Ken Skates: Can I thank John Griffiths for his questions? Of course, I'll have more to say with regard to the Ebbw link and the potential to stop at Newport when we announce the preferred franchise operator and development partner and when we take forward the metro planning. With regard to Bristol and connectivity on a cross-border basis, it's my view that we should be encouraging UK Government to work...
Ken Skates: I've met with the board. I've met at a political level and at an official level with leaders of local authorities and with chief executives. At an official level within Government, we're also engaged on a regular basis insofar as the projects are concerned within the growth deal bid, and it's my view that the ask for the establishment of a transport authority in the north would be very...
Ken Skates: I issued an update on this matter to Members on Friday. This is deeply disappointing news, and my sympathies go to those who are affected by the company's decision. I've asked my officials to establish a taskforce to ensure the best possible outcome for the workers affected by this corporate decision.
Ken Skates: Can I thank Suzy Davies for her questions, and can I thank Members across the Chamber for their keen concern regarding this dreadful news for very loyal and dedicated workers? All of our efforts within Government, and with stakeholders, now turn to supporting the award-winning workforce employed at the site who face a period of uncertainty over their future employment. I think we should also...
Ken Skates: Well, the Member is absolutely right that good connectivity, principally with London, given the size of the economy of London, particularly with regard to financial and professional services, creative industries and the services sector as a whole—. It's essential that we are better connected to that particular city. Many investors identify a two-hour time limit in terms of where they wish...
Ken Skates: Dai Lloyd is right to point to the Swansea bay tidal lagoon as a project that could offer, and should be offering, high-quality jobs. The whole point of the economic action plan is to drive up the creation of higher quality, better-paid, more secure employment opportunities. And I think the announcement by Virgin Media demonstrates why we (a) need to supercharge the industries of the future,...
Ken Skates: Can I thank the Member for her questions? Swansea has a fantastic future ahead of it. The progress that's been made locally in ensuring that it's a more attractive place in which to live, in which to learn and in which to invest should be admired by all. Indeed, I think Swansea sets the template for many other towns, cities and regions in Wales and the UK when it comes to place building and...
Ken Skates: The second Severn bridge is a UK Government asset. The UK Government wrote to inform the First Minister of the name change in 2017; the First Minister did not object to the proposal.
Ken Skates: No. Do you know what—it's not just myself, it's people out there—find really depressing sometimes about this place is the lack of relevance to their lives? The Member could have asked a question about hundreds of jobs that have been lost in the region he claims to represent recently. A question could have been tabled on unemployed people. No, it was about the naming of a bridge. Not just...
Ken Skates: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. The people of Wales look to this Chamber for relevance—relevance to their lives, relevance to their jobs, relevance to their communities—and instead we have people in self-indulgent debate on the naming of infrastructure. The answer to the question, I repeat, is 'no'.
Ken Skates: The Member knows that I'm not a royalist. The Member knows I'm a republican, but what this naming does is recognise the contribution that the Prince of Wales has made to Wales and the global profile that the Prince of Wales has. I think the Member's behaviour, once again, is pretty disgraceful: casting around aspersions, throwing around claims, without any evidence whatsoever. And, insofar as...
Ken Skates: Diolch, Llywydd. When I launched the economic action plan, I made it clear that I was introducing a new approach to deliver public investment with a social purpose in support of our national strategy 'Prosperity for All' and its five priority areas of early years, mental health, employability and skills, housing, and social care. Through the plan, we are building on the excellent progress we...
Ken Skates: Can I thank the Member for his questions? I'll start by saying that I think, perhaps, there is misunderstanding of what an action plan is about. We're not going to be prescriptive in addressing the productivity gap. As I said in my statement, this is about ensuring that we move from a position of Government being prescriptive and co-existing with business and co-existing with learning...
Ken Skates: Now, the Member asks, 'What is it all about?' It's about making sure that we drive investment with a social purpose, that we drive inclusive growth, and that we futureproof the economy. In order to drive inclusive growth, we've developed the economic contract. In order to drive up productivity, we have the calls to action, and each of those calls to action mirror the factors that are...
Ken Skates: Thank you. Can I assure the Member that the changes within the department had already taken place before the publication of the report that he refers to? And changes include the new way of working on regional economic development. Changes at a senior level, as the Member is aware, were made as well. We have new officers taking charge of business and regions who have been working relentlessly...
Ken Skates: Can I thank Jack Sargeant for his contribution? It was a pleasure to be able to join him at his recent jobs and prosperity summit and at the launch of the advanced manufacturing research institute, where we cut the sod, which will be a world-class research institute contributing something in the region of £4 billion in gross value added to the regional economy. I know that this is a...
Ken Skates: Can I thank the Member for his contribution and for generously welcoming the statement today? I'm very pleased, in particular, by his recognition of the public investment with a social purpose ethos that is right at the heart of the economic action plan. Investment clarity and simplicity was something that many, many business stakeholder groups called for. I'm pleased that we've responded...
Ken Skates: Can I thank Jenny Rathbone and recognise the difficulty of low salaries and also zero-hours contracts for the working population of her constituency and Wales as a whole? The fair work board will become the fair work commission, tasked with bringing forward recommendations and a clear definition of fair work by the spring of 2019. On an interim basis, we have adopted a definition of fair work...
Ken Skates: Well, multiplier effects are included in the action plan—
Ken Skates: It's one part of the economic contract, ensuring that we don't just see growth within a business in its own right but that we actually look downstream at the supply chain, at the impact that a business can have on the wider business community within any given area or within the sector as a whole.
