4. Will the First Minister provide an update on action the Welsh Government is taking to protect jobs at the Schaeffler plant in Llanelli? OAQ52977

First of all, can I thank the Member for the work that he has done on behalf of those workers? We have held discussions with Schaeffler, and an offer of a two-tier approach to support the company has been accepted. A meeting will be held in early December to develop a taskforce with members of the Schaeffler management team, and the consultation period is still in operation, of course, until early January. What the support is aimed at doing, of course, is to help those who work there at the moment and to see what beneficial uses for employment the site could be put to in the future.

Thank you, First Minister. I warmly welcome that news. I met with the economy Secretary last week to urge the Government to engage with the plant, so I'm delighted that that has now happened. When I met with the UK managing director of Schaeffler, they made it clear that their decision to begin the process of closure had nothing to do with the workforce, which, they stressed, had been excellent. But, it's essential that they now properly engage with the consultation process. Would the Welsh Government make clear to them that if they decide they no longer want to continue the plant, we will not put up with them cutting and running? This town has provided nearly 50 years of building the profits of this business, and they owe an obligation to us to work with us constructively to see if we can keep manufacturing in that plant.

Yes, the conversation so far has been positive. I would expect that to continue in the future—there's no reason for them to change their minds. They've been working with us, as a Government, and the emphasis will be very strongly on finding a new use for the site, providing employment for all those who've worked there and others in future, and, of course, to provide support for those workers who will now, possibly, be looking elsewhere. But, as we have always done when situations like this have arisen, we will be there to support the workers involved.

Can I associate myself with what Lee Waters has said about the commitment that the workforce has shown over a period of very many years to that company, and how much they've contributed to their success? I hope that the discussions that you're having will have a positive outcome, but I have to say there's a faint sense here of shutting the stable door after the horse has already gone, and it may be that it's too late to change Schaeffler's mind—I hope that I'll be proved wrong in that, and I'm pleased to see the efforts that are going in.

But, in terms of other manufacturing businesses that may feel that their future is greatly jeopardised by the possibility of Brexit, what more can your Government do to engage with them proactively before they reach the point that Schaeffler has done and they've actually made the decision to leave? As has already been put to you again this afternoon, the most effective way, of course, to deal with these situations would be a people's vote and a decision for us to remain. But, in the meantime, and in the absence of that, what more can you do to engage proactively with particularly international companies in the hope that we can prevent them from getting to the position that Schaeffler has got to?

There are occasions when we get notice of potential closures and we're able to help those companies, and have done in the past—Tata being, I suppose, the most obvious example. But, there are occasions when we get no notice, and this was one such occasion. If we'd known that there were issues there, we could have obviously looked to help the company, but they'd already taken the decision.

As far as the way we operate goes and what we can do in the future, we have the EU transition fund, of course, of £50 million, which is there to help businesses to transition, helping them with training so that they are competitive when Britain leaves the EU. Of course, we continue to work on other ways, working with the business community, in which we can help them to overcome the incredible uncertainty that they're facing at the moment.