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.