1. Will the Minister provide an update on progress with regard to the Circuit of Wales? OAQ(5)0092(EI)

Yes. The Circuit of Wales is close to submitting a revised bid, following my challenge to them in July to ensure any support provided by the taxpayer is proportionate and fair. Once a formal bid has been received, I will provide a further update to Members.

Thank you, Minister. You will be aware of the significant cross-party support for the Circuit of Wales, with local authorities throughout Gwent, and many Labour Assembly Members, backing what this project can achieve. Do you recognise the enthusiasm and excitement for delivering this transformational infrastructure project, to demonstrate what Wales has to offer?

Yes, I do recognise the enthusiasm and support for the project. And, of course, I share the frustration of many about how long the project is taking. But it’s important to realise that this is a privately financed project, and the pace is not being driven by Government, nor is it in the control of Welsh Government. So, I would like to see a clear decision point by the company as early as possible in the new year. I can tell Members that, over the past few months, my officials have been working with the company, meeting with them on a weekly basis, and the company has confirmed that it has everything required of it from Welsh Government.

Cabinet Secretary, can I urge all appropriate support from the Welsh Government? This will be a wonderful project for Blaenau Gwent, Gwent as a whole and all of Wales, because the marketing potential would just be vast. You’ve chosen there a highly popular, innovative sport, really the sort of image we want to project—that Wales is open for new and exciting business.

I agree. The advertising potential or the advertising equivalent for major events is huge. We know that when we host major events, such as rugby, such as the Ashes, the focus of the world coming on Cardiff, and on Wales, is immense. And, for an area such as the Valleys, it would be incredibly valuable to have a regular raft of major events taking place there, promoting it, not just as an attractive place to visit, but an attractive place in which to work and live.

To follow on from the comments by the Member of Torfaen, there’s support across parties for this project, and on these benches too. I’m sure the Cabinet Secretary is aware of the reported financial difficulties facing Silverstone, with key figures in the Formula 1 sector questioning whether it will host the UK Grand Prix beyond 2026. Many of those same key figures in the sector are openly talking about the prospect of Wales hosting the UK’s Grand Prix, at the Circuit of Wales. Would you not agree with me, therefore, that it’s a fantastic opportunity to showcase Wales to the world, with the exposure that Formula 1 gets on an international stage, building on the fantastic sporting and global recognition of Wales, especially after the successful summer of sport we’ve had already?

I wouldn’t wish to comment on the current position of Silverstone. But, with regard to Formula 1, it is, of course, one of the biggest annual sporting events that takes place in Britain, currently at Silverstone. The Circuit of Wales team have assured Welsh Government that any potential future bid for Formula 1 would not require funding in any shape or form from Welsh Government. It would be an extraordinarily expensive major event to host, but one that would be pretty unprecedented in terms of automotive sport in Wales.

Can I acknowledge the interest the Cabinet Secretary is taking in this project, and the assistance he’s given to bringing it to the stage where it’s at now, and to re-emphasise the point, which Lynne Neagle made, that there is support right across this Chamber—certainly includes my own party—for this project?

Will he also acknowledge that the guarantee that is being sought is a commercial guarantee, for which the Government would be paid, and that it would actually be called upon only in extreme circumstances where, in due course, all the assets that are proposed to be built on the site will have been completed, and it would be, in a £380 million project, only a guarantee on £190 million, so there’ll be 100 per cent security, at a 50 per cent exposure? Given that it’s a commercial guarantee, for which the Government would get £3 million a year, that does counterbalance, to a great extent, the risk that the Government is being asked to take. And, therefore, I ask the Cabinet Secretary to give it the fairest possible wind.

And the Member is broadly right in his assertions. I think the figures have risen slightly, but, nonetheless, the actual return, provided that the circuit operates for the full duration, would return something in the region of £2.5 million in terms of the benefit-cost ratio for the taxpayer. So, the Member is absolutely right in that regard.

Just reflecting on what other Members have said, when I was Deputy Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism, I believe I might have hosted, but I certainly spoke at, an event on behalf of the Circuit of Wales, talking about the value of facilities of this type and major events in the automotive sector and indeed in extreme sport in promoting Wales. In terms of extreme sport, it’s playing an incredibly important role in promoting 2016 as the Year of Adventure and it will do so next year as well as the Year of Legends and in 2018 during the Year of the Sea.