7. Will the Deputy Minister provide an update on the work of the Valleys taskforce in Caerphilly? OAQ53415

Thank you. The Valleys taskforce are working closely with partners in Caerphilly, delivering a number of commitments within the 'Our Valleys, Our Future' delivery plan, including the development of an integrated transport hub and strategic master plan, and developing a discovery gateway site as part of the Valleys regional park.

On 27 November last year, the Cabinet Secretary for local government made a statement on that very delivery plan in this Chamber. He's since been promoted to the back benches—[Laughter.]—and the Deputy Minister is now responsible. With that in mind, one of the things that the Cabinet Secretary promised to deliver was a £25 million capital fund to support seven strategic hubs over the next two years. One of those hubs is in Caerphilly. Does he fully endorse the statement made by the Cabinet Secretary last November and, in particular, that commitment?

Of course we're committed to spending £25 million on the taskforce developing the plans around the hubs. What I'm trying to do is to take stock of the delivery plan and the views of the partners of the best next steps. I've met the taskforce and had a very frank discussion about where we go next. I've met also with AMs representing Valleys constituencies. I'm meeting with more in the coming weeks, and I'm also going to be meeting with all the council leaders. I think as we pass the halfway stage of this Assembly term and as this was a commitment we gave in the last manifesto, it's important that we now try and focus on what we can deliver over the next two years that will make a tangible difference to communities across the Valleys.

In terms of precisely what shape the hubs take and how that money is spent, that's something I'm currently thinking about, and I'd be grateful for the Member's thoughts on where we go next.

Minister, in July last year, the Bevan Foundation expressed concern about the Valleys taskforce's ability to deliver for communities such as Caerphilly. They said that the taskforce's proposals were too small to make a difference, citing a lack of focus, a failure to address the big problems and having too small a vision. This view was echoed by Professor Kevin Morgan, who said,

'The model of development will not deliver even if the targets are rendered more ambitious because Government cannot possibly deliver.'

Those are his words. In the light of these criticisms, has the Minister set clear targets to ensure that the Valleys taskforce delivers tangible benefits for communities such as Caerphilly, please?

Well, I don't think anybody is under any illusions about the scale of the task ahead of us. There has been over a century of economic decline across many of these communities, and it's going to take a multigenerational approach to tackle the deep underlying causes of that. The Valleys taskforce has performed a really important role over the last couple of years. I pay tribute to my colleague the Assembly Member for Blaenau Gwent for the work he's done. And a lot of it has been under the bonnet within Welsh Government, which is not terribly sexy but is essential for delivering the next stage of reform. The bringing together of the different parts of Government with a focus on the Valleys and getting them to think about how they can deploy programmes in the Valleys to address these projects has been going on with some results, and the master planning I mentioned and the development of integrated strategic transport hubs are examples of something that'll take many years to pay off, but it's work that's happening now, started by Alun Davies, that is going to be essential for the level of change we need to see over the coming decades.

In terms of what we can deliver over the next two years, as I've said in answer to Hefin David, I do think there are some tangibles that we need to focus on. There is a comprehensive set of proposals in the delivery plan, which we're looking at how we can prioritise. I also think that one of the exciting bits of the delivery plan is the work around entrepreneurship. I've been speaking to a number of experts in the last couple of weeks about how we can build upon that, and I'll be holding some workshops in the coming months to see how in particular we can grow businesses in the Valleys through that work.