The next item is the statement by the same Minister, the Minister for Lifelong Learning and Welsh language—an update on the ministerial taskforce for the south Wales Valleys. Once again, I call on Alun Davies.

Thank you, Llywydd. I’m pleased that you have the opportunity to listen to me again, and I’m very pleased to have this opportunity to discuss the work of the ministerial taskforce for the south Wales Valleys. Members will be aware that we set up the taskforce a year ago to work with communities and local businesses across the south Wales Valleys to ensure that we can deliver lasting economic change in the region and create good-quality jobs closer to people’s homes, improve skill levels, and bring prosperity to all in the Valleys.

The Deputy Presiding Officer took the Chair.

Hoffwn roi ar y cofnod, Dirprwy Lywydd, fy niolch i'r tasglu am ei waith dros y 12 mis diwethaf. Rwyf eisiau diolch i’m cyd-Aelodau yn y llywodraeth—Ken Skates, Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet dros yr Economi a’r Seilwaith, a Julie James, y Gweinidog Sgiliau a Gwyddoniaeth. Mae aelodaeth y tasglu wedi ei ehangu yn ystod y flwyddyn, ac mae’r aelodau newydd yn cynnwys Fiona Jones, o'r Adran Gwaith a Phensiynau, a Gaynor Richards, o Gyngor Gwasanaeth Gwrifoddol Castell-nedd Port Talbot.

Mae'r flwyddyn gyntaf wedi bod yn brysur iawn. Rydym wedi cyfarfod â phobl sy'n byw ac yn gweithio yn y Cymoedd, ac wedi siarad â nhw, a gwrando arnynt. Mae'r sgyrsiau hyn wedi bod yn fywiog, craff a heriol. Maent, ynghyd â'r dystiolaeth y mae’r tasglu wedi ei chasglu yn ystod y flwyddyn ddiwethaf, wedi helpu i lunio ein blaenoriaethau ar gyfer y dyfodol. Dirprwy Lywydd, nid dim ond creu cynllun ar gyfer y Cymoedd ydym ni; mae’n gynllun gan y Cymoedd. Rydym ni’n gwybod bod angen i ni weithio'n wahanol i fentrau a rhaglenni blaenorol sydd wedi canolbwyntio ar y Cymoedd, a dysgu oddi wrthyn nhw. Ni all hyn ac ni fydd hyn yn ffordd arall o weithio o’r brig i lawr ar adfywio ac adnewyddu economaidd. Byddwn yn parhau i weithio gyda chymunedau ledled Cymoedd y de. Bydd y tasglu yn sicrhau ei fod yn defnyddio adnoddau presennol mewn ffordd gydlynol a bydd yn canolbwyntio ar y blaenoriaethau sydd wedi eu nodi gan y cymunedau hynny. Caiff y blaenoriaethau hyn eu nodi yn 'Ein Cymoedd, Ein Dyfodol', ein cynllun gweithredu blaengar, a fydd yn cael ei gyhoeddi ar 20 Gorffennaf yng Nglynrhedynog.

Dirprwy Lywydd, o ganlyniad i'r sylwadau a gafwyd gan bobl sy'n byw ac yn gweithio yn y Cymoedd, rydym ni wedi seilio’r cynllun a'r camau y byddwn yn eu cymryd dros y blynyddoedd nesaf ar dair thema: swyddi o ansawdd da a’r sgiliau i’w gwneud nhw, gwell gwasanaethau cyhoeddus, a'r gymuned a’r amgylchedd lleol. Ar yr un pryd, roedd cludiant yn rhywbeth y soniodd pobl ar draws y rhanbarth cyfan amdano, ac mae hyn yn rhywbeth y byddwn ni hefyd yn mynd i'r afael ag ef yn y misoedd nesaf. Roedd yr angen am swyddi o ansawdd da a mynediad at hyfforddiant sgiliau yn flaenoriaeth glir i'r bobl a busnesau yr ydym wedi siarad â nhw. Dywedodd pobl wrthym ni nad oedd digon o gyfleoedd gwaith o fewn cyrraedd i’w cymunedau ac yn rhy aml mae'r swyddi sydd ar gael ar gontractau dim oriau neu yn waith dros dro neu drwy asiantaeth. Uchelgais y tasglu erbyn 2021 yw y byddwn wedi cau'r bwlch cyflogaeth rhwng Cymoedd y de a gweddill Cymru. Mae hyn yn golygu helpu 7,000 o bobl ychwanegol i gael gwaith a chreu miloedd o swyddi newydd, teg, diogel a chynaliadwy yn y Cymoedd. Mae'n amserol bod y Gweinidog Sgiliau a Gwyddoniaeth heddiw yn gosod agenda newydd Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer cyflogadwyedd. Bydd y gwaith hwn yn helpu i ehangu ein hymdrechion i gefnogi pobl sy'n ddi-waith i gael swyddi a chreu gwell amodau gwaith. Bydd y tasglu yn helpu i sicrhau bod yr agenda cyflogadwyedd newydd yn sicrhau’r manteision mwyaf posib ar gyfer ein cymunedau yn y Cymoedd.

