Part of 3. Topical Questions – in the Senedd at 3:23 pm on 9 May 2018.
Dai Lloyd is right to point to the Swansea bay tidal lagoon as a project that could offer, and should be offering, high-quality jobs. The whole point of the economic action plan is to drive up the creation of higher quality, better-paid, more secure employment opportunities. And I think the announcement by Virgin Media demonstrates why we (a) need to supercharge the industries of the future, but also make sure that existing employers within Wales are futureproofed. That's why we've commenced work, the study, on digitisation and automation within the Welsh economy. It's why one of the calls to action concerns futureproofing of businesses, and so we're absolutely determined to make sure that existing jobs are retained, that businesses are futureproofed for the change that is inevitable and will come within the next decade, but also that we're focusing new job creation in those areas of economic activity that are sustainable in the long term.
I think Dai raises the important question of relations, not just between Government and some businesses, but also between trade unions and some businesses, and also stakeholder groups and some businesses. The fact that this particular business is non-unionised and that the Welsh Contact Centre Forum were not made aware of the decision demonstrates that this was a decision that the business reached and wished to keep for sensitive commercial reasons within its own ranks until the point at which the media were informed. But as I said in response to Suzy Davies, I do not think that that's a fair way to treat their own employees.
There are 772 people who have demonstrated great loyalty to the business. Two hundred and twenty are subcontracted to Sitel. Now, I wouldn't wish to raise hopes too high at this stage, but I've asked my officials to explore the potential of Sitel to remain in Swansea. We are hoping that Virgin Media will be supportive of this and will perhaps continue with the existing accommodation, as an interim offer would be particularly helpful in trying to secure as many of those jobs as possible. Notwithstanding this, we will be offering signposting services, primarily to the DWP and Careers Wales—they're certainly the two agencies that I would suggest the Member refers his constituents to in the first instance. But I am also hopeful that Virgin Media will allow on-site workshops to take place involving those partners who will form the taskforce. It's what Tesco allowed on-site when they made the decision last year and it made a huge difference in terms of making sure that people could segue from employment in Tesco to another job, and it also made a very significant difference in minimising the emotional damage of redundancies. So, I'm hopeful that Virgin Media will accept the request from us to allow taskforce partners to go on-site and to offer those people who are going to be affected by this decision valuable workshops in how to get into employment and how to make sure that their well-being is safeguarded in the interim period.