1. What assessment has the Cabinet Secretary made of the benefits of locating the headquarters of Transport for Wales within Rhondda Cynon Taf? OAQ(5)0144(EI)

We are committed to supporting jobs and growth in all regions of Wales, and we need to look at maximising the benefits for Valleys communities from major investments, and we’ve made a long-standing commitment to locate Transport for Wales’s HQ in the heart of the Valleys.

Thank you, Cabinet Secretary. The news that the Transport for Wales hub, along with the Cardiff capital region city deal programme offices, will be located within RCT is excellent news for my local authority. Together, both could see the location of hundreds of good-quality jobs into the Valleys, and serve as powerful boosters to economic regeneration. How will the Welsh Government build on this to maximise the benefit of both schemes to the northern Valleys, and to my constituency of Cynon Valley in particular?

Well, can I thank the Member for her question, and pay tribute to the way that she’s championed regeneration and pride in the Valleys? I was delighted to announce that the headquarters of Transport for Wales will be located in Pontypridd. I must also pay tribute to the leadership of Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council for offering a compelling vision of the local economy.

I do think that we need to utilise all opportunities offered up by announcements like this in a much more joined-up way, through a new economic contract, bringing together partners across Government, local government, through our skills training providers, to ensure that we squeeze maximum value from Government investments. By looking ahead to the opportunities that are to come, we know that there will be more than £1 billion of spending, on electrification, metro, and other associated rail infrastructure, so we must ensure that we work together, on a regional and on a national basis, to reap more rewards from our investments.

Cabinet Secretary, once in a blue moon an opposition Member is pleased to congratulate the Government on the decision they’ve made, and I do think Transport for Wales being based in Pontypridd is the right decision, because it sends a very clear signal, I think, that the city region concept is an important one, but a city region as a city and a hinterland—and the hinterland is not peripheral; it is very much part of the whole region. Particularly when we look at the employment, the cultural capital, and the educational resources in Cardiff, we want to make those as fully accessible as possible, and, therefore, this will send a signal that the connections between the Valleys and the city, and the bigger urban areas, are a vital part of our vision for the future.

Can I thank the Member for his contribution, his question, and his kind words? I think he is absolutely right—it’s essential that, where we can, we decentralise, in order to drive regeneration and economic growth in those areas that have not benefited from all of the gains of economic growth in recent years. So, whether it be Transport for Wales in Pontypridd, or the Welsh Revenue Authority elsewhere in the Valleys, or the development bank of Wales in north Wales, I think it’s essential that we look at these opportunities, and, again, squeeze maximum value, by working together. In the future, we may be able to see other investments and the move of other responsibilities. Potentially, for example, with the creation of Historic Wales, we could see an investment in mid or north-west Wales, or the west of Wales.

And I do think that the regional approach to economic growth is the right way to go. With the Cardiff capital region, we know that it’s estimated that 25,000 jobs will be created as part of that particular initiative, across the 10 local authority areas. My ask of the Cardiff capital region would be to ensure that there is no lumpiness in terms of economic growth across the region. And, in order to address the current lumpiness, there will have to be targeted spending and a concerted effort to benefit those areas, as I’ve said to Vikki Howells, that did not benefit so well from economic growth after the 2008 crash.