Dirprwy Lywydd, bydd y tasglu hefyd yn targedu buddsoddiad i sicrhau canolfannau strategol newydd mewn chwe ardal yn y Cymoedd. Bydd y rhain yn ardaloedd lle’r ydym ni’n ceisio canolbwyntio buddsoddiad cyhoeddus er mwyn creu swyddi newydd a chyfleoedd pellach i ddenu buddsoddiad gan y sector preifat. Byddwn yn gweithio’n lleol gyda chymunedau, awdurdodau lleol a busnesau i sicrhau y bydd pob canolfan yn canolbwyntio ar gyfleoedd a gofynion pob ardal a'u dyheadau ar gyfer y dyfodol. Un o'r canolfannau hyn fydd y parc busnes technoleg modurol newydd ar gyfer Glynebwy, a gyhoeddwyd gan Ysgrifennydd yr economi y mis diwethaf. Caiff hyn ei gefnogi drwy roi £100 miliwn dros 10 mlynedd a bydd yn cefnogi swyddi a buddsoddiad ledled Blaenau'r Cymoedd.

Ein bwriad yw gwneud y mwyaf o gyfleoedd am swyddi yn yr economi leol—yr economi sylfaenol—busnesau yr ydym ni’n eu defnyddio bob dydd ac yn eu gweld yn mhob man o'n cwmpas, fel busnesau manwerthu, gofal a'r diwydiant bwyd. Byddwn hefyd yn annog ac yn darparu cymorth ar gyfer darpar entrepreneuriaid ac entrepreneuriaid presennol. Rwyf wedi gweld sut y gall hyn weithio yn fy etholaeth i ac rwyf yn awyddus i weld hyn yn digwydd ym mhob rhan o'r Cymoedd. Mae pob ardal yn y Cymoedd yn unigryw, ond mae gan bob cymuned dreftadaeth a diwylliant cyfoethog. Yn y Cymoedd hefyd mae peth o’r tirwedd naturiol mwyaf syfrdanol yng Nghymru, ond a gaiff ei ddefnyddio a’i werthfawrogi leiaf. Clywsom yn aml mewn cyfarfodydd cyhoeddus a grwpiau trafod bod angen i ni wneud mwy i glodfori a manteisio ar amgylchedd naturiol y Cymoedd .

Bydd y tasglu felly'n archwilio'r cysyniad o greu parc tirlun y Cymoedd i helpu cymunedau’r ardal i adeiladu ar yr asedau naturiol niferus sydd ganddyn nhw, gan gynnwys y potensial ar gyfer cynhyrchu ynni cymunedol a thwristiaeth. Rydym ni hefyd wedi clywed gan lawer o bobl am wead ein trefi a’n cymunedau a sut y mae angen i ni fuddsoddi yn nyfodol ein trefi yn y Cymoedd. Ar yr un pryd, roedd pobl yn sôn gydag angerdd am y sbwriel a’r tipio anghyfreithlon sy'n anharddu llawer gormod o'n hamgylchedd lleol. Mae'r rhain i gyd yn faterion y byddwn yn rhoi sylw iddynt yn ystod y misoedd nesaf.

Rydym yn lansio 'Ein Cymoedd, Ein Dyfodol' ar adeg o fuddsoddi mewn seilwaith yn y de na welwyd ei debyg o’r blaen. Mae metro de Cymru, y ddwy fargen ddinesig, ymrwymiad Llywodraeth Cymru i fuddsoddi mewn tai fforddiadwy, a ffordd liniaru'r M4, i gyd yn cynnig cyfleoedd i’r bobl sy'n byw yn y Cymoedd. Mae'r rhain yn gyfleoedd y mae'n rhaid i ni, ac y byddwn ni, yn gwneud y mwyaf ohonynt.

