[R] signifies the Member has declared an interest. [W] signifies that the question was tabled in Welsh.

I have accepted an urgent question under Standing Order 12.66. I call on Adam Price to ask the urgent question.

Will the Welsh Government make a statement on the outcome of recent talks between Tata Steel and unions over the future of its Welsh and British operations? EAQ(5)0097(EI)

Yes, I’d like to thank the Member for his question. I’d also like to thank the Presiding Officer for deferring this urgent question until this moment. This is a huge moment for steel in Wales and Britain. I welcome, as a very significant step, the announcement earlier this afternoon that steel unions have secured from Tata Steel a commitment to secure employment and production at Port Talbot and its other steel sites across the UK.

There can be no doubt at all that after an intensely difficult year, some degree of certainty, at least in the near term for steelworkers and their families, is very good news indeed, particularly at this time of year. ‘Crisis averted’ for the Welsh steel industry will be welcomed on all sides of the Assembly, but ‘crisis merely delayed’ would be a very different proposition and that’s why I’m sure many of us will want to study the detail of the outcome of the discussions between Tata Steel and the unions. In this regard, can the Cabinet Secretary tell us more based on what he knows about the proposal?

There is a 10-year investment plan promised, we understand, for Port Talbot and for the downstream sites, but only a five-year commitment for the retention of the two blast furnaces and through the employment compact. Is it true that the £1 billion investment plan is effectively self-funded by operations at Port Talbot, and if those targets for earnings are not met the investment would stop, which leaves us with the possibility that we could be back here having the same conversations in 2021? Surely, a 10-year investment plan deserves a 10-year commitment. Could he say what the status now is of the merger discussions with ThyssenKrupp? The principal advantage of the pension fund closure is its attractiveness to potential merger partners or to buyers.

On a broader level, could the Cabinet Secretary say whether he thinks it’s really intolerable for workers in any company to be put in this position, where they have to choose between their pensions and their jobs? Are we setting a dangerous precedent that other solvent companies would seek to exploit? Does he know if the proposal that steelworkers should work to 65 instead of retiring at 60 is back on the table? And, has Tata indicated to him what would happen if steelworkers rejected the pension proposals as they did almost unanimously last year? Finally, what confidence can we have in the board of Tata Steel, which, with the exception of the interim chair, is the very same board that only a few months ago enthusiastically embraced Cyrus Mistry’s plan for divestment and rejected the turnaround plan that it is happily now embracing today?

Yes, I’d like to thank the Member for his questions. I agree that this has been a very long and taxing year for all Tata employees, for their families and for the wider communities, and I’m pleased that the uncertainty is now over and that they can look forward to Christmas and face the new year with confidence and security. I’m going to be making further announcements in due course regarding the support that Welsh Government is able to offer Tata. Members may be aware as well that a statement has been issued confirming our support of £4 million towards the financial costs of implementing skills training interventions. It’s going to be matched by the investment being made available by the company and it most certainly demonstrates our firm belief in the future of steel production in Wales, and the competitive benefits brought by a competent, efficient and highly skilled workforce.

I give full recognition that details are still emerging for Members to digest, but I can assure Members that Welsh Government, Tata and trade unions have worked together relentlessly over the past eight or so months, and today we have taken the biggest step forward in decades in securing the long-term sustainability of steelmaking in Wales. I’ll be able to provide some detail of what is contained within the agreement. The deal that was secured includes a commitment from Tata Steel to secure jobs and production at Port Talbot and other steelworks—the other steelworks across Wales. This is an announcement that applies to all of the steelworks across the country.

Unions announced that significant elements of this commitment are a guaranteed five-year minimum commitment to twin blast furnace steelmaking and a commitment to invest in blast furnace 5 as part of a wider capital expenditure investment plan. It includes a jobs pact of equivalence to that agreed with Tata Steel in the Netherlands, which includes a commitment to seek to avoid any compulsory redundancies for five years. It includes a £1 billion, 10-year investment plan to support steel making at Port Talbot and secure the future of the downstream operations. The commencement of a consultation by Tata Steel on the closure of the British Steel pension scheme and the replacement of it with a defined contribution scheme, with maximum contributions of 10 per cent from the company and 6 per cent from employees, will begin in due course and there will be a ballot of members in the new year.

As far as I am aware, merger talks are continuing as they were with ThyssenKrupp, but the most important factor in today’s announcement is that it enables Port Talbot and steelworks across Wales to become even more competitive, to undergo transformation that continues to see them producing metal for many years to come. The best way to secure the long-term future of steel making in Wales is to make steel making amongst the most competitive anywhere on the planet, and that’s what today’s announcement and future announcements are going to be about.

Can I join you in welcoming this news today? Because, having spoken to the unions this afternoon, it’s clear that there are still some serious concerns amongst the unions regarding some of these proposals, particularly in relation to the pension scheme and the longer term aspects, but do you also agree with me now that this has to be supported by Welsh Government and UK Government investment? You’ve already indicated, I think—you just said, I heard—that you’re going to make some announcements, perhaps, towards that end. Will you also talk to Cabinet colleagues in Westminster to ensure they now honour some of their commitments of support for the steel industry? Tata’s announcement itself asked for support for the steel industry on some of the aspects. We need that for longer term investment.

