Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs – in the Senedd at 1:51 pm on 13 June 2018.

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Photo of Lesley Griffiths Lesley Griffiths Labour 1:51, 13 June 2018

I think you make a very important point about workforce, and all aspects right across my portfolio are very concerned about the workforce. You mentioned that 90 per cent of vets in relation to, I think you said, abattoirs are EU graduates; 100 per cent of Food Standards Agency vets are EU graduates—100 per cent. So you can see why we're so concerned. And then, apart from the skilled labour, there's the unskilled labour. We're already seeing a drop, farmers are telling me, in the number of EU nationals who are coming to do seasonal work ahead of the summer. So, it's clearly a matter of great concern and something where we went into in great detail with the Secretary of State for Wales. I don't think he was left under any illusions about the concerns that we have to take back to the UK Government. It's very hard—. Some of the abattoirs have about 80 per cent of their staff who are EU nationals. It's very hard to make those jobs more attractive, so it is about making sure that we help to upskill, and this has been part of the work for the past two years, really, since the EU referendum vote, to make sure that our sectors right across my portfolio are prepared.