Rwy'n benderfynol y bydd y tasglu yn gwneud gwahaniaeth gwirioneddol i gymunedau’r Cymoedd yn ystod y tymor Cynulliad hwn. Dechrau taith fwy hirdymor yw hyn, sy'n cael ei llunio gan bobl sy'n byw ac yn gweithio yn y Cymoedd. Mae’n rhaid i ni yn awr weithio gyda'n gilydd i wireddu’r weledigaeth hon ar lawr gwlad. Ar ôl lansio’r cynllun, byddwn yn parhau i siarad â phobl i wneud yn siŵr bod y camau hyn yn cael eu llunio gan bobl sy'n byw yn y Cymoedd. Byddwn yn ystyried y safbwyntiau hynny, a hefyd yn datblygu cynllun cyflawni gyda thargedau a dulliau o fesur canlyniadau. Caiff y cynllun hwn ei gyhoeddi yn yr hydref a bydd ganddo amserlen glir o ran ei gyflawni.

Bydd gennym ni strwythur ar waith i sicrhau bod atebolrwydd am y gwaith hwn. Mae gennym ni fwrdd traws-Lywodraeth a fydd yn sicrhau a darparu goruchwyliaeth ac yn ein dwyn i gyfrif o ran y cynnydd a wnawn yn erbyn ein hymrwymiadau. Caiff hyn ei gefnogi gan nifer o wahanol ffrydiau gwaith a byddaf yn gofyn i aelodau o'r tasglu i arwain y gwaith ar y gwahanol ffrydiau gwaith hyn.

Dirprwy Lywydd, rwy’n edrych ymlaen i fod yn rhan o'r gwaith hwn yn y Cymoedd. Mae hon yn rhan o Gymru sy'n agos at fy nghalon. Dyma lle cefais fy ngeni a’m magu, a dyma lle’r wyf yn ei gynrychioli heddiw. Bydd y tasglu yn adeiladu ar y gwersi a ddysgwyd o gynlluniau adfywio blaenorol, gan eu cyfuno â’r sylwadau a gawsom ni gan gymunedau ar draws Cymoedd y de. Mae 'Ein Cymoedd, Ein Dyfodol' yn cynnig gobaith am ddyfodol gwell. Nid yw pobl sy'n byw ac yn gweithio yn y Cymoedd yn haeddu dim llai.

Minister, thank you for your statement this afternoon. It does remind me of a predecessor of yours, Leighton Andrews, who was up and down on his feet on the same afternoon serving us several statements at once. I hope you don’t have the same political future as, obviously, that particular Minister had.

But I do welcome your statement. Obviously, you have put a huge amount of personal energy into this, and Government energy into it—and rightly so, in fairness. Also, your cross-Government approach—rather than looking at it from a silo point of view, thinking, ‘This is mine, and I’m just going to lead it’. Taking Cabinet Secretaries with you to many of the public meetings does give confidence that Government is looking at this in the collective.

Because I think it is fair to say that many of the Valleys communities can say that, in some instances, they might well have heard all this before, but actually, if you look at economic activity, if you look at education standards, and many of the key indicators, sadly, we haven’t seen the improvements we would all wish to see. Above all, it’s about—in the next five, 10, 15 years—building that economic activity within the Valleys, so that they do become sustainable, they do become generators of their own futures and, above all, they do become places that people generally want to live and work in as well.

I do note from your statement, Minister, that you say that next week you will be launching the high-level plan ‘Our Valleys, Our Future’, but then we have to wait until the autumn until we get the performance indicators, or how you will measure yourself, which you have touched on in the latter part of your statement. I'm just wondering: why the disconnect? Because, surely, to make it a coherent plan, you already understand what indicators you're aiming for. So, why aren't the two linked in? Because for us to have confidence that this plan is more than words on paper, we do need to be able to see the progress and measure the progress, not just as politicians, but as communities from the Valleys, as I said, so they can have confidence that you're moving in the right direction.

You've touched on, in your opening remarks, how you've been led by the communities themselves, and rightly so. I'd be keen to understand where you believe a job is local enough to be determined as being a job within a local community. You touched on that in your statement here:

‘within reach of their local communities’ are the are words that you talk of. Yet, much of the economic levers that the Welsh Government has used over the last couple of years certainly have generated levels of employment along the coastal belt here—in particular in south Wales—that have seen, obviously, many people moving out of the Valleys for those employment opportunities. So, I'd like to understand: do you see the employment window as the entire south Wales area, or are you focused very much on generating local employment within the communities themselves? And how do you succeed in doing that? Because you do touch on creating an additional 7,000 jobs in this period up to 2021, I believe you're talking of. Are those genuinely new jobs that you're looking to create—so they’re over and above what’s already in the Valleys—or are they just merely jobs that would be filling jobs that already exist, either in the public sector, the private sector or the voluntary sector? Can we genuinely be looking forward to 7,000 new job opportunities over and above what already exists within the Valleys?

