Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Transport – in the Senedd at 1:53 pm on 10 January 2018.

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Photo of Ken Skates Ken Skates Labour 1:53, 10 January 2018

First of all, the action plan does contain—right at its heart is the economic contract and then the subsequent calls to action, the economic contract being the front door—get through that and then through the prism of the calls to action and you'll be able to draw down support that aligns with the main causes or the main factors that influence improvement in productivity. One of those is futureproofing a business in terms of the threat and opportunities of automation and in modern ways of working. So, the action plan does have, at its heart, a desire to make sure that businesses are futureproofed and to make sure that we are embracing and taking full advantage of industry 4.0.

I'll just go back to the targets question again, actually, because the Member's right, I decided not to include those specific targets that he outlined in his first question, the reason being that, often, when targets are set, it becomes an obsession to chase targets. And, insofar as earnings are concerned, what you can do is grow the economy in one part of a country or two parts of a country and make sure that the rich become richer and then close the gap, but what you're not doing is closing the level of inequality between the richest and the poorest. I prefer, through the interventions that we've outlined—regional working, a focus on high-quality secure employment—. I think it's absolutely essential that we go on improving the levels of wealth in Wales, whilst also reducing levels of inequality across the country.