Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the questions. I think on your final point, there's a point that goes beyond trading-standards work and is more about public-facing accreditation to give people assurance. If you think about the way that—. On your point about solar panels, when I was genuinely young, growing up, on our house we had two solar panels. It was very, very unusual, yet now there's been a real...
Vaughan Gething: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. I'm pleased to publish the net-zero skills action plan today. The plan is an important first step in understanding the role of skills in making a just transition to net zero. Our net-zero ambitions include a better, fairer and greener future for us all. Skills are a key enabler to deliver on these ambitions, to ensure the transition is fair and that the most vulnerable...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the questions. Your point about innovation assets and the example of GCRE, the Global Centre for Rail Excellence, is exactly what I had in my mind, about something where the Welsh Government took a lead, made a choice and saw a gap where something did not exist and we had the potential to create something in Wales, and that's actually levered in money directly from the UK...
Vaughan Gething: Great. Thank you. Thank you for the two questions. I think, on your last point first, there's a recognition that clusters aren't just geographic; the clusters of industry sectors and how we draw people together and the connectivity between them as well—. You're right, you wouldn't expect aquaculture in the Cynon Valley necessarily to be a big deal, but it's a big opportunity for Wales when...
Vaughan Gething: I wouldn't say it'll fatally undermine confidence in the sector. I don't think it'll kill off everything that exists, but it will cause real damage—damage that is avoidable as well. But the problem is that choices that have been made at a UK level take that money out of the sector, and the deliberate design of the shared prosperity fund in particular was to exclude higher education from...
Vaughan Gething: On your final point, part of our challenge is that the three areas you mention have had new ideas, they've had a conference of lots of people, and capital has then gone into lots of those new ideas and it's been kept there. Part of our challenge in the way innovation funding works in the UK is that Oxbridge is one of the areas in the golden triangle, with some London institutions, where it...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the questions and comments.
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the questions.
Vaughan Gething: I heard much about about Finland yesterday, the leader of Plaid Cymru referred to Finland at length in his contribution, and of course we have taken an interest in the way that other countries, including Finland, have used innovation as a tool for national improvement and in a range of policy areas. Finland and other Scandinavian countries have had an explicit influence on the way that we've...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you for the long series of questions. I won't test the Deputy Presiding Officer's patience by giving a long answer to each of, I think the 10 different areas. Look, on the action and delivery plan, I'm expecting that that will be provided in a matter of months, and that should help us, as it's supposed to be a living document, to make sure that we do have milestones and measures within...
Vaughan Gething: We know that the traditional source of much of Wales’s investment in research and development—the former EU structural funds—is no more. We know that we will have less money to invest, and less control over how it is invested. Engagement with the EU over the Horizon Europe programme remains unresolved. But we do have positive relationships with EU regions through our ongoing involvement...
Vaughan Gething: Diolch, Llywydd. I welcome this opportunity to update Members on 'Wales innovates', our new innovation strategy, which has been co-developed with the Ministers for health and social services, education and Welsh Language and, of course, climate change. It was officially launched yesterday. Firstly, I'd like to acknowledge and thank the Plaid Cymru designated Members and their leader in the...
Vaughan Gething: I think it's fair to say that if you look at the free-ports programme in England, it's different to the one we have in Wales. The parameters for the bids are different—that's because we did eventually have a sensible conversation between the two Governments. I welcome what Samuel Kurtz said earlier about the fact that the Welsh and the UK Government have worked together. That wasn't without...
Vaughan Gething: I will.
Vaughan Gething: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. I'm grateful for this opportunity to update the Senedd on the free-ports programme in Wales. The Government is content to support the motion, subject to amendment 2. We want to be clear that we're not tied into a particular number of free ports, and I'll talk later on about that as well. I acknowledge Plaid Cymru's focus on the challenges faced by coastal communities...
Vaughan Gething: Formally.
Vaughan Gething: We have constructive conversations with UK Ministers. We don't always end up agreeing and we've not reached agreement on this point. I reiterate, and to conclude: we cannot support consent for this Bill. I therefore ask Members to withhold consent for this Bill and vote against the motion.
Vaughan Gething: I thank Members for all of the various comments and questions that have been raised in the debate. On the policy through the different trade deals, our disagreement with the UK Government is clear. And I respect and understand why both Mabon ap Gwynfor and Alun Davies made comments about that; that's not really the point in the sense of the vote today on the LCM, but we have not resiled from...
Vaughan Gething: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. I move the motion before us. I find it difficult in addressing, or disappointing in addressing, this motion, which relates to a Bill implementing the free trade agreements with Australia and New Zealand, that we are yet again having to discuss another case in which the UK Government is seeking consent from the Senedd to a Bill that contains concurrent powers for which...
Vaughan Gething: Funnily enough, I am aware of nappies being turned into asphalt. It's not just something that another relatively new parent would be interested in, given the Member has two young children in his house; I remember the days fondly, and not so fondly at various times, the reality of nappy changing. But there is an opportunity to think about how we can use products to turn them into something...
