Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Economy and Transport – in the Senedd at 1:45 pm on 16 January 2019.

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Photo of Ken Skates Ken Skates Labour 1:45, 16 January 2019

Anchors aren't slipping, necessarily. Let's take Airbus as a perfect example. They are becoming far more efficient, and Airbus has approximately 6,000 employees in Broughton. It's about the same that it had six years ago, but what's changed between 2013 and 2019 is that the site has become about 40 per cent more efficient, and that has to take place—that sort of efficient drive has to take place right across all businesses if they're to succeed and strive in the fourth industrial revolution, the age of digitalisation, digitisation, artificial intelligence and automation.

Ford is a major concern, and just as I'll be at Airbus tomorrow talking about the consequences and the implications of what's happening at Westminster with business leaders in north Wales, and primarily with Airbus, today the First Minister was at Ford discussing the future of the plant. What is very apparent is that the change in the automotive sector is presenting huge challenges for the global automotive industry, and Ford itself is looking at plant closures, line removal at sites in France, potentially Russia and in Germany. Here in Wales, at Ford in Bridgend—as I said yesterday we have a highly trusted workforce, a very efficient work programme, and a product, the Dragon engine, which is seen as being at the cutting edge of the internal combustion engine production suite. Now, what's important for the Dragon engine is that it's considered for hybridisation at the Bridgend plant, and we'll be doing all that we can to ensure that that takes place. 

But it's also important for Ford in Bridgend to capture any increase in demand for the Dragon engine as it is today, because I believe there are only six facilities that are able to build that particular engine, and Bridgend is, if not the most efficient, certainly one of the most efficient, with an incredibly skilled and loyal workforce. Alongside that, there has been much speculation about the potential of the Ineos investment, and, again, the Welsh Government is doing all that it can in order to secure that investment. 

I hope, between the work that I've been able to demonstrate we're doing with Ford, with Airbus, the interventionist approach that we are taking whenever and wherever possible, which last week led to the creation of hundreds of jobs at a new challenger bank, and this week has led to the creation of the national digital exploitation centre—the Welsh Government is certainly not standing still as the world spins. It seems out of control because of the Brexit dilemma.