Part of 1. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:54 pm on 7 February 2017.
As we’ve heard, there was an announcement that the headquarters of the Welsh Revenue Authority will go to Treforest. Having seen the paper that you mentioned and how the location was selected, the criteria made it entirely impossible for anything to come to north Wales or to anywhere beyond easy reach of Cardiff. The criteria related to skills—or one criterion did—but two related to being close to stakeholders and close to customers. Neither Caernarfon nor Porthmadog were on the list of six possible locations being considered by Government, despite what you told us here on 10 January. Will you give detailed consideration to the need for new criteria when considering the location of posts—criteria that will allow the dispersal of growth across Wales? Otherwise, the recent words by the Labour Party, both here and in Westminster by your shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell, are empty words.