Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:48 pm on 26 September 2017.
Cabinet Secretary, in your statement today you’ve made it clear that the Welsh Government has invested around €100 million of EU structural funds in marine energy, which I very much welcome. However, recently, it’s been brought to my attention that the Welsh Government has invested in certain marine projects off the coast of Pembrokeshire, one of which will be in the ownership of a local authority based in England.
Now, some of my constituents are concerned that, if projects in Wales are run by local authorities outside Wales, then we could end up where places like Pembrokeshire, and indeed the whole of Wales, don’t actually get the local benefits from such projects. So, in the circumstances, can you tell us how you and your officials are making sure that any grant funding provided to marine projects will be reinvested in Welsh communities? And can you tell us how your department is monitoring the effectiveness of such projects to make sure that communities in Wales actually benefit? Because you refer in your statement today to the importance of community-owned projects.