6. Will the First Minister state what plans he has to discuss the package of proposals Tata Steel has presented to the workforce with its interim chair, Ratan Tata? OAQ(5)0370(FM)

I discussed the issue with the chief executive officer of Tata Steel UK yesterday in the meeting that I had with him, and I’ve today written to Koushik Chatterjee who is the CEO finance of Tata, who is greatly influential on these matters. I’ve made it clear that it’s hugely important that Tata should explain very clearly to the workforce what the implications of the changes are.

In his meeting with Bimlendra Jha, was he able to outline the nature of the concerns that we’ve expressed in my party, but are also widely shared among the workforce, about the highly uncertain nature of the commitments on investment and employment, and also the potential consequences of the proposal to de-link the British Steel pension scheme and Tata effectively creating an orphan fund? And was he able to seek some assurances or concessions from Tata Steel in relation to these concerns?

What we do know from Tata is they are committed to at least the next five years to Port Talbot if there is agreement on the pension scheme. We know that they’ll be committed in that time to two blast furnaces. The money that we have made available potentially for Tata is conditional; we want to see certain guarantees put in place if that money is going to be released, as Members would expect us to. But I think it’s also fair to say that difficult though the decision is for the workers there, there is nothing else on the table. The choice is accepting what’s there, difficult though it might be, or we’re back to square 1, effectively: great uncertainty. It’s a difficult choice, I accept that, but that is the choice that workers face. Nevertheless, we’ve come a long way from where we were in March when the situation was grim indeed, I have to say. If you’d asked me then whether the heavy end of Port Talbot would remain, I think the answer would probably have been ‘no’; it was unlikely. Because of the hard work that’s been put in by Welsh Government officials; the hard work that’s been put in by representatives such as David Rees; and because of the hard work put in by our officials, the money has been put on the table and we are in a position, now, where Tata are able to offer an opportunity to Welsh workers that workers must now consider.

Thank you for that answer, First Minister. I met with the trade unions and steelworkers last week, again, to discuss some of the issues around the challenges they face. The proposal was one of the issues that came up, and what was clear was the lack of confidence, as I think has been highlighted, in Tata itself at this moment in time. I’ve passed that on myself to Mr Jha, but will you actually raise it now with the new chair of Tata and Sons, Mr Chandrasekaran, because it’s important that a voice from the top of Tata is there to say, ‘We support this deal, we’re going to honour this deal, it is going to be on the table and we will deliver it’? I think that voice from the top is important to the workers to gain that confidence that they’ve lost in the last 12 months.

I think that’s an interesting suggestion. As I say, I have made it clear to Tata that it’s hugely important that they communicate as effectively as possible to the workforce what is on the table here and their own commitments, of course. I have no reason to doubt the commitments that Tata has made. But, of course, it’s important to repeat these things in order for people to understand that those commitments are being made.

First Minister, you said that there’s no other offer on the table and I accept that position as well. But can I ask what initial discussions you’ve had, as a Government, with the UK Government, the unions and other interested parties, on developing an alternative strategy in the event that the current proposal is rejected?

The UK Government is not interested, and hasn’t been interested since the change of Prime Minister. We are in a situation where the issue of energy-intensive industries and the price of electricity in the UK are still an issue. It was raised with me by Tata yesterday; they are still saying that the UK is an expensive place to do business because of its energy prices. We have yet to see sufficient action from the UK Government in order to support the good work that’s been put in by the Welsh Government.