You touch also on the six strategic hubs that you’re looking to develop in the Valleys. I’d be interested to understand how you’re developing that concept, what exactly they stand for—are they merely mini enterprise zones? Because you identify the one that you’ve got in Blaenau Gwent, for example, that came out of the Circuit of Wales announcement as being a model. Well, that is a themed model in that it is around the automotive sector. So, with the roll-out of the five remaining hubs that you would have left in this concept, what do you actually mean? Geographically, how will they be spread around the Valleys area? In particular, what budget lines will be allocated to create the opportunities? Obviously, in Blaenau Gwent, you’ve identified £100 million over 10 years for that particular hub. Can the other five hubs look forward to the same level of funding? Because, again, I think it’s important to understand what resource Welsh Government are putting forward into this concept. I do caution the ‘build it and they will come’ philosophy, because, actually, we’ve seen that philosophy does not work. And so, if that’s going to be the mainstay of your economic activity, please give us some meat on the bones so we can understand what we can deem a success and what the concept will deliver.

In closing, I do welcome the reference to the natural environment—[Interruption.] I hope the leader of the house is all right. I was a little concerned then that I’d have to come over and give you the kiss of life. [Interruption.] I can see the colour has come to the leader of the house’s face. Is that a hot flush?

In closing, I would congratulate the Minister for identifying the natural environment within the Valleys. As someone with a farming background, I do think this has been a massively underused resource that exists within the Valleys. I have dealt, recently, on a cross-party basis, with Hefin from Caerphilly, and the Member for Cynon Valley as well, and other Members across the Chamber, around the commons that sit on top of the Valleys—there are huge open spaces that do form an important economic facility for agriculture. But also they do play an important role in the natural environment within the Valleys, and I’d be grateful for an explanation as to how the Minister sees that natural environment playing a genuine role in the renaissance of the Valleys that we all want to see, in particular across all the Valleys.

I’m grateful to the leader of the Welsh Conservatives for his kind words and welcome for the statement this afternoon. Can I say to him—? When the First Minister asked me to take on this responsibility of co-ordinating and leading this work, I was very, very clear in my own mind that in creating a Valleys taskforce, we don’t want to create another quango or we don’t want to create another sort of delivery machinery in its own right, but that what we needed to do was to bring together the existing functions of Government and to ensure that all parts of Government take on a responsibility for delivering in the Valleys of south Wales. The taskforce itself then brings a focus and is a catalyst for action to enable those things to happen. We certainly don’t want any further complex delivery structures, and we don’t want duplication. What we want is a clear focus on the Valleys of south Wales. So, it was very, very clear what the First Minister—and he clearly agreed that we needed a taskforce in order to drive this work, rather than delivering it itself. And so the cross-governmental working and the ambitions and objectives that we have will be delivered by Cabinet Secretaries and Ministers, and will be delivered by Welsh Government acting in order to deliver on its existing programmes, but also acting as a catalyst to enable others to deliver and bringing others together. So, I’m very, very clear—and I welcome his recognition of that—that this is something for the whole Government to deliver upon.

There have, of course, been a number of different Valleys initiatives. I remember sitting next to Robin Walker at an event before Christmas, and he was discussing the work that his father had done in the Valleys some years ago. He mentioned how much his father had enjoyed that work, and how he felt he’d needed and wanted to contribute to the economic future of the Valleys. So, we do need to learn from what we’ve done in the past, and recognise that we do need a much wider focus on the Valleys than we’ve had perhaps before.

I also agree that people who live in Valleys communities absolutely need the confidence to know that this is more than simply words, and that we will deliver on the promises and the undertakings that we are making. I want to ensure that we do have a delivery plan—a delivery plan with clear targets, with clear actions and clear timescales. For me, it is absolutely essential as a Minister that I’m held to account for the undertakings I give, both to this place and elsewhere, that people are able to hold me to account by ensuring that there’s information made publicly available to enable others to hold us to account, and that we have clear targets and clear timescales. That means that we can have a much richer debate about what we’re seeking to do, both within this Assembly term and subsequent to that. So, we will have a delivery plan published in the autumn. I will ensure that there is Government time made available for a further statement or debate to ensure that Members have the opportunity to question us on that, and I will ensure that we have all the information made public to enable that accountability to be a rich debate about how we take this area of policy forward, and not simply a more antagonistic, perhaps, sort of accountability that we see all too often.

