Carwyn Jones: Our economic action plan clearly identifies the automation and digitalisation challenges that we face—the key strategic challenges and opportunities. Just to build on the answer I gave to the Member for Llanelli, we will be launching our enhanced smart innovation business support in April 2018 for manufacturing and design processes, and that will include support for businesses for...
Carwyn Jones: We do need cross-Government action, there's no question about that. I pay tribute to the Member and his huge interest in this, and he flags up an issue, a challenge, that we must meet in the future. I can say that groups across Welsh Government are already exploring the impact of technology and data on public service delivery. We obviously work with businesses. I know the Cabinet Secretary...
Carwyn Jones: Well, predictions of this sort are never straightforward, but we know that there will be a destruction of some jobs by new technology—that we have to accept. The question, of course, then is: can we then be a net creator of jobs through advances in technologies? Addressing challenges and opportunities presented by automation and digitisation is at the heart of our economic action plan.
Carwyn Jones: Well, I met with Irish Ferries yesterday, so I discussed with them their plans, and it is good, as I said earlier on, that they are looking to invest in new ships. But the Irish Road Haulage Association are very, very concerned about the potential for delay. They don't see border controls in terms of there being passport controls, but their concerns are: (a) will there be customs checks; and...
Carwyn Jones: There are two points there. One of the things that I was told yesterday is that it’s vital, of course, that there is no kind of delay in Holyhead, Pembroke Dock or Fishguard, but that it's also vital that we want to ensure that Dover also moves as swiftly, because so many goods go through Wales and England, and then to France from Dover, and the danger is that there will be a slow-down in...
Carwyn Jones: We are pressing the United Kingdom Government to ensure that Welsh ports, including Holyhead, will not be disadvantaged following Brexit. I discussed this with businesses in Ireland yesterday. It’s crucial that products and goods can be moved just as swiftly and seamlessly as before, and that the tariff arrangements must continue.
Carwyn Jones: That is right. There is a question with regard to what will happen to PGI and PDO, and whether there will be a British system. Will that system be on the same terms as the European system, and will it be recognised as such? It's important that we can ensure that we protect the fact that we have lamb, for example, of the highest standard. Welsh lamb is accepted in markets across the world,...
Carwyn Jones: Cheap food is code for undermining British farming. That's what it means, because if you're not prepared to support the farming industry, not even with tariffs, then you end up with the cheapest imports coming in and wiping out our farming industry. That's what will happen. It's simple economics and something that has not been properly explained by those who say, 'We'll just have cheap food...
Carwyn Jones: Well, I'm sure the leader of the Welsh Conservatives would agree with every word that the UKIP Member has said—[Interruption.] I doubt that somehow. CAP has been the method by which we have ensured that farmers are able to survive. It has supported farmers and supported rural economies and their social, cultural, environmental and linguistic development for many, many years. Is he now...
Carwyn Jones: For decades, EU policy frameworks have shaped the management of our land, underpinned patterns of food production, and supported farm incomes. Post Brexit, our primary producers will be more exposed to global markets and there will be greater friction in trading systems with significant negative consequences, for the sheep meat sector in particular.
Carwyn Jones: That is a wholly outrageous comment. Let me just educate him a little so he looks beyond his own nose. The third world is an old-fashioned and discriminatory description anyway. We talk of the developing world these days. Let me tell you, there was a hospital in Uganda in Mbale serving several million people—it had seven consultants serving all those people. You could have an endoscopy...
Carwyn Jones: Well, I can say the Cabinet Secretary has increased the oversight from us on actions to reduce the forecast in terms of the finances, and to ensure that 'services and patients are not adversely affected by the need to improve financial management'. We have said that. We expect the financial recovery actions to result in the health board meeting the revised forecast to the end of this year. We...
Carwyn Jones: Well, funding it, and at a level higher than England. That's what happens with the health service in Wales, making sure that the money is available for health and social care. We're seeing social care collapsing in England. We're seeing councils—Tory councils—declaring themselves bankrupt in England. So, making sure the money is there. Yes, there are challenges, and we know that, and...
Carwyn Jones: We have had questions of the Ministry of Justice that have not yet been satisfactorily answered. We have taken no decision on the sale of the land. I know of the representations that have been made. In some ways, the issue is bound up with the commission for justice, in the sense of what should a Welsh penal policy, or a Welsh sentencing policy as well, look like in the future. It's right...
Carwyn Jones: I'm not familiar with the case, but I will look at it and write back. I think that’s the proper way to deal with what the leader of Plaid Cymru has asked for. We are in agreement a lot this afternoon. I couldn’t agree more with what she said. Why would you take a service that is designed to rehabilitate offenders and try and make a profit out of it? There is no sense in that, and I...
Carwyn Jones: On the swift change, that is a matter, of course, for the UK Government, but we would urge them to follow the recommendations in the report. We've tended to focus on what this would mean for the courts, the probation service and also, of course, the issue of the jurisdiction, which has been well debated in this Chamber. But, of course, if we look at the justice system, we have to develop a...
Carwyn Jones: First, he's not correct in terms of what he's quoted the Minister as saying. Secondly, the health board has published a consultation, which contains various options—difficult, some of them; there is no question about that. But it's the health board's responsibility to come forward with proposals, and that's exactly what it has done. I have to say to the leader of the opposition: we have...
Carwyn Jones: I should have clarified that we are confident that the health budget will still balance overall, rather than the health board budget—just to make that clear. Look, all health boards across Wales have a duty to ensure safe and sustainable services. That means that they have to put forward suggestions for how that is to be done. I appeal to Members not to just oppose any changes as they...
Carwyn Jones: I should have welcomed our new Member as well—our youngest Member. I've done it personally, and I join the leader of the opposition in doing that. Can I say that the health Secretary has made it clear to the Hywel Dda board that the level of deficit is unacceptable? He's also been clear that difficult decisions are needed to ensure the future sustainability of health services in Hywel Dda....
Carwyn Jones: Well, I'm not responsible for what happens in London. I have discussed this in detail with Keir Starmer and, of course, I know that the Labour Party's policy changes according to the circumstances. But may I say that, as far as we are concerned, the best way for Wales to ensure that we have a prosperous economic future is to remain in the customs union and in the single market?
