...
Vaughan Gething: Actually, the cyclotron at Cardiff University that provides the PET scanners in Cardiff was one with which we had a particular problem. So, our challenge is, right across the UK, we don't produce enough. We significantly import those as it stands. And for all the potential of cyclotrons, we don't think—. The advice that I'm being given, the base on which we're planning, is that that isn't...
Vaughan Gething: One of the challenges is the fact that there is a short shelf life for these products. It was one of the concerns about a 'no deal' Brexit. I had to go through, I think, three different iterations of 'no deal' Brexit planning, and as well as challenges for pharmaceutical suppliers and a whole load of other things, radioisotope supplies were always near the top of the list as to what would...
