Ken Skates: Can I thank Russell George for his questions? Details concerning some of those questions are contained in the documents, but I do appreciate that the Member won’t have had an opportunity as yet to be able to delve deeply into those consultation documents, so I hope I’ll be able to answer each of your queries here today. First of all, I’d like to deal with the last point that the Member...
Ken Skates: Thank you, Presiding Officer. On 22 August, I wrote to Members about the outcome of the consultation exercise that ended on 31 May about the future of local bus services in Wales. As I explained in my letter, the consultation was part of the ongoing dialogue between the Welsh Government, local authorities, bus operators and, most importantly, passenger groups about how we can better design...
Ken Skates: Whilst I am pleased that the headline results appear to overwhelmingly support my outline proposals for improving local bus services in the longer term, I am conscious that some bus operators continue to have reservations about the potential for the introduction of bus franchising in Wales. I have asked my officials to continue to work with local authorities and with bus operators in Wales to...
Ken Skates: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Can I start by thanking all Members for their contributions, and especially the Member for Llanelli for bringing forward this debate today? I wanted to begin my contribution by also thanking Lee for the discussions that we and other Members have had over the last few months around this issue. We may not have always agreed, but I have appreciated the...
Ken Skates: I think it is important that all Members are kept fully abreast of developments in regard to Ford Bridgend, and I do pledge to make sure that regular updates are offered to Members and, as I said to Suzy Davies, a cross-party group may well be the most appropriate time to meet with other Members of the working group and to explore some of the opportunities as they are developed further. You...
Ken Skates: And the Member is absolutely right. The working group is keenly looking at opportunities that the city deal presents and that other investment structures that are part of the UK industrial strategy, for example, are also able to offer. The industry is changing rapidly and investments in future products are determined by investment cycles. New products are likely to be based on emerging...
Ken Skates: Can I thank the Member for his questions and for the passion with which he asked them? He is wholly committed to the workforce of Ford in Bridgend, as is the local Member and others in this Chamber, and I’d like to congratulate him on seeking and securing that meeting in London, which I think, in terms of the briefing that he’s offered to me, was incredibly productive. We knew that the...
Ken Skates: Absolutely. I’m very grateful to the Member for recognising the importance of the working group that’s been established in true social partnership between Welsh Government, Unite the union, Ford and the Welsh Automotive Forum. It will explore all options for the facility including new technologies in electric and hybrid engines. It will report back to me on a regular basis, and I give my...
Ken Skates: We are calling on Jaguar Land Rover to confirm that the move will not sacrifice jobs in Wales. The First Minister and I recently met with Ford and with union representatives to discuss the long-term future of the plant, and I’m pleased to say a working group will explore all possibilities for the facility.
Ken Skates: I would agree entirely that the Welsh public would expect nothing less of us, and that will certainly happen. I’d just like to also address a number of points raised by Vikki Howells, Dawn Bowden and David Melding, and also Jeremy Miles. Both Vikki Howells and Dawn Bowden raised the important point that the metro must be a piece of infrastructure, a public service, that spreads...
Ken Skates: Yes.
Ken Skates: I do, but I would insist again that it was because of the risks that those larger banks, particularly on the other side of the Atlantic, were taking—that led to the financial crash, and we should learn from that. I doubt that many Members in this Chamber would support any approach that leads to an operator maximising profit at the expense of reinvesting that money in the Welsh network. So,...
Ken Skates: Thank you, and thank you to all Members for your contributions today, and especially to members of the Economy, Infrastructure and Skills Committee for their report and the very welcome scrutiny that the committee has given to this important matter. I’d also like to place on record my thanks in particular to the Chair of the committee, who I believe has led an excellent exercise in an...
Ken Skates: The Member is absolutely right, and this point has been raised on numerous occasions during the course of putting together the consultation document that resulted in a good number of taxi firms agreeing that there should be a fair contribution. As tempting as it is to wade into the current disagreements, especially given the tribunal result last year, I haven’t seen the judgment—and this...
Ken Skates: Well, we still do not know precisely what led Transport for London to reach the decision that it reached, so it wouldn’t be necessarily the proper thing to do to actually reach a decision in the way that the Member has asked. However, I have recently consulted on reforming the law in relation to the licensing of taxis and private hire vehicles, which will include the introduction of...
Ken Skates: Local authorities are responsible for licensing taxis and private hire vehicles in their local areas, and as part of the public transport system, the safety of passengers must be paramount. It would not be appropriate to comment on this case, but we will be tracking developments in readiness for the transfer of responsibility for licensing, which is expected in early 2018.
Ken Skates: Can I put on record my thanks to Members of Parliament in the Wrexham area, Clwyd South, and also across the border—I’ve met with Owen Paterson on a number of occasions—for pursuing a campaign to see the dualling of the Shrewsbury to Ruabon route? It is an ambitious campaign, but one that I think demonstrates the need and the appetite for improvements in north-south travel on a...
Ken Skates: Can I thank Hannah Blythyn for her questions? I do recognise the need to ensure that the metro vision extends right across the entire region and to communities within the constituency of Delyn. I take the point regarding the title of the corridor proposal, and now that I’ve been able to announce that it is the red route that will be taken forward, I think we can revise the naming of the...
Ken Skates: Can I thank the Member for her questions? The people of Aston Hill, Queensferry, Shotton, Saltney, Ewloe and Broughton I think will be very surprised that UKIP were so keen to support the blue route, because there is no doubt that the blue route would have impacted on the quality of life of a huge number of people. Even when completed, even when widened, it would have still led traffic up a...
Ken Skates: Can I thank Dai Lloyd for his questions and his comments? Bus reforms have been consulted on already, in the last 12 months. That consultation took place at the start of this year and ended in May. We’ll be taking forward, based on the consultation, a further piece of work in the spring of next year, which could, in turn, inform provisions within potential future legislation, but it is a...
