3. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on Welsh Government plans for economic development in the south Wales valleys? OAQ(5)0203(EI)

Yes. Tomorrow we will publish ‘Our Valleys, Our Future’, a high-level plan for action, building on the work of the Valleys taskforce, and in addition to this, we will continue to invest in infrastructure improvements and skills and the general environment for business across the south Wales Valleys.

I thank the Cabinet Secretary for his answer. I’m sure he would agree with me that the industrial and manufacturing heritage of the Valleys is not something that should be confined to its past, but should be central to its future as well. We’ve got particular challenges facing us in terms of research and development and productivity, and I hope he won’t underestimate the potential for Welsh Government to make meaningful interventions that can transform the economic prospects of that region. Last month, the Scottish Government announced that it was going to create a national manufacturing institute in Scotland, based on the very successful advanced manufacturing centre in Sheffield. The one in Sheffield has 100 private partners plus, and it supports very highly skilled and highly paid jobs in that region. So, now that he’s got a little bit more time to tinker with his economic strategy over the summer, I wonder if he will look into the merits of creating a niche manufacturing institute, and of course that that should be located in the south Wales Valleys.

I’m very pleased to say to the Member that I’ve already done it. In fact, I announced last week that an advanced manufacturing institute based on the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre in Sheffield, which will be delivered with the University of Sheffield and universities in Wales, is being built. I approved the funding for the first phase of the institute just last week.

It’s also my vision that, as part of the technology park that we’ll be developing in Ebbw Vale, we will see an advanced manufacturing centre of excellence configured there as well. The model of the AMRC is already proven. Institutions and businesses have access to £0.5 billion-worth of research equipment. That’s why the model is so attractive. The advanced manufacturing and research institute in north Wales will build on that model, and I was also able to reveal that, according to the business case, the AMRI in north Wales will have an economic impact of up to £4 billion on GVA in the next 20 years. I want to make sure that we replicate that sort of model of success in the south Wales Valleys.

I look forward to scrutinising in this Chamber ‘Our Valleys, Our Future’, because we certainly need a transformative vision for the Valleys. I’m not sure the Valleys landscape park would constitute a hub, but it would be a transformative vision, potentially. We’ve got to start to recognise the real potential of this resource. The Valleys were once amongst Britain’s most beautiful spots, and travellers from all over the UK would come and paint pictures and write poetry about this wonderful landscape. They should come again, and more of them. I commend the sort of vision that your colleague Huw Irranca-Davies has for a Valleys forest, for instance. There is great potential there, and now we need to match it with vision.

Can I thank David Melding for his question, and also for, once again in this Chamber, touching on the importance of well-being to the economy, and the contribution that the natural landscape can make to our well-being? My colleague the Minister for Lifelong Learning and Welsh Language will be making a statement in the Chamber concerning the idea of a Valleys park. I’m sure that it’s an idea that you will very much welcome, and will incorporate, I am sure, a good degree of forestry and outdoor health activities.

Cabinet Secretary, given the contribution that tourism is making to economic development across the country, I’m pleased to note the tremendous success that we’ve seen with the tourist investment support scheme across Wales. But I am concerned to note that, of the 205 schemes that have received offers of grant support under the tourism investment support scheme since April 2011, only four of those were located in the south Wales Valleys region. I’m very pleased to say that Rock UK in my constituency was one of them. Given the beautiful countryside that David Melding’s just been talking about, and the rich industrial and social heritage of the area, do you share my concern at this limited take-up in the Valleys, even given that TISS is a funder of last resort? Could I ask you if you’d consider undertaking some research into why businesses in this area are reluctant to take advantage of this specific source of funding and whether in fact there is scope for extending the scheme—for extending the scope of the scheme?

Can I thank Dawn Bowden for her interest again in the visitor economy? Dawn has recognised regularly in this Chamber the value that tourism can make to communities in her constituency. I do share her concerns about the number of projects funded through TISS that have actually been delivered in the communities that she’s spoken about. For that reason, we carried out a piece of work to understand why fewer businesses come forward in the Valleys than in other areas of Wales.

As part of that work, we’ve also secured tourism funding from the rural development programme, which will enable us to deliver a higher intervention rate to businesses, and my officials will be undertaking a scoping study and an engagement programme, with a view to being able to develop more reputation-changing, interesting, innovative, creative tourism attractions in the Valleys communities.

I think the Member’s already identified one particular attraction that has proven to be quite game changing within her community. There are many others. There are, for example, activities based on biking and mountain biking, such as Bike Park Wales, that have proven enormously successful and have changed perceptions of the area.