In terms of local jobs and what that means, clearly, the south Wales metro will be a means of ensuring that we are able to enable people to move to find work where necessary, to have different opportunities for work and skills, and to receive education and services. But also, we need to ensure that we have those jobs available to them where they live as well. One of the great opportunities that I see with the development of the A465 dualling project is that we’re not simply building a bypass for the towns of the Heads of the Valleys, but we’re actually investing in a northern corridor, if you like, where we will have and we need to have an economic development plan to create and to stimulate economic development at the Heads of the Valleys, which are the areas that have benefited least, if you like, from other economic investment programmes, so that we will be able to create and stimulate local work and local economies there in the Heads of the Valleys, as well as further south.

In terms of local jobs, one of the debates that’s been taking place in this place, and that has been led by a number of different Members on many sides of the Chamber, has been the place and the role of a foundational economy in the future, and this is something that I hope we will see greater investment in over the coming years. The deep place study of Tredegar, which was published some years ago now, outlined how the foundational economy can, of course, help sustain work—it can sustain jobs—but also ensure that wealth remains within a particular community as well, and I hope that we’ll be able to learn the lessons of that and apply that approach in some of the things that we’re doing in the future. But I also hope that, through investment in transport, we will be able to reconnect the Valleys and Cardiff to ensure that we do have a single economic area where people can move for work, should they choose to do so, but where work is also available much closer to home where needed and necessary. So, it is a choice whether we travel to work, not a compulsion and not something that people are forced to do. We will create new opportunities and we will say in this programme that part of those opportunities will be public sector jobs that we want to create in the Valleys, and we’ve already started that process.

The strategic hubs themselves will be different in different places; what might work in Ebbw Vale might not work elsewhere. And so you will see a construction of a strategic hub, which reflects the ambitions of that place and reflects the needs of that area and that region. It might well be different in different places—in fact, it will be different in different places. The investment that we will generate from Welsh Government into those different strategic hubs will be different investment in different places and will take a different form. What is clear is that we will need to make that investment in a timely fashion in order to ensure that we do meet the targets and the ambitions that we set ourselves.

I know I’m testing your patience, Deputy Presiding Officer—

Yes, you are, actually. [Laughter.]

Even without my glasses I can see—

Yes. [Laughter.] So, if you put your glasses on you can see how much my patience is being tested. So—.

Can I just answer the final question on the Valleys park? I agree very much with what’s been said about the potential of the commons and the tops of the Valleys, particularly. I’ve spoken many times with Rhianon Passmore about Cwmcarn scenic drive, I know that Dai Rees has spoken about the Afan valley at the same time and I’ve bored Dawn Bowden a number of times about the times I take my own children to Garwnant to enjoy the facilities there. The Valleys have a fantastic opportunity for us to enjoy the scenery and the landscape of the Valleys again, and to do that in a sustainable way. I hope that we will be able to use in the future programmes to sustain the commons, a Glastir sort of programme, that will enable us to work with landowners and others to support and sustain, not just biodiversity, but access to all of the landscapes of the Valleys, and to do that in a way, which, again, involves the whole of our communities.

I’m encouraged to hear that this work will be different from previous initiatives and programmes that are focused on the Valleys, and it has to be different, because what has happened in the past hasn’t worked. So, it’s positive to see a commitment to doing things differently, and it’s also positive that you’ve recognised Ferndale, a community that feels very neglected.

So, I’ve started with a positive, now I will turn to the ambition to close the employment gap between the south Wales Valleys and the rest of the country. First of all, I welcome the recognition that you just stated that there are different challenges to the southern most parts of the Valleys to the northernmost reaches. It’s a fact that the further away from Cardiff you are, the greater the challenges there are. So, we need to have a clear commitment from you that the ‘closer to home’ part of your job offer will be fulfilled. We need jobs in the Valleys, not just jobs within the reach of the Valleys. So, I’d like to know how many jobs will be in the Valleys. The location of jobs is crucial, as are the skills and wage levels. There are many of us, I’m sure, in this Chamber who started off our careers working in the retail sector, so I welcome the acknowledgement of the importance of the foundational economy, but where are those additional job opportunities coming from? Care and retail jobs are already very well represented in our Valleys communities. What about other jobs? What about careers for people?

