<p>The Tesco Customer Engagement Centre in Cardiff</p>

Part of 3. 3. Topical Questions – in the Senedd at 3:28 pm on 28 June 2017.

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Photo of Ken Skates Ken Skates Labour 3:28, 28 June 2017

I thank Lee Waters for the points that he raises. Actually, the discussion that took place on Monday—which he convened, I think—was incredibly informative. It was as a consequence of that meeting that I considered it essential that we move forward with this piece of work concerning specifically contact centres, but that, given the emerging strategy, will be relevant to all sectors right across the economy.

Lee Waters is absolutely right to identify the apparent disparity between the 250 jobs that would be created in Dundee and more than 1,000 that we face losing here in Cardiff. I put that very question about automation to Tesco. I was told that automation is not playing a part in this decision, but I think there is no doubt whatsoever that automation will change the sector and we need to be prepared for it. The Member is absolutely right to say that it’s not just that there will be challenges; there will also be huge opportunities. We know that automation will only go so far, that people will still require a human-to-human point of contact, and that where there is automation, that automation has to be delivered in a way that is advanced on where it is right now. For that reason, we need to be developing the new technology, we need to be the programmers, we need to be the people who deploy that technology.