10. 9. Debate on the External Affairs and Additional Legislation Committee's Report on their ‘Inquiry into the future of regional policy — what next for Wales?’

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:07 pm on 27 September 2017.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 4:07, 27 September 2017

Well, Suzy, I wanted to say—I was about to say—that we are very keen that the strong sense of partnership, which we think has been a strength of the way that European funding has been deployed in Wales so far, that we need a partnership that reaches beyond those most easily able to take part, which I think is the point you made earlier in your contribution. We need to make sure that we have partners from local government, from the universities, from the third sector, from the private sector, but not just the people who are able to turn up already. We’ve got to be able to move beyond that if we are going to be able to, as the committee in its recommendation 17 suggests, create a policy framework for the future of regional policy in Wales that has simplification, responsiveness, innovation and is able to hold the tension between investment in places—that’s to say, infrastructure investment—and investment in people, the human capital that a number of contributors have emphasised here this afternoon. In doing that, we want to be able to draw on ideas in Wales, but beyond Wales as well, and that was an important part of the committee’s report, encouraging us to be innovative and looking to models beyond the United Kingdom to open up a wider range of options.

At the root of all of this, Dirprwy Lywydd, in responding to new opportunities, opportunities that build from the strengths that we have created during the period that we’ve benefited from European funds, but recognise that now is the point at which we have to be able to look forward to Wales beyond the European Union, to use the funds we will have, to use the powers at our disposal, and then to apply that policy imagination to make sure that we have a regional policy that will work for all parts of Wales.