6. Will the First Minister make a statement on the activities of the steel task force since the dissolution of the fourth Assembly? OAQ(5)0032(FM)

Yes, I know this is, of course, an issue that is of huge importance to the Member and his constituency, but I will be providing an update a little later on the floor of the Assembly on Tata Steel generally and on the work of the taskforce during my oral statement.

I thank the First Minister for that answer, and I will wait to hear some of the points, but one of the issues I want to highlight is the fact that, since the announcement in January of over 1,000 job losses, 750 of which were in my constituency, in Port Talbot works, we have seen most of those jobs actually go, and at the end of this month the remainder of those jobs go. Now, the earlier parts have been through voluntary redundancy or early retirement approaches, but there are going to be compulsory redundancies in the next bunch of job losses. I just want to know whether the taskforce is now preparing for those job losses to help those people who are going to be out of a job, and particularly their families, who’ll be facing challenging times ahead of them in the coming months.

We are very much aware, of course, of the need to support those who have lost their jobs as a result of the announcement that’s already been made. And I will deal with that as part of the statement, if I may.

First Minister, in the previous taskforce minutes I noted that Nick Bourne had offered to create a seminar on the dumping of steel so that the steel companies could come together to discuss those possibilities. I personally feel that that is more pertinent than ever considering that we’re hearing a lot of blatant mistruths from some quarters in this Assembly with regard to the dumping of Chinese steel. Is that particular seminar going ahead, and if it is, can you tell me what will happen with that seminar and who will be involved so that we can have a national discussion at a crucial time, before the European vote?

I’m not aware of the seminar, but I will write to the Member with more details about that. She does raise, of course, an important point, and that is fairness in the market. It wasn’t the European Commission that vetoed the idea of tariffs, it was the UK Government—something that I believe they now regret. Other Governments have done this; there’s no reason then why Europe shouldn’t do the same. All we’re looking for, of course, both her and me, and, of course, the Member for Aberavon, is fairness for our steelworkers.