Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:11 pm on 14 March 2017.
Leader of the house, could we have a statement, please, on the St Athan aerospace park? We’ve only recently had the good news around the Aston Martin development of the Red Dragon hangar, but some years ago, obviously, Cardiff Aviation set up at the aviation park, and they’ve faced some considerable commercial challenges. Welsh Government put a considerable sum of money into Cardiff Aviation locating at the aerospace park, on the pretext of creating a certain number of jobs, running into the hundreds. They have had a challenging commercial time there and trading has been quite challenging. There are also other businesses located on the aviation park that have obviously experienced difficulties with the runway being open over weekends and night-time working, in particular. So I would be grateful if you could secure a statement from the Cabinet Secretary for the economy to outline those two aspects: one, how the aviation park is now working—in particular around 24/7 working, and in particular the ability to bring planes in and out; and, secondly, with the specific request about Cardiff Aviation, considering the considerable amount of public money that went in to secure this relocation, and in particular, the jobs associated with the company, what measures is the Welsh Government taking to make sure that job targets are being met? And if there are any doubts about those job targets, what action has been taken to safeguard the public money that has been put into this company?