Minister, I’d also like to ask about some of the projects that you’ve listed, because, again, I’m not filled with confidence. Why? Because pre-existing schemes are mentioned as relating to this taskforce, but these are schemes that are already in the pipeline. The automotive park in Ebbw Vale has already been mentioned. It’s new, but it seems to have been created purely because the Circuit of Wales plan was rejected. Now, of course, Plaid Cymru will welcome that development in Ebbw Vale, but are there other similar solutions for other Valley locations? Where’s the big project for the Rhondda, for example? The employment rates for the Rhondda are similar to Blaenau Gwent. The claimant count is similar as well. But when Rhondda Cynon Taf is considered as a whole, the most affluent southernmost communities mask the poverty and deprivation faced by people in my constituency, and I really think you need to take account of that. Are you talking to big employers in Cardiff and elsewhere to see if they will consider the larger Valleys towns for their next expansion?

I note there is a mention of the M4 relief road. Can you outline how the new M4, and in particular your favoured black route, will help the Valleys? The Sustainable Places Research Institute at Cardiff University commissioned a report that said that the new M4 would offer very little to the Valleys, and that report focused on those Valleys closest to Newport. Minister, Plaid Cymru will not accept a situation where existing Welsh Government initiatives like the M4, which have very little to do with the Valleys, are pulled into this work. Can we instead have new projects that are for the sole purpose of giving a fair deal to the former south Wales coalfield? I and Plaid Cymru will champion any new projects that the taskforce proposes, but we want to see the proof that this is new and innovative work that will deliver results and turn around the poverty and deprivation that is still our hangover from the pit closure programme.

The leader of the Tories asked about money. Now, I’ve noticed that no budget has been talked about—no specific budget—for this work. You’ve talked about catalysts, but I very much hope that the ambition that you’ve outlined will be backed up by resources.

You’ve mentioned the metro. How much money is going to be allocated to the metro? When will we see the plan for the metro? Are you going to start the work in those points furthest away from the city? These are the questions people in the Valleys want to know. People in the Valleys will not put up with a repetition of previous initiatives that have either failed or made things worse, and neither will Plaid Cymru.

I’m grateful to Leanne Wood for her few kind words. I get the impression that I’ve just watched a video being made. Can I say very, very gently to the leader of Plaid Cymru that she’s the only Valleys Member here who hasn’t met me to discuss this work in detail about how it affects their individual constituencies? A number of Members have come and spoken to me about these matters, and it is possible for all Members to continue these conversations about their individual constituencies on any other occasion.

Can I say that the conversation that I had with people in Ferndale two weeks ago was very instructive? They were talking about how they saw their lives. I was talking to a group of young people about how they saw their lives and how they saw their futures, and what they wanted was politicians with answers and politicians who had a commitment to spend time talking with them and listening to what they had to say, and—

What about jobs?

Jobs were a part of it but not the whole of it, and more time listening and less time talking would actually probably be a good lesson for the leader of Plaid Cymru. Can I say that we understand—? We understand—and it’s a good time to discuss this at the moment with Matthew Taylor’s report published today, which exposes some of the real inequalities in today’s labour market and in today’s economy. We know that a statistical overview of the Valleys won’t tell you the whole story of people’s lives in the Valleys. It won’t tell you about the difficulties faced with zero-hours contracts; they won’t talk to you about the issues of a casualised economy; they won’t talk to you about the issues of agency work, of insecurity, of being unable to plan ahead, unable to plan a family’s week or working life. People won’t talk to you about that, but the work that Mattew Taylor’s undertaken and published today I think tells us a lot about the lives of many people in the Valleys and people who I speak to on a daily and weekly basis.

Can I say this in answer to your questions? We will be ensuring that the closer to home project comes to fruition and that pilots are published and are under way in the coming weeks and months. My colleague the Minister for skills has been leading on this and she will be making an announcement of that in the coming months. We will be ensuring that these jobs are also within the Valleys region. The reason that I campaigned for the dualling of the A465, when the former Deputy First Minister was resisting it, was because what I wanted to see was an economic investment in the Valleys of south Wales. I wanted to see the dualling of that road to ensure that we were able to create a northern corridor and use that northern corridor to stimulate economic activity, to create jobs, to create work and to create careers. That is why I campaigned to ensure that we had that dualling, and when every time the then Deputy First Minister told us it wasn’t a priority for him, we made sure it was a priority, and it was a Labour Government that started to deliver on that. Let’s make that absolutely clear.

