Can I thank Dai Rees for his question and for the interest a number of Members have shown in this subject, not just today, but over many months and indeed years? I’d like to begin in responding to Dai Rees’s questions by putting on record my appreciation to the loyal, dedicated and skilled workers employed by Tata across Wales. They have shown incredible patience and loyalty. They have sacrificed in terms of their pension in reaching the point that we are at today, and they deserve to be shown equal respect and credit by Tata as an employer as they move towards the joint venture.

As I said, I’ve already spoken with the CEO of Tata Steel UK, and I’ve sought and been given a number of assurances. I would agree with the trade unions in the statement that they have issued that today’s announcement is to be welcomed cautiously. This paves the way for Europe’s second-biggest steel business to be formed, which could bring many benefits to the UK—benefits that could align and should align with the sector deal approach being taken forward as part of the UK industrial strategy. Last week, or last month, I met with the Secretary of State in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to discuss, amongst other things, the steel industry and the sector deal and how we needed to ensure that research development and innovation was at the heart of the sector deal approach for steel. I’ve been given assurance over the assets that exist across Wales and the UK—that there will be no closures; that the announcement paves the way to a sustainable and competitive future for the steel industry in Wales. But I will be seeking further discussions, not only with Tata but also ThyssenKrupp to ensure that the interests of Welsh workers are at the very heart of the joint venture.

I can assure the Member that our investment, our interest in the advanced steel innovation centre continues, and that project will be taken forward. I think one of the strengths of the research and development base in Tata Steel’s Wales operations is that it’s linked so strongly to higher education institutions in Wales, that it’s embedded within the higher education institution estate, and so that project will be taken forward.

The most important thing for steel making in the UK is that it is competitive so that it can be sustainable. Of course, the Member rightly raises the role that the UK Government can play in this regard, specifically concerning energy and the disparity between energy prices here and elsewhere. Action is still required in this regard. It is something that has been raised at an official level and at a political level with the UK Government and we still await a satisfactory response. Talks will be ongoing and I am in no doubt that discussions will be ongoing at the UK steel council, involving not just Tata Steel but other steel manufacturers in Wales, to press for a fair deal on energy.

My officials have also been engaged with officials at BEIS in recent days concerning this matter. We’ll be working jointly together in the interests of UK steel operations to ensure that those commitments that were made for the steel plants are honoured. Of course, the primary commitment concerns the blast furnaces at Port Talbot and the £1 billion pledge, which we expect to be honoured. But there are other conditions that will be honoured regardless of the joint venture’s details, concerning the £13 million that we’ve made available to Tata Steel UK. Those conditions include conditions on minimum employment periods of five years for workers, and they will be honoured by the joint venture.