3. Business Statement and Announcement

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:05 pm on 4 December 2018.

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Photo of Julie James Julie James Labour 5:05, 4 December 2018

Indeed, yes. On that one, obviously, we don't have any direct control over the Planning Inspectorate, which is a separate organisation to the Welsh Government acting on its behalf. However, we do, from time to time, issue guidance and policy documents around understanding the issues, and I've had conversations with the Cabinet Secretary about whether, for university towns, it's beneficial to do that. I certainly share his concern in that regard and the enforceability of any density policy that any local authority would want to put up and what effect that might have on subsequent appeals. 

In terms of Virgin Media, the first tranche of redundant staff left the company in November, as I know he's well aware. There are two phases planned for next year as well. Our placement support team has taken on responsibility for providing staff with onsite access to key partners of the taskforce, including Careers Wales,  the Department for Work and Pensions and local employers. The Welsh contact centre forum is a key partner in our taskforce and has arranged job fairs in October at the Virgin Media site and brought recruiting employers to the site as well as providing careers advice for those staff seeking alternative employment. It's too early for me to provide specific details of those who have been successful in securing alternative employment as a result of the job fairs, but we are holding further job fairs to coincide with the additional tranches of staff leaving the company next year. So, our involvement continues in order to make sure that all of the staff who are affected by this have the best possible outcome.