When you, hopefully, will meet with Ratan Tata—I did call for you to do that earlier—I think it’s also important for you to get him to actually give an undertaking personally to the steel industry here in the UK, because Adam Price is quite right in what he said: there’s a lack of confidence in Tata’s commitments because of the last 12 months, and that has strained the relationship between the employees and the company. It is now important that that confidence is returned and, perhaps, personal commitments from Ratan Tata might help that process. I think it’s important we get that so that the commitments that have been made for five years, we have confidence they will be delivered, and that the 10-year, £1 billion investment is therefore likely to ensure that those commitments to the works will go ahead in the longer term.

Can you also tell me what discussions you might be having now with ThyssenKrupp to look at the merger proposals? We know from the previous reports about their consolidation considerations. This is a plan for five years; what’s their position in relation to the next five years? Will there also be an honouring of the Dutch commitments if a merger takes place? I think we need that.

I welcome the skills, because efficiency and productivity are the way forward, but we also need to look at how we get the markets and the procurement undertaken so we can get the competitiveness in delivering and actually selling the steel. So, will you also look at ways in which the Welsh Government can look at procurement to again ensure that the steel that is produced in Wales can be used in Wales whenever possible, and if not in Wales, discuss with your colleagues in Westminster that it’s used in England, Scotland and Ireland, so that we can get the best for our steel industry?

Cabinet Secretary, this announcement has lifted, to an extent—I use the words ‘to an extent’—the darkness away from many steelworkers and their families. They’ve been living through hell for the last 12 months, there’s no doubt about that. The communities around them have tried to support them, but there has been uncertainty, and that support, therefore, has been limited because of that uncertainty. What they want now and what we want now is certainty. I hope that this actual statement starts that process of certainty.

I’d like to thank the Member for his questions and say that it most certainly does just that, and I’m surely not the only Member in this Chamber to have family employed within the Tata steelworks estate. Today marks a very significant moment in terms of giving security to many people who have lived the past year in a constant state of anxiety about their future employment.

In terms of our engagement with UK Government, the Member is absolutely right. We will continue to press UK Government Ministers to support steel in the UK, and I will be meeting tomorrow with the UK Government Minister Nick Hurd, who is Minister of State for Climate Change and Industry to discuss Tata Steel and the support that we now expect of the UK Government. We certainly expect the UK Government to take action in terms of energy costs and on research and development to ensure that the steel industry is sustainable for the long-term future. I will also be leaving the Chamber to go to speak by video-conference with Bimlendra Jha, and I will be raising the issues that you pointed out concerning the crucial role that Ratan Tata could play in easing tensions and reinstating trust within the workforce for Tata.

In terms of our engagement with ThyssenKrupp, I would now be very pleased to engage with them. It’s our expectation that the conditions that we have laid out for our support and the support that I hope to be announcing in the coming days would have to stand any merger, and would have to be conditional on any ongoing support. In terms of procurement, David Rees is aware of the work stream, and is part of the steel taskforce that has been looking into this area to ensure that we can exploit every and any opportunity in terms of public procurement projects and infrastructure projects. I do believe that, with the package of support that we are offering, with the potential support that UK Government could and, in my view, should bring forward, steel making in Wales and the UK has a very bright future from today onwards.

I very much welcome Tata’s statement today, and indeed your response, Cabinet Secretary, here in the Chamber. I think Tata’s statement is testament to the very strong ‘Save Our Steel’ campaign of the steelworkers and the trade unions representing them, and indeed the role played by our Welsh Labour Government here and yourself as Cabinet Secretary, and of course many Assembly Members as well, particularly my colleague David Rees as the AM for Aberavon. So, it’s very pleasing that we’ve reached this stage today, Cabinet Secretary, but obviously, as we’ve already discussed, there is further work to be done to ensure that we do have the certainty that David Rees spoke about and the stability moving forward.

For me, of course, I’m crucially concerned with Tata at Llanwern and indeed the Orb steelworks, with their very high-quality electrical steels. Tata at Llanwern with the Zodiac plant is a very high-quality downstream operation, producing steel for the car industry and their general production at Llanwern. So, I wonder if you could assure me and the workers in those Newport plants, Cabinet Secretary, that when discussing the use of that £1 billion investment for all the steel operations of Tata, you will not neglect sites such as those at Llanwern and the Orb steelworks, and make sure that that £1 billion investment supports those very high-quality operations and ensures a sustainable future for those Newport plants.

I would like to thank John Griffiths for his questions and say that, whilst I am very grateful for his kind words, I do believe that it is the First Minister who has led on this issue, and has been able to ensure that we are at the point where we are today. I’d also say that Assembly Members have expressed concern over the future of the steel industry from across the Chamber, and I think Assembly Members right across the political spectrum will be relieved and will welcome today’s announcement.

