Vaughan Gething: Well, you may have seen that the Financial Times today, again—not noted for being common travellers with the Labour Party—have done their own investigation into what's been happening with replacement European Union funds. There was a very clear pledge in the 2019 Conservative manifesto—I think it was page 44—that the nations of the UK would have at least as much in replacement funds...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the comments. I think there are two aspects. The first is Derek Vaughan is well respected across Europe, so it's a good appointment for us after an open and proper civil service appropriate recruitment exercise.
Vaughan Gething: As I was saying, Derek Vaughan was recruited properly and in line with civil service recruitment procedures, and I always say that the Welsh Government could do with a bit more Vaughan to make it more effective. On your broader point, though, about what has happened, I take the view that it doesn't matter how you voted now, the referendum happened and we've left the European Union. What does...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you. We have constructive conversations between officials and, indeed, with Ministers in the Department for International Trade. You may not have been listening, but I actually recounted, in answer to the first set of questions from Paul Davies, the constructive conversations we had at the ministerial forum for trade, and actually our desire to have further constructive conversations...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the two questions. I think I have outlined before the reality that agriculture has been used as a makeweight in new international trade agreements. And I don't think that's a fringe view; I think it's pretty impossible to look at the deals that have been done and not to come to those conclusions. That's a clear risk for the future of agriculture in every part of the UK, and that...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you. I think there's a couple of points to respond to there from the Member for Ogmore, and I certainly do agree—that's why it's in the statement. We do share values with European countries across the European Union: our democratic values; the fact that we accept election results, whether we like them or not; the fact that we have free and fair elections; the fact that all of us,...
Vaughan Gething: Yes. Over the last 12 months we have received significant interest on our development land at Parc Bryn Cegin. We are currently engaged with the local authority and a number of separate parties who have made or are looking to make offers to buy development plots at Bryn Cegin.
Vaughan Gething: Well, I can't give you an exact date on when the actual first job will be on site, because we're still having conversations with those partners and we can't surface all of those in public with named parties, but I've had an update from my officials and I think there is good cause to expect news in the not-too-distant future for jobs to go on that site. And, of course, the Member will be aware...
Vaughan Gething: Well, there's no suggestion that job opportunities have been missed out on with this site. We would have wanted to see more jobs placed on this site, but there's no evidence that jobs that would have come to north Wales haven't. I'm looking forward to having jobs on the site and to having good-quality jobs, and there are conversations with the north Wales economic ambition board and that's...
Vaughan Gething: Based on the Welsh allocation of this year's community renewal fund, which, as you know, is a forerunner to the shared prosperity fund, Wales could receive around £90 million from the shared prosperity fund in the next financial year. This plainly falls well short of the UK Government's repeated promises, including the specific manifesto pledge from 2019, to fully replace EU structural...
Vaughan Gething: Well, the Welsh Government has been very, very clear that the UK Government conduct falls far short of its repeated promises in a number of guises, and we're due to lose £1 billion. That's what Wales is going to lose over the next few years—£1 billion. And I don't see how any reasonable person could defend that, regardless of their politics. I don't think anyone came into this place to...
Vaughan Gething: Well, I should congratulate the Member. That is the first time that a Conservative Member in this place has said that it should not be acceptable that Wales loses money from the change from European structural funds. That's a very welcome statement. The trouble is the Chancellor's plan shows that Wales is undeniably going to lose money, moving forward, because the whole UK shared prosperity...
Vaughan Gething: I'd be more than happy to have a direct conversation with the Member about the future of Tech Valleys, about the challenges and the opportunities for the Heads of the Valleys area. Work, I know, is taking place between five local authorities on how to maximise investment and employment opportunities, because it is the area with the most concentrated disadvantage in the whole of Wales, and we...
Vaughan Gething: Our economic policies span all ministerial responsibilities, including those related to energy, housing and social justice. I continue to work with Cabinet colleagues to make sure that every pound available goes out to deliver for those who are at the sharpest end facing the Conservative cost-of-living crisis.
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the points and the series of questions. I think it's interesting, the point about wage growth, because even at the start of this week, there was a suggestion that we would see significant wage growth figures coming through, and yet the figures actually showed that wages had not kept pace with inflation. And I think the previous comments of the Governor of the Bank of England...
Vaughan Gething: Well, it depends where businesses are, in which sector they're operating, as to the particular pressures they've got, but everyone is going to face some of the challenges about the increases in energy prices, for example. So, there is a really significant challenge. As we're, hopefully, coming out of the emergency phase of the pandemic, businesses are looking from survival to the future, and...
Vaughan Gething: I completely agree, and I did see some of the report on Channel 4, and it was deeply upsetting, not just because of the people facing that position, because I know that I will have constituents in the southern part of the city of Cardiff who are equally facing really significant challenge in how they're going to meet their own household incomings and outgoings and are genuinely fearful for...
Vaughan Gething: We are investing £1.7 billion in the young person's guarantee over the next three years. Working Wales is the single gateway for access to the guarantee, including Jobs Growth Wales, Communities for Work Plus and apprenticeships. Working Wales is also trialling a new job-matching service to assist with securing employment.
Vaughan Gething: Yes. Well, we think we're going to lose about £1 billion up to the end of the financial year 2024, £1 billion that should have come to Wales to be spent in Wales, and, of course, previously, that Ministers here would have had responsibility for making those choices and we would have been accountable to Members elected to this Parliament for those choices. We know that money both isn't going...
Vaughan Gething: I'd be very happy to provide a further note to Members on this, because, actually, every time we have looked in the past, certainly in my membership of this place, we've actually found that apprenticeship outcomes for people in Wales compare very favourably with other parts of the UK, in particular across the border in England. You can find more people completing their apprenticeships and...
