Steel Manufacturing

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:51 pm on 26 March 2019.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:51, 26 March 2019

I thank the Member for that important question. I know that she, as others in this Chamber, welcomed the announcement in February of this year that Swansea University was appointed to lead a £35 million project, with other universities as well, specifically aimed at making the steel industry fit for the future in terms of emissions and the low-carbon economy that we want to create. Today's joint written statement by the Minister for Economy and Transport and the Minister for Education focused on the research and development support for the steel industry that the Welsh Government has been able to assist with.

In the autumn of last year, I met, with the then First Minister and others, with the chief executive of the Tata Steel group in the United Kingdom. I've since met with other senior members in the Tata group, and we are very close now, I believe, to being able to finalise a further series of investments of the sort that were agreed with Plaid Cymru and that we have had to work through with the company. The company, as you know, is itself undergoing a restructuring, and that leads to some complexities in making sure that the necessary guarantees can be put in place. But we are very close now to the point where I hope we will be able to make that announcement. My colleague Ken Skates will write to all Members when those discussions are finally concluded.