2. Will the Cabinet Secretary provide an update on the progress of the north Wales growth deal? OAQ(5)0154(FLG)

I thank the Member for the question. The Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Infrastructure leads discussions with partners in north Wales on a growth deal. Formal submission of a growth bid is expected in the summer, and that will mark the start of formal discussions.

Thank you for that answer, Cabinet Secretary. Following the submission last August of the growth vision for north Wales, I know, and you’ll be aware, that stakeholders in my region, and across the border, such as the North Wales Economic Ambition Board, the Mersey Dee Alliance, Cheshire and Warrington local enterprise partnership, and the north Wales business council have worked hard on collaborating and coming together to press ahead our plans for infrastructure development, the skills agenda and economic growth for the north Wales area. In addition, in order to complement this work, I was pleased to be able to establish the cross-party group for north Wales here in the Assembly, so we can actually work together more collectively in order to press ahead that agenda in the Assembly, to get the financial and the political will to take our ambitions forward for north Wales. I’m glad you said that we’re expecting progress very soon, because I think there’s been a bit of a fear, despite it being much mooted alongside the Northern Powerhouse, that things have gone a bit quiet of late. So, I will just ask: what political commitment remains to the north Wales growth deal from both the UK and the Welsh Governments, and has any financial commitment been forthcoming as of yet from the UK Government, as it has done previously for the deals in south Wales, in respect of Cardiff and Swansea bay?

I thank the Member for that question. The Welsh Government remains firmly committed to the development of a north Wales growth deal. I’ve recently embarked on my latest round of discussions with local authority leaders. I met with the new leader of Gwynedd and the new leader of Ynys Môn recently, and I discussed this matter with the both of them, and also with the leader of Flintshire council. And I know that there remains an appetite right across north Wales to fashion a growth deal bid that will be convincing to both the Welsh Government and to the UK Government. I can’t speak directly for the UK Government on this matter, although every indication we have had is that they too remain committed to taking these discussions forward. We won’t get to the point of talking about financial commitments until later in the process. There’s still quite a job of work to be done in shaping that deal, in putting forward the proposition, and in calibrating the money that will be asked for it against the realism of what can be achieved. That was the process both in the Cardiff and the Swansea city deals, and I quite certainly look forward to being able to help take that process forward in relation to the north Wales growth deal.

Building on the North Wales Economic Ambition’s Board growth vision document last summer, the team developing the growth deal bid have called for devolved powers to be granted to the region, including skills, transport, strategic land use planning, business innovation, advisory functions, careers advice and taxation. By taxation, they’re not referring to business rates, but to tax increment financing. What consideration have you given, or are you giving, to that call, where such financing, which I believe is available to local authorities in England, relates to borrowing funded by the future growth in business rates receipts resulting from the projects developed through the growth deal?

Well, Llywydd, I certainly agree that both city deals and a north Wales growth deal has to be more than just an argument about the sum of money. It has to be about a wider agenda of driving collaboration, speaking with a single voice on key ambitions. And with that may go devolution of some of the sort of responsibilities that Mark Isherwood just outlined. It will be for the proponents of the deal to make that case. Of course, I am aware of TIF and the way that it operates elsewhere. I met the Society of Welsh Treasurers in local government on Friday of last week and had a useful discussion with them about a range of these issues, including the potential for a shared-gain approach to growth in business rate receipts, where it is possible that local authorities coming together in these city and growth deals can demonstrate that there is an additional flow of income as a result of their combined efforts.

The people of Anglesey would like an assurance that the north Wales growth deal will seek to develop the economy across all counties of north Wales, not tying the eastern counties to what’s happening in England only. There are opportunities to the west also, in Ireland, never mind the rest of Wales, and not just in the north west of England.

There is a risk that Wylfa Newydd will be seen to be ticking the box in terms of Anglesey or in terms of the north-west more widely, even. Will the Cabinet Secretary agree that we shouldn’t rely on Wylfa, because if a situation arises where that isn’t delivered, we will be in deep trouble?

Well, the challenge for the people in north Wales working on the deal is to be clear that they are working towards something that will work for the whole of north Wales. When I met with the new leader of Ynys Môn and the leader of Gwynedd, I did talk about the developments at Wylfa Newydd and the importance of being clear that Wylfa Newydd will be part of what comes forward as a significant part of the growth deal, but, of course, the deal is greater than Wylfa. On the other side, in the north-east, I know that, when I talk to people who are responsible for cross-border issues, they are very eager to explain the importance of having cross-border activity with the people in the north-west of England. That is important. But, that’s the challenge, namely to try to create something that works for the whole of north Wales, for Wylfa and for other developments in north-west Wales. It’s crucial that that’s right at the centre of the deal.