I’m surprised, also, that the Member asks questions about the metro. These announcements have already been made, of course. The Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Infrastructure has already made an announcement on the £750 million on the metro scheme, and has already published a timescale for that, and has already published plans for that. That’s been done on a number of occasions, and is already in the public domain. Let me say this, in terms of existing projects: clearly, we are going to maximise the benefits of those projects that exist at the moment. I was very clear, in my answer to the leader of the opposition, that we want to ensure that we act as a catalyst, yes, and that we ensure that the Valleys are the responsibility of all departments, in the same way as, as I spoke earlier about the future of the Welsh language, it isn’t simply a matter for one department and one budget line. It is integrated in and is the responsibility of all aspects of Government and all ministries and all departments. That is exactly the way in which we will progress with the Valleys, and I’ll say this, in closing: you can either come with us on this journey or not. That is a matter for you.

Thanks, Minister, for your statement this afternoon. It’s good that there is a Welsh Government plan for the Valleys, but, of course, we do need to ensure that it is an effective one. There does seem to be a measure of scepticism in various sectors of the Chamber so far, and we do have a lack of detail. Of course, you are hampered by the historic problem of the relative failure, or the perceived relative failure, of previous Valleys initiatives. So, I wish you luck with this one and, of course, I think we all hope that it can yield some success, but we need to have some more detail about what you’re trying to do, and, of course, we await the delivery plan in the autumn.

Jobs are going to be crucial, as has become clear from what we’ve been debating today. Now, you’ve hinted at the creation of possibly thousands of jobs, which is a tantalising prospect, but we don’t know much about how these jobs are going to be created, so I’d be interested if you could tell us a little bit more about what tools you’ll be using in this job creation scheme. If there is going to be more relocation of public sector jobs to the Valleys, could you give us any more information about that?

One of the previous speakers also asked about interaction with the private sector. Yes, we do need to make sure that there are jobs located in the Valleys themselves, not just in the city region as a whole, so have you any more to say about that? Specifically, what tools could you use? Will there be recruitment or training grants on offer for firms employing local people? Will there be anything relating to sector-specific training? That’s another possibility. You talked about the issue of promoting tourism by promoting the natural beauty of the Valleys, which is an aspect that’s often overlooked. You’ve talked about the landscape park, for instance, so is there any more you can tell us about that, specifically, this afternoon? Thank you.

We do want to ensure that we have a number of different tools available to us to stimulate economic activity and to create work and to create jobs, and, as I said in answer to an earlier question, to create not just jobs but careers in the Valleys. We’ve outlined an approach, which is to ensure that we use not only the metro, but other travel routes as well, as spines, if you like, within the Valleys, and to ensure that we have locations along those different transport links where we can focus in on individual sites and individual places, and to create strategic hubs that can lead, in themselves, to the potential for growth and for jobs to be created in those locations in the Valleys region.

At the same time, we will be continuing to invest in the foundational economy and in local economies to ensure that we do have investment in local entrepreneurs, local businesses, local jobs and local companies. So, we will be using tools such as those in order to stimulate and create economic activity within the Valleys. Our objective is to close the gap between the Valleys and the rest of Wales over the coming years, and we will put forward a plan and a timescale as to how we see that happening.

In terms of the landscape park, this is what I believe to be a really exciting opportunity for us to appreciate and value the Valleys in a way that perhaps we haven’t always done in the past. I want it to be a regional park concept that will stretch from the British in my friend’s constituency in Torfaen across to the west and to Carmarthenshire in the west—somewhere where we can appreciate and value all the different landscapes and places within the Valleys. I spent time with my colleague, Dai Rees, at different times in the Afan valley. I know there are plans to maximise the value of that landscape there, but I also know from my own personal experience of living in the Valleys that we do want to get up on the tops in the commons to explore and to understand the history, and not just the history of industrialisation, but the history before industrialisation that we have in the Valleys and the heritage that we have available to us, and to not only ensure that we have a tourism offer, if you like, for people from elsewhere, but also for ourselves, and we can value and appreciate the places in which we live, and learn again the history of industrialisation in the Valleys.

I spent some time as a young man, and even today, up in Trefil, the quarries there—the limestone quarries above Tredegar—and also then following the tramway down Brinore into Talybont and elsewhere: the linkages that were created before we had the M4s and the railways of this world. So, I hope that we would be able to do that. I hope that that would be an exciting and transformational project and one that will not simply transform the Valleys, but the lives of people who live there.

