Vaughan Gething: Our economic mission sets out our economic priorities and how we can help to make Wales a more resilient and prosperous nation. We are strengthening everyday sectors of the Welsh economy, together with a focus on supporting firms to innovate and diversify, speed up business decarbonisation, and invest in climate-resilient infrastructure.
Vaughan Gething: I can't give you figures off the top of my head for the two zones, but I'll be more to happy to respond to Members on both those points. But more broadly, if you look at Cardiff as an area, if you look at professional services, you have seen real growth and continued investment. I recently met a number of professional services firms with a UK and international footprint who already have a...
Vaughan Gething: We haven't been notified directly by the UK Government that they will proceed with what's been briefed about the potential to relax the rules for foreign students to work more hours. However, I'd say that the starting point is that we really do value international students who come to Wales—they enrich campuses, classrooms and the communities that they live in, both economically and...
Vaughan Gething: We remain fully committed to delivering the social, environmental and economic benefits of the Wrexham Gateway project. We are having urgent discussions with our partners to assess the impact of the UK Government’s decision not to support the Gateway in the latest levelling-up round of funding, and to identify alternative ways of delivering the benefits that the Gateway project could and...
Vaughan Gething: The allocation that we've already provided in 2021, the £25 million you mentioned, is still available. My officers met with the Wrexham Gateway partnership last week, following the announcement that the levelling-up funding bid had been rejected. Of course, it's disappointing that Wrexham and Flintshire didn't receive anything from the levelling-up bids. There are a range of projects that...
Vaughan Gething: We continue to work constructively with representatives for Wrexham. That's why we continue to engage in both the Wrexham Gateway project and indeed the shared discussions taking place on the broader Mersey Dee Alliance as well. I won't join the Member in celebrating the levelling-up fund round 2. There was an extraordinary delay in projects. The Member might want to consider whether...
Vaughan Gething: I'm having a range of stakeholder engagements within the next couple of months with businesses in the area. We've undertaken a review of the previous manufacturing action plan. We've shared a consultation with businesses around that. I look forward to taking part directly with business representatives over the next two months. Then, I will be more than happy to launch that and take questions...
Vaughan Gething: There are two things, I would say. The first is that I've given an indication of where we are in refreshing the plan, and it's not very far away at all. The idea that I don't have any idea is a misrepresentation—I'm sure, innocently—of the answer that I gave the Member. Actually, this morning, I was able to visit a manufacturing business in Pontypool with the leader of Torfaen, who was...
Vaughan Gething: Well, there are a number of things that I agree with the Member on, but there's also a point of contest between us about the environment that we're operating in, of course. So, I agree—innovation and global markets are key to the success of a range of manufacturing businesses. I was with the Member for Ogmore at the Sony site in Pencoed last week, looking at—. They're celebrating 50...
Vaughan Gething: Decisions on scaling high-street banking back in Wales are ones that rest with the major retail banks. I applaud the efforts being made by a number of people, including those in Denbigh, to retain a bank branch. The Welsh Government will continue working with the Monmouthshire Building Society to realise our ambition for community banking in Wales.
Vaughan Gething: Financial services are not a devolved matter. However we have an ambition to help improve access to local services, which is why we’re engaged with the Monmouthshire Building Society on a programme to try to regenerate community banking in a range of communities in Wales. I recognise that, within the over 100 closures across the UK, 12 of those HSBC closures will be in Wales. It’s part of...
Vaughan Gething: We're certainly looking to progress as quickly as possible, and that's the challenge, because the environment around this has changed. The environment in terms of the mortgage market is in a different place now, I'm afraid. We're likely to see a change in house prices over the next year, with a recession largely predicted. So, I'm meeting with my officials and Monmouthshire Building Society...
Vaughan Gething: The First Minister and I continue to engage with our key counterparts in the UK Government. I met with Ministers from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy last week, when I raised steel as an issue. We also engage with senior representatives of the steel sector in Wales, on both the business and trade union side. We continue to believe, in the Welsh Government, in the...
Vaughan Gething: Yes, I'll certainly do that. And it's not just about meaningful investment, but you're right to point out that the industry itself recognises that it needs to chart a path to decarbonisation for a sustainable future. But, to do that, we shouldn't simply collapse our own capacity within the UK and end up importing steel without understanding the carbon footprint of steel produced in other...
Vaughan Gething: I'm seriously interested in maintaining that capability within the UK, and that will exist here. The challenge is that the £300 million offer for Tata to equalise the £300 million offer to British Steel—they're actually different scales of operation. And actually, that's about moving towards electric arc production rather than maintaining an alternative form of blast steel manufacture....
Vaughan Gething: There are investment choices being made in Holland—it's not a secret—around hydrogen as an alternative to blast furnace technology there. The challenge is that, if we don't see action taken by the UK Government to engage in that conversation, because they will need to be a partner to make that work, then we would end up importing that steel from other parts of the world. Now, it doesn't...
Vaughan Gething: Yes. I'm very happy to carry on working together with my officials, and the company, and counterparts in the UK Government if we can find an answer for the sites in both Newport and Tredegar. We want to see the steel sector have a healthy future. If we can't generate and produce that steel ourselves, we will end up importing it from other parts of the world, with greater risk in terms of...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the question.
Vaughan Gething: We remain committed to supporting the aerospace centre. We continue to work closely with Gwynedd Council, the site operator and other partners to help attract investment to the site. We recognise its global potential to the space sector for Wales, and in attracting economic activity to rural Gwynedd.
Vaughan Gething: No, that's absolutely not the vision of me individually, or, indeed, the Government. We have seen over £3.5 million of public investment in the site since 2012. We also have seen a range of activity, including remotely-piloted aircraft systems and unmanned aircraft test and evaluation programmes as a result. We're looking for the leaseholders of the site to work with us in actually designing...
