5. Will the Cabinet Secretary provide an update on action taken by the Welsh Government to increase economic productivity in the Swansea Bay City Region? OAQ(5)0129(EI)

We are working with local partners to support business growth, to improve infrastructure, and to create a more attractive economic environment across the region.

Thank you very much for that answer, and obviously, locally, we appreciate your support for the Swansea bay city region deal. While attracting large employers to a region is important for jobs and the economy, 99 per cent of our businesses are small and medium-sized enterprises, and 75 per cent are actually microbusinesses, as you already know, which means that small businesses do play a very important part locally, particularly in the supply chain. The UK Government challenge to the current board identified the need for greater private sector involvement in the city deal bid, and I’m wondering are you and the Cabinet Secretary for local government willing to work with partners to ensure that there’s an appropriate balance of small business representation on the project’s next iteration of the board, so that those 95 per cent of our businesses can be adequately represented as well. Thank you.

Yes, I would agree with the Member; we are now entering a critical period for the Swansea city deal, and over the past few months, I know that a considerable amount of work has gone into preparing for the challenge process, and that there has been a concerted effort to attract the views of the private sector. But I do believe that the private sector must be fully part of city deal considerations, and that all of the priority projects must benefit not just employers large, but also those small and microbusinesses that the Member talks of, and which constitute something in the region of 98 to 99 per cent of all employers in Wales, but especially in my colleague’s region.

I’m also keen to ensure that aside from, and actually along with, the city region approach, we go on assisting small and medium-sized and microbusinesses through the Business Wales programme. And, of course, the latest phase of the Business Wales programme was launched in January, and it tasks Business Wales with assisting tens of thousands of small and micro-sized companies, including those in the city region area.

In an economy event in my constituency, which I held before Christmas, and which was addressed by the Minister for Skills and Science, one of the issues identified to improve productivity was the question of skills acquisition, and importantly skills progression through the employment journey. So, they will have been pleased to hear the emphasis on that in the new apprenticeship plan. But, more broadly than that, does he agree with me that we need to find ways of turning technology, which can often be a threat to some of the jobs in our region, into an asset, and that we should aim to see widely available online skills tools, which are immersive and interactive, and cheap, allowing employees to have tailored, modular training to develop their skills in a way that is consistent with their own needs and demands? And what steps can the Welsh Government take to encourage the development of that?

I’d like to thank the Member for his question and commend him for organising the seminar that took place in his constituency. In-work skills training opportunities, provided through schemes such as Essential Skills in the Workplace and the Wales Union Learning Fund, have proven to be absolutely vital for workers across Wales in gaining valuable skills that enable them to progress up a career ladder. But utilising new and emerging digital technologies will become more and more important. The fact is that many, many young people use their digital devices to learn, as much as they use their schools. Many will use YouTube and other search forms of social media in order to learn, and that should apply equally to adults who are looking to gain and retrain skills.

The Minister for Skills and Science has developed a skills gateway for employers, digitally driven, which enables one single point of entry to all forms of advice and guidance for employers. And, equally, the Minister has devised a similar skills gateway system for all individuals looking to acquire new skills, or to retrain, or to boost their existing learning opportunities.

I, and I’m sure other Members, welcome the statement made this morning by Government that there is going to be support for Yr Egin as part of the Swansea bay city region proposal, and I look forward to everyone collaborating to ensure that Yr Egin is a success and that S4C moves successfully to Carmarthen. Unfortunately, this morning’s statement didn’t mention how much money the Government was providing for the scheme, but press reports do talk about £6 million—£3 million from Government and £3 million from the Swansea bay city region programme. Can the Cabinet Secretary confirm those figures? Will he also confirm from which funding sources within Government that £3 million for Yr Egin is coming from?

Yes, that funding is coming from my own main expenditure group and I’m pleased to be able to support a project that doesn’t just have economic benefits for the region, but it’s my view, and it was the view of my colleagues, that is also has significant Welsh language, education, social and cultural contributions to make to the region as well.