I’d like to thank the Minister for his statement today, and also to place on record my thanks to the Minister and other members of the Valleys taskforce for visiting my own constituency and carrying out a consultation exercise there.

This morning, I chaired the cross-party group on industrial communities, where our guest speaker was Dr Victoria Winckler of the Bevan Foundation. Many of the ideas that we discussed there have actually been mentioned in your statement today—for example, the importance of strategic hubs. Also, within the economy committee, we’ve taken evidence and looked at the importance of growth poles or strategic hubs to make sure that wealth and prosperity is spread across the area, particularly in light of the city deals. I would like to ask the Minister when he would be in a position to provide us with further information about the location of the other strategic hubs that have been referred to in the statement today.

I also welcome the reference to the importance of transport and infrastructure. Of course, the south Wales metro has the potential to be transformational in its impact on the south Wales Valleys, but we mustn’t forget the importance of road links as well. So many of the northern Valleys have already benefited from the dualling of the Heads of the Valleys road, with my constituency and that of my colleague Dawn Bowden being next on the list to benefit from that improvement.

I’d like to ask the Minister how he sees that tying in with the provision of public transport to link up the northern Valleys, and also to link up the different city regions as well. For example, if you take the Cynon Valley and its neighbouring constituency, Neath, with my colleague Jeremy Miles, we have tremendous links there in terms of local economies, but, by being in two separate city regions, there could be a danger that the need for that infrastructure could be overlooked. So, will that be something that the Valleys taskforce will be looking at?

Finally, I welcomed the reference to the importance of the foundational economy within your statement today as well, but I’d like to flag up the fact that social care and childcare are two areas where I feel that we could really make significant inroads in lifting up the living standards of many of our working-age population. For example, we know that Karel Williams, in his work on what Wales can be, has done a lot of work there around how social care could be used to deliver economic benefits to regions. And I think, particularly with our childcare offer that we have on the table here now in Wales, that is something else that we could look at to roll out and offer more sustainable, good-quality jobs.

I’m grateful, again, to my friend, the Member for Cynon Valley, for her remarks. I met with the Bevan Foundation yesterday and discussed some of our ideas. I should say and put on record that I’m a former member of the board of trustees, of course, of the Bevan Foundation, and I’ve always found the Bevan Foundation a refreshing, intelligent and challenging contribution to all of our work in the Government. I always value the reports and the analysis that the Bevan Foundation provides. I also enjoy the challenge that they provide to us as well, and long may that continue.

I hope that, in terms of the strategic hubs, we’ll be able to make announcements on that next week. As part of our delivery plan, published in the autumn, we will outline then how we see each individual hub developing, and a timescale for that and how we will seek to invest in those hubs to bring life to our vision and our ambitions for those different hubs—different in different places, but we will ensure that each hub has a very clear understanding of what each hub can deliver and how we will help that hub to deliver those ambitions and over what timescale.

I agree very much with the points that have been made about transport. Transport came up time and time again during our conversations with people right across the whole of the Valleys region. That was one issue that was consistent everywhere we went, and I think sometimes we do see the metro as the answer to all of the issues around transport, and we do sometimes recognise that the need for local bus services not just connecting to metro services, but connecting to public services, is absolutely essential, and to ensure that we do have public services located in such a way as to make them accessible to people without the need for private transport and for using cars. That is absolutely essential, I think, as we go forward. I hope that we will be able to place a greater emphasis on that.

The points made about city regions and linkages are absolutely essential as well, and I would refer the Member back to my earlier answer when I spoke about not wishing to duplicate and to over-complexify the structures that we have for delivery, and that we use existing delivery structures and use the existing machinery of Government rather than creating anything new, but that we’re able to co-ordinate and understand how we better co-ordinate what we’re seeking to do.

In answer, quickly, to your final point about social care and childcare, I remember spending some time talking to parents and children at a group in Glynneath—a Flying Start group—and listening to what they were saying about the difficulties that they found, first of all in finding childcare, and then being able to work as well and wanting to return to work. It’s something that stays in my mind now. I think it’s one thing that we should be investing in, and, through the work that Carl Sargeant is leading on, I hope that we will invest in childcare and invest in training people, enabling people to work in the sector as well, to enable them both to find work but also to ensure that working parents in the Valleys are able to access high-quality childcare that’s also affordable.

Thank you very much, Minister. We have overrun on this statement, so I intend to move on to the next statement.