9. What measures are in place to improve the productivity of the Welsh economy? OAQ(5)0109(EI)

We are taking forward a range of measures to increase productivity in Wales, including raising skill levels, investing in high-quality infrastructure and also supporting innovation.

I think skills are key to productivity, and an often overlooked area is the skills of management, particularly middle management. There’s a lot of evidence that that’s a key sector, both in the public and private sectors, and perhaps more initiative needs to be invested there to get the best quality management we can have.

The Member is absolutely right, and I believe this is a subject that Professor Dylan Jones-Evans has been examining very closely recently. We can provide, through the Business Wales service, a mentoring service that drives up the availability of skills advice right across the business community. The Member is also right to say that skills are fundamental in driving an improvement in productivity. We have been conducting, as part of the work on the prosperous and secure strategy, work on sub-regional productivity variances, and what we’ve found is that adverse skills distribution is very much a key factor in lower productivity rates. We’ve also found that lower density of activity, or, if you like, a lack of agglomeration, is also a feature, which explains why productivity rates tend to be higher in bigger cities.

So, there are various reasons for productivity not being as high as we would wish, but now that we have the evidence base to take forward a strategy, I am convinced that the strategy will be able to deliver on an aspiration that’s shared across this Chamber to drive up the wealth and prosperity of Wales.

Cabinet Secretary, I was pleased earlier that Adam Price quoted this week’s ‘Llanelli Star’, which reported faithfully what I said in the Senedd last week. Since then, Nia Griffith—the MP for Llanelli—and I have communicated further with steelworkers in our constituency, and we have very real concerns that the deal, which is only possible because of the Welsh Government’s intervention, faces being voted down. Would he echo my concerns to the Tata chair that unless further changes are made, this deal may be lost, and the impact to the productivity and the wealth of the Welsh economy will be significant? Would he also agree that calling for a better deal, and calling for the deal to be rejected, is the world of difference, because that would be irresponsible?

I think the Member is right to draw attention to the fact that encouraging people to vote down—as Plaid Cymru have done—a deal could lead to the collapse of the steel industry. That is in nobody’s interest, whether you are employed as a steelworker, or whether you live in a community or are related to a steelworker, which I am.

I thank the Cabinet Secretary.