Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:22 pm on 7 December 2016.
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.