6. What discussions has the Counsel General had with the legal sector regarding the impact of the Shared Prosperity Fund? OAQ54872

As the UK Government has been deliberately vague on its shared prosperity fund plans over the last two years, discussions with the legal sector themselves have not been possible. Last month, the First Minister wrote to the Prime Minister to reinforce our positions for replacement funding in full and for devolution in Wales to be respected, and I echo the First Minister's remarks in his earlier question in relation to that. 

Thank you, Counsel General, for that reply, and I think it's clear from the questions to the First Minister that we do continue to have a specific interest in the role of devolved nations in the delivery of the long-promised shared prosperity fund. I do think it's interesting that we've already seen Tory priorities, with Russell George actually suggesting moving support out of the Valleys—as we actually warned on the doorstep would happen if the shared prosperity fund is not devolved to us in Wales. However, I'm one of the many Valleys Members of this Senedd who fully appreciate the importance of capital investment in our infrastructure and investment in the skills of our people and will be looking for that to continue. So, bearing in mind what you've already said, when do you anticipate legal arrangements for the new funding arrangements are likely to be available for scrutiny?

Firstly, I know how important this is for the Member, as she indicates in her question. Since 2007, projects supported by EU structural funds in Merthyr Tydfil, for example, have created over 1,000 jobs and over 300 new businesses. I know the Lawns industrial estate in Rhymney, for example, is being supported, as we speak, by over £1 million-worth of EU funds. That's one example of the benefit that EU funds have delivered right across Wales.

As the First Minister indicated in his reply earlier, we are still waiting for proposals from the UK Government to come forward. This is not a matter on which we are going out of our way to seek conflict with the UK Government. We are keen to find a way to work with the UK Government on replacement EU funding for Wales, but that needs to be on the basis of real participation and genuine agreement across the four Governments of the UK, not on the basis of a solution that the UK Government seeks to impose. The devolution settlement must be respected in relation to that, a view that this Senedd has, on more than one occasion, voiced itself.

There is a consultation we intend to bring forward, informed by the work of the committee that Huw Irranca-Davies has been chairing in relation to this, and all I will say is: I hope that the UK Government will take up the offer that the First Minister, I and others have made to put forward the proposals they would wish to see and then to work together with us so that the devolution boundary is observed and the commitments made to people in Wales are fulfilled—that they should not suffer a penny lost as a consequence of leaving the European Union.

Thank you, Counsel General.