Part of 3. Topical Questions – in the Senedd at 3:35 pm on 9 May 2018.
Thank you very much, and, again, completely agree that we need people living and working in our town centres to ensure that they are very much vibrant places. So, again, I completely agree with those comments and concerns that you have raised, about the impact that losing so many jobs from a town centre location could have on the ability of small businesses, for example, in the area to remain sustainable.
It also flies in the face of our Valleys taskforce working. Because, again, Julie James said to Damian Hinds that the DWP offices are in some of our most deprived communities in Wales. The Welsh Government established a ministerial taskforce in September 2016 to work with communities in the south Wales Valleys over the course of this Assembly term, with a focus on creating good-quality jobs in the Valleys, and the skills people need to access those jobs has been identified as an early priority. And she was extremely clear in saying,
'The action that you are proposing undermines this policy approach in Wales, which is about ensuring a share of the growth seen south of the M4 corridor is brought into the Valleys, and I urge you to reconsider your proposals to safeguard the jobs in these communities.'
So, your assessment that the UK Government is trying to seek some kind of cover behind Welsh Government policy is again correct, whereas we've been very clear with them throughout that what they're suggesting actually flies in the face of Welsh Government policy.