Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:16 pm on 22 November 2016.
Thank you for that detail. I’m raising this now because worried steelworkers have come to me very recently to say the company, as you have said, are in the process of employing staff at Port Talbot—although they quoted to me 200 to 250. So, it would be good if we could have a breakdown on that. You know that they obviously declared the cuts of 750 workers earlier this year. Staff want to know if this extra recruitment is being done for safety reasons, as many of them continue to be concerned about safe staffing levels in light of the announcements that were made earlier this year. I have previously raised these concerns with you and with other Ministers and I know that much of it is down to confidence, we’ve been told, by the trade union and by Tata. But, as you will understand, nothing should compromise safety under any circumstances.
You said in your reply to me that there are going to be agency staff that are going to be employed. I was wondering if you could tell me if any of those who are going to be employed are former full-time Tata employees, because of course many of them are concerned that they are not being prioritised in this process that is currently being undertaken by Tata. Are you aware of that? What discussions are you having with them so that we can make sure that any employment in that area is sustainable employment?