Part of 1. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:55 pm on 21 March 2017.
Well, firstly, the commercial pilots are starting to test the interventions to see how they can be as effective as they can be. We’re looking to implement a specific strategy, both regionally in the northern Valleys, and across the whole of Wales. There is a ministerial taskforce that’s been set up cross-Government in order to address some of these issues. The challenge for us is that there are differences within the Valleys themselves in terms of performance. We know that Merthyr is doing particularly well in terms of attracting investment. That is not reflected in every Valleys community. So, what we’re looking to do is ensure that we can even out economic development and improvement over the course of the next few years, rather than seeing some parts of the Valleys do well and others less well—commercial interventions and pilot projects apart. Of that, the taskforce is another limb of that.