Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:51 pm on 18 July 2017.
Cabinet Secretary, it’s good to see progress being made on the establishment of the development bank for Wales, and it comes as no surprise to colleagues here that I wholeheartedly welcome the location of the bank in north Wales. As my colleague over there said, it has fanfare on the front page of ‘Wrexham Leader’ today, but it also features prominently in the ‘Flintshire Leader’, I think showing the significance of it cross-county and to the region as a whole. Whilst I obviously recognise the need for this bank to support, as it should, businesses the length and breadth of the country, I just want to focus briefly on what you say in your statement about the bank’s aim to grow 50 jobs. On that, whilst I recognise that people being recruited into those roles need to have the right skills for the bank to be successful, I’d be keen to see how that could actually offer opportunities for people in the region itself, as I’m keen to see that the jobs brought by devolution, particularly the institutions of devolution as we progress, actually offer opportunity across Wales. So, if the skills aren’t there in the region already, is there any opportunity in the future to look at how apprenticeships could be offered as well?
My final point is that, in your evidence to a recent Economy, Infrastructure and Skills Committee session, I think you touched on the potential opportunities for co-location for Business Wales with Finance Wales in the development bank. I was wondering if you are able to expand on this—how, actually, it could be not just co-location but co-working, which wouldn’t only help people to access the support out there in terms of financial support but actually increase awareness of the opportunity for advice and guidance that’s there. It was really brought home to me, particularly in a recent visit with you to Hafod brewery in my constituency, that people on the ground aren’t really aware of what support is out there for them and I think that perhaps better co-working might help us to reach that aim of making sure that more people are able to benefit effectively from the services.