The Welsh Red Meat Levy

Part of 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs – in the Senedd at 1:33 pm on 3 October 2018.

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Photo of Lesley Griffiths Lesley Griffiths Labour 1:33, 3 October 2018

I thank Andrew R.T. Davies for saying he will assist in any discussions he can around getting that Government amendment that we really want to see to the UK Agriculture Bill. In relation to the processing industry, I do think our processing industry is functioning well. I think it is a very attractive assessment, and we've had a feasibility study, which I'm sure you're aware of, into the opportunities for investments in parts of our processing plants, not necessarily just meat but also dairy.

One of the things that does concern me around our processing capabilities is the movement of EU nationals. I visited one processing plant where 80 per cent of the staff were EU nationals, So, there is concern, following Brexit, that we won't have the staff. And how do you make those sorts of jobs more attractive to local people? I think this has been an issue and it's something where I'm very happy to work with the sector to address.