The Trostre Plant in Llanelli

Part of 4. Topical Questions – in the Senedd at 3:43 pm on 3 April 2019.

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Photo of Suzy Davies Suzy Davies Conservative 3:43, 3 April 2019

Thank you very much for the question today, Helen Mary, and for your response there, Minister. Obviously, I find this upsetting, as my grandfather and my mother worked in Trostre for many years, but it is Port Talbot that is my primary concern at the moment, and Helen Mary mentioned the role that Trostre plays in Port Talbot's supply chain, if you like. 

I wonder whether there's been any work—I suppose it might be a little bit early for this—to try and map how the supply chain is likely to be affected by this, particularly within the city deal area, because, of course, one of the pluses for locating a steel innovation centre there within the city deal series of projects is the concentration of steel production, steel processing and steel fabrication. So, I would really like some reassurance that this is unlikely to, or will not, in fact, affect the ambitions within the city deal relating to steel. 

The merger, as we understand it now, looks quite different from that which we were anticipating, and I think that justifies the caution of many Members in this Chamber at the time that the merger was announced. At the time, you said, Minister, that during that period of the merger, you expected to be able to take forward your discussions on the support that Welsh Government can give Tata insofar as the Welsh-based operations are concerned, and that you would welcome an announcement of an extension of the employment pact to 2026, with a commitment to seek to avoid compulsory redundancies as a result of the joint venture. I heard your reply to Helen Mary, but can you give me some indication of what progress the Welsh Government has made on getting those commitments? Have you had any specific commitment that any jobs that might be lost from Trostre will be redistributed within the Tata family, preferably near home?

And then, finally, on the same sort of point, support for Tata overall is connected to their commitment to safeguard a certain number of jobs. I'm looking for reassurance here that the announcement today is not likely to delay any development at the Port Talbot site. I'm thinking in particular of the power plant there. Because all these things are interlinked and all are conditional on a certain level of employment being maintained. Obviously, I wouldn't want this announcement today to put at risk more positive plans for other parts of the Tata estate. Thank you.