2. Will the First Minister make a statement on the Tech Valleys programme? OAQ54047

I thank Alun Davies for that. Investment in skills, infrastructure and cyber security are amongst the early projects of the Tech Valleys programme. The expert advisory group continues to shape the £100 million that is to be invested over the 10 years of the programme so that we maximise its impact and support emerging technologies.

First Minister, the announcement of a £100 million programme of investment in Ebbw Vale, in Blaenau Gwent, in the future of the economy of Blaenau Gwent, was welcomed by people both within the borough and across the Heads of the Valleys. It demonstrates a real commitment from the Welsh Government to the economy of Ebbw Vale and Blaenau Gwent, and it also demonstrates a real vote of confidence in the Heads of the Valleys as a place where we can do business. First Minister, can you outline to us today how you expect to see the Tech Valleys programme developing over the coming years and when you believe the people of Blaenau Gwent will see the benefits of this programme of investment?

Llywydd, I thank the Member for that question. I want to thank him for all the work that he did in bringing the programme to fruition and for the way in which, week after week, he makes sure that the interests of his constituents are always raised here on the floor of the National Assembly. And his constituents will, I think, be glad to know that there is already progress—tangible progress—that they will be able to see across the range of strands that make up that complex programme. He will know of the plan to bring TVR to Ebbw Vale. The Deputy Minister for Economy and Transport recently met with senior executives. The company confirmed real progress in finding new equity investment to support pre-production vehicle development, and the tender process is now complete for refurbishment of the building in Rassau, which is TVR's preferred location for full car production. At the same time, planning permissions are now secured for both the Rhyd y Blew and Lime Avenue sites in Ebbw Vale, with building work to commence this year in both cases. Thales, and the National Digital Exploitation Centre—Thales have already moved to their project office in Ebbw Vale. Bids are now in for the £7 million discovery gateways fund for the Valleys park programme, and decisions on funding are expected imminently. And I know that Alun Davies will be especially interested in the new £1.5 million investment that we have agreed in shared apprenticeships in the Tech Valley area—a vote of confidence not simply in the Heads of the Valleys, but in young people in that area, and our determination to make sure that they have a successful future.

First Minister, great news to have this big investment in the Blaenau Gwent area. The Tech Valleys strategic plan states its aim of creating 1,500 new jobs over the next 10 years. How will the Welsh Government monitor progress towards meeting the aim, and will the First Minister commit to making an annual report on this project to the Assembly, and to ensure that promised benefits are delivered for the people of Blaenau Gwent, according to the plans?

I thank the Member for that question. He's right to point to the ambitious number of jobs that we want to create as a result of the Tech Valleys programme. There are construction jobs expected in the coming months, there are the apprenticeships to which I have already referred, and there will be that investment we want to make in the landscape of that valley community in order to make the most of the huge natural assets that it has. Ministers will report here, Llywydd, regularly on the progress of the programme. I'm always glad to answer questions on it, and I know that my colleague Ken Skates reports regularly to Members on how the programme, which is a 10-year programme, with £100 million behind it, is being delivered on the ground. 

First Minister, last time I asked you about your plans to boost the economy in former coalfield areas, I specifically asked you about your economic regeneration plans for the Rhondda, and I was disappointed to receive an answer from you that talked a lot about your plans for spending in a constituency in the Gwent valleys but, as far as the Rhondda is concerned, your answer can be paraphrased as 'not much'. Have you since worked out that the Rhondda is not in Gwent? And, if so, what do you plan to do, from a technological perspective, or indeed any other economic regeneration perspective, about the area that has one of the highest numbers of people without decent work in the whole of this country? 

Well, I thank the Member. I'm not in need of geographical instruction from her. The Tech Valleys programme will be one that, of course, goes beyond the areas that I have referred to in answering the question from the Member who put it to me. Let me give the Member just one example of how the project will go beyond and into her area: we will publish the feasibility report from the project Skyline very soon. The project looked at the possibility of communities managing the landscape that surrounds their town or village, and is focused on three valley communities in Ystradowen, Caerau and Treherbert. That report will provide proposals addressing issues around governance, environmental protection, social inclusion and the sustainability of business models for community stewardship of landscape assets. And I'm quite sure that residents in her constituency are every bit as attached to the area in which they live, keen to take community responsibility for the stewardship of those assets, and the programme will support them in doing so.