The ‘Save Our Steel’ campaign has been a huge success, and I think those who have led it, and most of all those who have participated in it, have ensured the long-term future of steel working for future generations, potentially, their children, and many people who could be employed in the sector in the years to come. This announcement does of course cover Llanwern and all the other steel sites, because without Port Talbot, each of those steel sites in Wales would be left fatally exposed. I should have added just previously that the package of support that I’ve announced today of more than £4 million is of course relevant and open to steelworkers at all of the Welsh sites.

Can I thank the Cabinet Secretary for responding to the statement today as well? Could I also express my congratulations to, certainly, the trade unions for bringing this to a conclusion just before Christmas, anyway, and giving at least some comfort?

But I do share the concerns of both Adam Price and David Rees on what faith we should place in the commitments that Tata Steel have given today. It was only this time last week that we were standing here and asking you questions about what you thought about the commitments that Tata Steel were able to give and, at the time, you mentioned that you weren’t prepared to, understandably, respond to press speculation, and I respect that, but can you give us an indication of how much you—or, at least, it may have been the First Minister—were kept in the loop over what’s been happening over this last week? I appreciate some of that information might have been given in confidence and shouldn’t necessarily be shared, but I think we would all like some reassurance that nobody in Government has been frozen out from being fully involved in the conversation that’s been taking place over the last week, if not longer than that.

Secondly, to go back to the point that Adam Price raised—because obviously, there is a discrepancy between five years and 10 years here. While I understand the Welsh Government’s willingness to only commit to a certain period of time on this, you may remember questions I’ve raised before about what the Welsh Government is able to do in terms of securing the public purse against potential breaches of conditions, not by Tata necessarily but by future purchasers or, in this case, mergers. We’ve all expressed our concerns about ThyssenKrupp here in the past.

Now, I note in your statement today, which I’ve seen fairly recently, that the wider package—this £4 million that you’re making available—will be subject to agreeing the detail of legally binding conditions. I’d be grateful, first of all, if you could confirm who will be legally bound by those conditions, because there’s always the potential that this arrangement—in the next 10 years, Port Talbot, in particular, could be subject to yet another sales option. Secondly, to what extent will you be able to make the details of those conditions available to us as Assembly Members? I recognise that commercial confidentiality will have a role here, but bearing in mind particularly what David Rees mentioned on the issue of trust earlier on, I wouldn’t like to think that that was used as an excuse for not sharing with us those that, legally, you can. Thank you.

Can I thank Suzy Davies for her questions? We have been working on this, as you’re aware, for many months and there has been no freezing out. In fact, the relationship that Welsh Government has had with Tata has been very productive. I would have dearly loved to be able to provide a running commentary on where we were with Tata, but unfortunately, given the sensitivity of this issue and the commercial confidence that must be maintained, I simply was not able to do that. Responding to negative press speculation with any detail would also, potentially, have undermined talks that were ongoing and potentially not led us to the point where we’re at today.

In terms of the support that we are willing to offer—not just the £4 million for skills and training but also additional support that I intend to announce in the coming days—there would be conditionality attached to that support if Tata were to be purchased or taken over by any other future venture. We would expect the conditions to be honoured, or we would expect that resource to be clawed back. I am not in a position at this moment in time to be able to say to what degree we are going to be able to share with you details of the support, simply because it is commercial in confidence right now.

Finally, Lee Waters.

Diolch, Lywydd. Thank you, Minister. I must say, I’ll express my relief at the fact a deal has been reached and my thanks to you and the First Minister and the officials for your role in playing this. It’s clearly a matter of concern that we are subject to the whims of a boardroom in India and I’m sure there are many in the Chamber who are discomforted by how dependent we are on the decisions that we have so little control over. Can he reassure us that, in the economic strategy that he is putting together with colleagues, great effort will be put in place to make sure that we are more resilient to these external shocks in future, and we put in place for our communities other options so that we’re not held to ransom like this from multinationals who exercise decisions sometimes on a whimsy?

Local management is, of course, crucial and accountability to the community is essential. I think one of the lessons that we can take from the past year is that communities will stand up united when they face the prospect of a significant number of jobs being lost. That, in turn, I think justifies the position that we’ve taken through the programme for government and the Welsh Labour manifesto, which is to look at growing those companies that are indigenous to Wales and have global potential at an accelerated pace, to essentially enable those local companies to grow from good to great and to become world-class companies that employ significant numbers. Earlier today, you asked a question about the fourth industrial revolution and I think it’s fair to say that the emerging economic strategy must pay due regard to that and the issues that you’ve just raised now.

Thank you, Cabinet Secretary. This has certainly been a far more positive item than the day that the previous Assembly was recalled on 4 April only this year. It’s been a very long eight months following the initial Tata announcement.

Felly, diolch yn fawr i’r Ysgrifennydd Cabinet. Rydym nawr yn symud ymlaen i’r cyfnod pleidleisio. Oni bai bod tri Aelod yn dymuno i mi ganu’r gloch, rwy’n symud yn syth i’r cyfnod pleidleisio.