Thank you, and that’s very concerning to hear that you weren’t even advised of this announcement. The announcement, of course, of the closure and sale of Brecon barracks, Sennybridge storage compound and Cawdor barracks will cause significant uncertainty in Mid and West Wales and beyond. These are areas that have a long and proud military tradition. There’s been a barracks in Brecon since 1805, and soldiers from the barracks have served in every armed conflict since the start of the nineteenth century. Closing these military bases is a huge cause of sorrow and it is devastating to the families who’ve been based there over past decades that these well-loved facilities are going to be sold off. This announcement will cause huge uncertainty for our army families and these closures will have a wider social and economic impact in both Pembrokeshire and Powys.

The defence Secretary said yesterday that his department will work with the devolved administrations to boost local economies in the light of this announcement, and I’d like to ask what provisions will be put in place to assist civilian and military employees who can’t be redeployed from these bases in rural areas, which already suffer with low employment prospects. I wonder if he could enlighten us as to whether he will be writing to the Minister responsible to ask how they intend to put forward this co-operation that they announced yesterday they were going to implement.

The defence Secretary also said yesterday that all the money generated from land sales from the sale of these sites will be invested back into meeting the needs of the armed forces. Whilst this, of course, is welcome news for the armed forces, has the Minister made any calculation as to how much money will be lost to rural Wales as a result of this announcement? The UK Government has also made much of releasing publicly owned land on which to build new homes. Will the Cabinet Secretary outline if it is the intention in Wales, also, to build homes on these sites?