Vaughan Gething: Our shared vision for retail was launched in June, and it marked the start of a broader and deeper conversation with the sector. The Wales retail forum, made up of partners from business and the trade union side—and I'm sure that the Member and others have had the opportunity to see one of those partners, USDAW, in the launch of their Freedom from Fear campaign—have been working together...
Vaughan Gething: I think tidal energy has significant opportunities for Wales. Again, it's not just the power generation, but it's an area where there is a new technology and a new form of economic activity being developed, and I want to see Wales at the very leading edge of that. Of course, we've already invested £59 million of former structural funds to help progress matters in this area. There is more...
Vaughan Gething: I have regular conversations with my friend and colleague the Minister for Climate Change. We fully realise the economic benefits of proposed offshore energy projects in north Wales; this is significant for the whole of Wales. It is my responsibility to ensure that we try to maximise these opportunities for Wales, including those opportunities within the Celtic sea.
Vaughan Gething: I think, actually, the pandemic made things harder. I think it saw a retrenchment back in many family and community groups where women took on more of the caring role and less of the economic activity role. That's taken us back. In my own family, we had real challenges at the time with home schooling, but it was part of my job to do some of that as well. I couldn't simply say, 'My job is more...
Vaughan Gething: I regularly reflect back on my time before coming to the Senedd, and the groups of people that I represented, including lots of women in equal pay claims, and understanding that, even in organised workplaces there are inequalities in pay outcomes, and some of those are structural and are about discrimination within the pay system. And then you have the broader challenge, of course, that...
Vaughan Gething: I set out a range of actions within the employability and skills plan to maximise fairness and eliminate inequality. This includes improving labour market outcomes for women.
Vaughan Gething: The cost-of-living pressures are significant right across the night-time economy and the broader visitor economy, hospitality; any area where discretionary spend is involved is under pressure. It's the pressure from those businesses and their own costs, of course, so the energy costs and the inflation that we've seen go up again today to over 11 per cent, and it's worse than that in some...
Vaughan Gething: I understand there are real issues about whether people feel safe when areas are not well lit. I understand that's a particular concern for women and whether they feel safe or not, especially if they feel that they are being followed or someone is nearer to them than they should be, and it isn't just the recognition of the issue, it's then what gets done about it, and the challenge of working...
Vaughan Gething: We use our levers and influence to promote fair work across our economy, but only the UK Government has the powers to improve statutory workers' rights and their enforcement. We do, though, repeatedly raise these issues with the UK Government.
Vaughan Gething: The freeports discussion was difficult, but it did ultimately conclude in agreement between the Welsh Government, with our responsibilities, and the UK Government. It's a model where there's shared decision-making responsibilities between equal decision makers, and the good thing about that is it moved on from a very unfortunate and unproductive scale of shouting, saying, 'It's all the Welsh...
Vaughan Gething: I will continue to press the case with whoever the latest Ministers are with responsibility for this. The return of Michael Gove to the department of levelling up may mean that we don't have a significant delay in doing so, but it was supposed to be the case that within three months of submitting their plans, local government would then have answers from the UK Government. But actually, it...
Vaughan Gething: The UK Government has put local authorities across all parts of Wales under immense pressure to try and make a success of a botched scheme beset by delays, inadequate funding and impossible deadlines. I have repeatedly raised these issues with a succession of UK Ministers and will continue to do so.
Vaughan Gething: It's undeniable that the failure to get the previous Wylfa option with Hitachi over the line has created a challenge. There's lost economic benefit, because otherwise, we would have seen significant activity already taking place. The people who did go through the skills training opportunity on the basis that there would be this development, they've still got work, but not all those people are...
Vaughan Gething: I recognise there are different views in this area. I'm very clear that, from my own point of view and the Government's point of view, future nuclear developments are part of the future energy mix, together with the significant opportunities we have around Wales, including of course off our coast as well as onshore, in energy generation. There is a challenge about baseload, but we're also...
Vaughan Gething: I don't think the two things are separate or mutually exclusive. Cwmni Egino are actually engaging in work with the NDA on decommissioning, and there's a significant amount of work that is being undertaken, and we do think the work that is being done there will give examples to other sites around the world in the decommissioning of nuclear sites. I don't think that prevents a new generation...
Vaughan Gething: Thank you. We welcome the commitment by Rolls-Royce to small modular reactors. Cwmni Egino is currently technology agnostic and is engaged in a market engagement exercise with a number of technology providers, including Rolls-Royce, to identify a preferred SMR technology for the Trawsfynydd site.
Vaughan Gething: Well, that actually depends on choices that UK Ministers make, of course, in terms of some of the settings they make, but it also underscores why this development is important, and it does require us to work in partnership across a range of areas. And we're very clear, in our regular conversations with wider defence sector companies, but also ministerial colleagues in the UK Government, that...
Vaughan Gething: I think this is a good example of an area where, actually, the Welsh and UK Governments are able to do things constructively together. We're taking a lead on a range of the development areas, with the site itself, with some of the investment we even made in getting that ready. We need to work on what the future development partnership will look like. But we do know there will be opportunities...
Vaughan Gething: Thanks for the question. North Wales has a strong manufacturing base and is home to some of our most productive companies, not least in the aerospace and defence sector. We continue to support these businesses in their creation of high-quality, high-skilled and well-paid jobs, and that includes the plans we are leading on for the development of an advanced technology research centre, in...
Vaughan Gething: I think there were two questions there. There were a number of points that weren't questions, I think. But look, the reality is, in response to the constituency Member Rhun ap Iorwerth, I've made clear that, yes, we are working with local stakeholders, including elected representatives, including the council, including representatives from businesses that we know are being affected by a...
