Ken Skates: I would like to thank the Member for her question. I’ll quickly run through the timetable. We’re going to commence the procurement this summer; we’re going to award the operator and development partner for the franchise and metro by the end of this year; we’ll award the infrastructure contracts in spring 2018; the new franchise starts in October 2018 with the metro designed during...
Ken Skates: I’d like to thank Jenny Rathbone for her questions. We remain confident that there will not be slippage and that there will be a seamless transition from the current franchise to the new one. The consultation that has taken place has been in public, but we’ll also follow that up with a further consultation after we have been able to award the operator and development partner status. And...
Ken Skates: I’d like to thank Mark Isherwood for his questions and assure him, as I stated in response to Julie Morgan’s questions, that there will be improved access and services as a requirement of the operator and development partner, set out in the high-level outputs that include services and also access improvements for blind and partially sighted people, and people with additional sensory...
Ken Skates: I’d like to thank Hannah Blythyn for her question and, in particular, the interest that she shows in cross-border connectivity, along with other Members who have spoken today. We are determined to ensure that everybody has an opportunity to access their place of work or to be able to visit friends and family on public transport, whether they live in north Wales and are accessing those...
Ken Skates: I’d like to thank Vikki Howells for her questions. I’m pleased to be able to tell the Member and the Chamber today that it is my intention for Transport for Wales to be headquartered in the Valleys, not least to demonstrate our belief that the metro in south Wales should serve those communities that have often felt isolated. I think in terms of Beeching, the axe of Beeching was wielded...
Ken Skates: The National Transport Finance Plan sets out the measures we are taking to ensure that the Swansea bay region is connected via reliable modern and integrated transport network to other key agglomerations across Wales and beyond.
Ken Skates: We continue to recognise the importance of heavy industries to the economy of the whole of Wales and our priority remains to develop and strengthen its future.
Ken Skates: Inclusiveness is at the heart of our approach to City Regions. Their purpose is not just to ensure that our major cities become drivers of growth and opportunity, but that we also deliver the alignment, collaboration and joined-up thinking that allows growth and opportunity to be spread across Wales.
Ken Skates: Our actions supported over 40,000 jobs last year and nearly 150,000 jobs in the last Assembly term. Our increasing employment rate is outperforming all other parts of the UK and we have seen major employers like Aston Martin and TVR announce the creation of high quality jobs in Wales.
Ken Skates: Yes. Thank you. Work is under way to set up Creative Wales, a body that will back home-grown talent in the creative industries. The success story of the creative industries in Wales is one we want to build on, and we are establishing this new body to drive further growth in the sector.
Ken Skates: Yes, indeed I will. And the Welsh Government’s ongoing commitment to the media investment fund, and to Pinewood, I’m pleased to say, will not be affected by the EU referendum result. Now, my Creative Europe team is already in discussions with the UK Government and major production houses to maximise the opportunities and to minimise the challenges that leaving the EU creates. Wales has...
Ken Skates: Yes, absolutely, and the Welsh Labour manifesto did indeed contain a pledge to do exactly that, through the form of a social prescription, alongside the establishment of a Wales well-being bond that seeks to direct funding to those activities that prevent ill-health and help treat people who are suffering particularly mild forms of mental illness. Now, it’s my belief, with regard to the...
Ken Skates: Yes. We operate three main schemes to support tourism projects: the tourism investment support scheme, otherwise known as TIS; the regional tourism engagement fund; and a tourism product innovation fund. These are pan-Wales schemes. The Welsh Government also looks to access various EU funding streams available to support tourism in Wales.
Ken Skates: This is an excellent project that the Member highlights, and it fits well with the project that the Welsh Government is undertaking through Visit Wales to promote our heritage. The Member will be aware of the Cadw sites that were illuminated in red during the course of the European tournament recently, and we are keen to ensure that heritage is at the centre of our offer for visitors to...
Ken Skates: Yes. As I mentioned to Suzy Davies, there will be available funds for the next financial year, which will be available during 2017. The project that the Member raises today sounds a very innovative one; it’s something that I’m sure the destination manager—. I would advise the organisation that’s behind the initiative to actually make contact with their destination manager, because...
Ken Skates: The Member’s absolutely right; canals are vital for the tourism industry in Wales. I know that because the busiest of all canals in Britain runs through my own constituency—the Llangollen canal. And they are particularly attractive to foreign visitors, and we now have a record number of foreign visitors coming to Wales, spending a record amount here. I’d like that to continue. The point...
Ken Skates: This is an issue that I am working on principally with the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government, who is responsible for local taxes. It’s important that we continue to support indigenous businesses in every way that we possibly can, including through tax cuts. My party had a pledge to ensure that there are tax cuts for small businesses in Wales; we intend to carry through that...
Ken Skates: If they’re not paying taxes at the moment, they wouldn’t benefit from a tax cut, so it’s only for those businesses that are currently paying tax—they will experience that tax cut. Those that don’t pay tax at the moment will continue not to pay tax.
Ken Skates: Yes, it will provide that tailored business support that the Member talks about in addition to funding. Our preferred option is a hybrid model that seeks to lever in additional investment and to work in partnership with other stakeholders. I am pleased to be able to tell the Member today that Finance Wales is committed to submitting a fully costed business plan for the development bank to...
Ken Skates: Can I thank the Member for his very kind, genuine and sincere comments and offer my congratulations to him on his election and his appointment as a spokesperson? I don’t have the details to hand today on that particular piece of infrastructure, but I would be pleased to be able to submit information to all Members in the form of a written statement.
