Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:12 pm on 25 June 2019.
I'd like to ask the Trefnydd for three Government statements, please. I'd first like to ask her to make representations to the Minister for Education for a statement about the financial sustainability of the higher education sector in Wales. I ask this in the light of concerns that have come to light about the possible job losses at the Lampeter campus of University of Wales Trinity Saint David. Now, obviously, any job losses are always a concern, and job losses in higher education are a concern, but the importance of the Lampeter campus to that small town is difficult to overestimate, so I'd be very grateful to hear what steps Welsh Government is taking, in association with the sector—hearing what Ministers always say about these being individual, autonomous organisations—to try to protect those jobs in a community that very much needs them.
I'd further ask for the Minister for the economy—probably a written statement, given the pressures of time—to make a statement about the proposed job losses at GRH Food Company in Minffordd. Now, this is, as the Trefnydd will be aware, a company that's very important to its local economy. It may only be 90 jobs, that may be relatively small, but I would put it to the Trefnydd that of those 2,000 jobs that she referred to just now that are created in Wales, not enough of them are created in the north-west and so the loss of those 80 jobs to that community is significant. I know that the environment Minister will fully understand the significance of the potential loss of that processing capacity to the wider rural economy. So, can I ask for a written statement? And there may be some capacity for the environment Minister, with her support-for-farming hat on, to have some input into that statement.
Finally, further to remarks already made by Andrew Davies, I do think that this Assembly has got the right to expect the Deputy Minister for the economy to come before us to explain why he has said—and I quote again—
'For 20 years we’ve pretended we know what we’re doing on the economy—and the truth is we don’t really know what we’re doing on the economy.'
These may have been comments made light-heartedly—I've only seen them written down, I haven't seen them in context—but I do think—. And I heard what the Trefnydd has said about the statement from the Minister for the economy himself, but I think his deputy has got to account to this place both for what he means by those comments, which are extremely serious if true, and also, perhaps more importantly, what role he intends to play to make sure that the Welsh Government does work out what it's doing on the economy. It isn't good enough simply for him to hide behind his Minister; he has to account for those comments, because I certainly know that his constituents in Llanelli will not be very reassured unless he's prepared to clarify them.