5. What is the Welsh Government doing to change Wales’s status as the poorest part of the UK? OAQ(5)0212(EI)

Well, on measures of household incomes and wealth, Wales is not the poorest part of the UK. Nonetheless, we do need to improve wealth and well-being considerably. Therefore, we are taking a range of actions to deliver prosperity for all in Wales, including investing in skills and infrastructure and creating an environment where businesses can start up and grow.

Well, thank you for that answer, Cabinet Minister. I asked the question because it appears that, after many years of this institution, we are now relatively poorer than we were at the start of devolution. Why, after billions of pounds of so-called European structural funding, do we find ourselves in such a position? Surely, it is time to address this situation with fundamentally different solutions than those applied before. It is time for Wales to turn away from an economy dominated by the public sector to one that is a dynamic industrial powerhouse that competes with the best in the world. We have the resources, skills, hard-working, industrious population, to make this happen. I know the Cabinet Secretary possesses those very same attributes, so will he apply them to drive this new industrial revolution in Wales and put a stop to this endless cycle of poverty?

Can I thank the Member for his question, the keen interest he shows in this area, and the passion with which he speaks about the need to grow wealth in the aggregate as well as at a community level, making sure that we spread prosperity more evenly across Wales? In terms of activities since devolution, Wales has had the fifth highest increase in gross value added per head compared to the 12 UK countries and English regions. We’ve seen a record number of people entering into work, unemployment is consistently at a very low rate, and we’ve seen the number of business births now rise to record levels.

We know that there are almost—we’re just about touching on 100,000 businesses that are headquartered in Wales. But what we wish to see take place in the coming years is a move towards strengthening regional economies in Wales so that we can decentralise and deconcentrate investment. For that reason, I’m reshaping my department so that we have strong regional units that can work with the city regions, and with the growth region, and with local authorities on a regional footprint, to assess what the key sectoral strengths are across Wales, and then to hone in, develop them, and, during the fourth industrial revolution, make sure that people are skilled and make sure that businesses are futureproofed in order to create a higher-value economy, one that benefits the whole of Wales.

Cabinet Secretary, one of the best ways out of poverty is through work, and that means creating an efficient integrated transport network to allow people, particularly young people, to access jobs within a reasonable distance of their homes. However, the cost of fares can often be a deterrent to young people being able to access jobs. Given that the Welsh Government’s mytravelpass scheme, offering young people a third off bus fares, ended in March this year, what plan does the Cabinet Secretary have to assist young jobseekers with their transport costs when looking for work across Wales? Thank you.

Can I thank the Member for his question? He is absolutely right in that the lack of affordable, reliable, and frequent public transport is a major barrier preventing many people from gaining work. We know, based on all available statistics, that in the Growth Track 360 region of north Wales and the Mersey Dee area approximately a quarter of people who receive job interviews are not able to go to them because they cannot get transport to those interviews. That is an appalling—an appalling—statistic, which must be addressed.

We have piloted the mytravelpass. It’s continuing whilst we consult with young people and with the bus sector on a sustainable replacement scheme. It’s my view that there are current schemes operating in the UK that are sustainable that we could look to to learn from. I was recently, with colleagues, in Liverpool learning about the Merseytravel scheme for young people, which I believe operates on the basis of £3 can get you anywhere anytime, as many trips as you want per day in that region. That’s the sort of model that’s innovative, it’s sustainable, and it’s fair, and that’s the sort of development I’d like to see in Wales.

But, fundamentally, we need to reform the bus sector itself—modernise the bus sector, get better-quality buses being utilised, and change perceptions of bus travel as well, so that people access bus services not as a last resort but because they are of a sufficiently high quality to experience an enjoyable trip. I think in terms of rural communities especially bus services are absolutely vital. We’ve maintained the bus services support grant of £25 million for several years now, because we’ve recognised the value of bus services in rural communities. I’m keen to make sure that we work with the sector and with passenger groups to find more sustainable ways of growing patronage on bus services so that the level of public subsidy can be reduced without affecting the attractiveness of transport on buses.

Cabinet Secretary, I’m sure you’d agree with me that the recent announcement by CAF of the 200 to 300 jobs in Newport—quality jobs building the trains of the future to help take that integrated transport system forward—is very valuable, and I’d be very interested to know how we can capitalise on that investment by attracting further investment and, indeed, making sure that local suppliers and local firms benefit from this very welcome development.

Can I thank John Griffiths for his question? I know that he’s warmly welcomed the announcement by CAF of £30 million in his constituency, which will lead to the establishment of a fairly major manufacturing facility, employing 300 people. It’s worth saying that we managed to beat more than 100 locations around the world to secure this investment for Wales, once again stepping up and beating our competitors around the planet. Now, the facility will enable the company to assemble, test and commission new vehicles in Wales. It will have the capacity to undertake future manufacturing projects, as well as maintenance and servicing activities. When you align that to the development of the metro and investment in the next franchise, I think there are huge opportunities for us to grow a skills base in this particular sector that will maintain people in employment for a generation.