As our report of this states, there is little evidence to show that Wales's eight enterprise zones have been transformational in terms of job creation, but different outcomes are inevitable because each has faced different challenges and different local circumstances. The Cabinet Secretary's conduct when he attended committee for his final scrutiny session with us on this inquiry, and announced his intention to reconfigure enterprise zones, including to merge the Anglesey and Snowdonia boards, before we had questioned him and before he knew our evidence-based recommendations, may unfortunately be considered disrespectful to the committee. Referring to the Star Trek analogy in the title of our report, this was not to boldly go where no man has gone before, but at least he appears to have partially backtracked on this now.

In accepting our recommendation 2, he describes excellent progress in the availability of modern commercial floor space. I therefore encourage him to reread our report and note that the witness statements that are a current theme among enterprise zone chairs was the lack of available property for businesses and that there is a lack of modern floor space across Wales.

I hope his statement, that he will be seeking advice from the Development Bank of Wales to ascertain the potential for a commercial property fund, will address the evidence in our report that there is a shortage of units across the board, and that across the whole of Wales, there are perhaps, quote,

'only two or three vacant industrial buildings, and apart from 1 square mile of our capital city, there is no speculative development to note anywhere.' 

It is regrettable that the Cabinet Secretary has only accepted in principle our recommendations that the Welsh Government should return to annual reporting of the enterprise zones with clear data provided for each zone, and that it should make its priorities for each of the enterprise zones explicit, publishing clear annual targets.

The Cabinet Secretary's acceptance in principle of our recommendation that the Welsh Government should reconsider its proposed merger of the Anglesey and Snowdonia boards is at least an improvement on his previous position. He justifies this by stating that he's taken advice from the chairs of the Anglesey and Snowdonia enterprise zone advisory boards, and, together with his officials, will consider the appropriateness and timing of the merger of the two boards further. Well, the week prior to his statement to committee that he intended to merge these two boards, I'd chaired the committee in north-west Wales when we took evidence from each of these boards. It's a shame that he had not also taken this evidence before announcing his premature intention to merge them.

In Trawsfynydd, we heard that, alongside the Snowdonia board's progress with the Snowdonia Aerospace Centre at Llanbedr, it was responsible for mitigating the progressive reduction in local employment at the former Trawsfynydd nuclear power station. On a positive note, we also heard that the site was a candidate to host future UK small modular reactor development. The board emphasised strongly to us its need to remain in existence, and independent from neighbouring Anglesey, although it would retain and develop its strong links with developments on Anglesey. The UK Government's launch of its new £200 million nuclear sector deal at Trawsfynydd a fortnight ago reinforced the importance of this, with Trawsfynydd tipped as a front-runner for the development of advanced modular reactors, sharing up to £44 million for research and development, and Menai Science Park on Anglesey the preferred location for a £40 million thermal hydraulics facility. When we met the Anglesey board, they also emphasised their need to remain independent so that they may take forward their work on the Morlais west Anglesey tidal demonstration zone, on the Holyhead port expansion, and on the new nuclear power station at Wylfa Newydd.

A report commissioned by the UK Government published in May 2018 confirms the potential significant economic benefits of tidal stream energy. Anglesey can be at the centre of global leadership in tidal power, and the north Wales growth bid includes funding for Morlais. We also heard last month that the UK Government will enter into formal negotiations with Hitachi on the development and construction of a new nuclear power station at Wylfa on Anglesey. And as the Anglesey enterprise zone chairman, Neil Rowlands, said to both the Cabinet Secretary and me, 

'The board is made up of predominantly Anglesey people, is of an extremely high calibre and directly linked. It is imperative that the Anglesey enterprise zone board should continue.'

Diolch yn fawr.