Can I thank the Member for his question and his concern, which is shared by many other Members in this Chamber? Indeed, the local Member Jayne Bryant has discussed her concerns over the future of the company with me on numerous occasions and made very strong representations. Essentially, I think it would be inappropriate for me to comment or speculate over the viability of the company were the flood not to have occurred, but in terms of what happened with the flood, normally in this sort of instance an insurance company would pay out but then pursue the parties who are liable. In this case, Welsh Government as the landowner actually had the site licenced to Tai Tirion at the time of the flooding. In turn, the land was occupied by their contractors, Walters, who were remediating the site in preparation for a housing scheme. Now, as I say, normally the claim would be processed through an insurance company and they would then pursue us if we were liable. That has not happened. Officials have been in very close dialogue with the company, and I’ve been taking a very keen interest in this matter over many months. We helped to facilitate support through Finance Wales back in December 2016, enabling the company to continue to trade without major issues, whilst also pursuing their insurance claim.

I would reject any claim that a without-prejudice payment was ever promised by the Welsh Government. What did happen was that after the flooding a letter was received from Coilcolor’s solicitors relating to a claim for £600,000. The Welsh Government instructed external solicitors, who invited details of the claim, but the company has not progressed it. We did send a second letter in April and we received notification of another claim relating to a pay-out made to the landlord of the building amounting to £58,000, but the advice from our solicitor remains that we should not take any actions or make any payments relating to the claim or the property until we have had further details, including the full basis of both claims. That is both responsible and necessary. However, I am concerned about the future of the employees in the company, and we stand ready to help the bank and Grant Thornton in any way possible, should a new buyer come forward and take over the operation. We have tried-and-tested means of intervening when there are job losses. Again, we would deploy the sort of support that we’re planning on deploying if job losses occur at Tesco in Cardiff, for example.