4. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on the delivery of Our Valleys, Our Future within South Wales West? OAQ51349

The Valleys delivery plan covers the Valleys in the South Wales West constituency, such as the Dulais and Llynfi valleys. It sets out how the taskforce’s priorities will be delivered, who will be involved, the expected benefits and the timescales for completion.

Thank you for that answer. Clearly, we all want to see regeneration of the Valleys succeed, but residential development proposals for northern Bridgend, for example, are hardly groundbreaking visions of the future, and then there are areas, such as the Swansea valley, that are not likely to benefit very much at all, as the plan stands at the moment. In essence, many, as we've heard, believe that the delivery plan needs more work and scrutiny. So, when will the Assembly as a whole have an opportunity to scrutinise the delivery plan in detail?

I'm rather surprised at the question from the Member for South Wales West. He's been a long-standing Member of this place, and he knows that scrutiny is what is actually taking place at the moment. I'm surprised he doesn't recognise that. He can scrutinise me at questions and in committee, at the time of their choosing. I attend all committees whenever I'm invited to do so. I will say to him that perhaps he needs to look harder at the region he represents. I was in Banwen a couple of weeks ago, speaking to members of the community there, and they were fully engaged in designing the sort of improvements they want to see in their community. I would suggest that the Member spends some time with them.

Cabinet Secretary, can I congratulate you on your promotion from the middle benches to the frontbench once again? But, also, you were talking about the Valleys taskforce, and you've highlighted two hubs, actually. You've put the Neath hub in and you've put the Llynfi valley one in now. Of course, the Afan valley is in between those two—

And the Rhondda.

And the Rhondda. Thank you.

There are many of us who actually want it in our own Valleys, but the question that comes is how do you ensure you engage with those Valleys you have not identified will contain hubs and that are not in those particular areas, to ensure that those deprived communities—and they are deprived communities—are able to get benefits from these hubs and that we can see progress going across all the Valleys and not just the ones in which the hubs are located. And you're welcome to come to Cymmer any time, and Croeserw, to see for yourself.

The meeting that was held in that area, I think, was a lively meeting where you had a lot of those views expressed. We are seeking to continue to ensure that we do hold public events across the whole of the Valleys region, to ensure that we are able to listen to and to move forward on the basis of what we hear. One of the issues that we've found through the last year or so of public engagement, as the Member well knows, is that this is a plan from the Valleys and not just for the Valleys. It's something that has been designed for people in the Valleys, across the whole of the Valleys.

But, at the same time, we need to take strategic decisions, and it is simply not possible to have a strategic hub in every single valley, in every single constituency, in every single town and village across the whole of the Valleys region. That is the last thing we need at the moment. We need bold, strategic visions. We need delivery, we need investment and we need to bring people together. This Government needs to act as a leader and a catalyst, and this Government will certainly do that.

Can I offer my congratulations, as well, Cabinet Secretary?

I was slightly more excited to see that the Llynfi valley was included in your plans. But I do presume that you've already spoken to Bridgend County Borough Council about what your expectations of them are going to be, not just in terms of what they're going to do, but what the outcomes are going to be in this. I heard what you said to Dai Lloyd about there being an element of co-production in the design of this, but I think that's yet to be seen. I wonder if you could tell us who is going to be primarily responsible for the delivery of local action plans so that we know where to direct our scrutiny outside this Chamber.

Well, let me say that I am responsible for the delivery of the plan as a whole, and you can scrutinise me on that. But, let me say that Bridgend County Borough Council have been very quick to tell me what their expectations are of me as well. I don't think there was so much a sense of me telling them what I wanted from them; they were certainly very anxious to tell me what they expected of me, and I'm grateful to the Member for Ogmore, who facilitated many of those conversations and who facilitated the meetings that we had to discuss those issues. We had a very, very successful public meeting in Maesteg, where we led a long conversation with people from those valleys about how we want to see the strategic hub in north Bridgend developing into the future. I hope that Members will continue to scrutinise me on the delivery of the Valleys taskforce project and plan. I can see there's a great interest in that this afternoon. We had hoped, of course, to hold a Government debate on this matter earlier in the month, and perhaps that's something I will reschedule for the new year.