5. Will the First Minister make a statement on the Welsh Government's policy for economic development in Newport? OAQ54917

I thank John Griffiths for that. While real pressures are evident in long-standing industries located in Newport, the national development framework identifies the city and its surroundings as a centre for future economic growth. The Welsh Government's policy is to support existing employment while growing those industries that offer jobs for the future.

I thank the First Minister for that. Newport does have great potential with its transport links, motorway, rail and port, and, of course, its geographical position between the economic powerhouses of Cardiff and Bristol. It also has a very resilient local population and workforce that have adapted to economic challenges over many years. We see the new industries, First Minister, of cyber security, computer software, the microchip industry, and, obviously, we want to hang on to our existing jobs in steel and elsewhere. We have city-centre regeneration on the back of the international conference centre and new hotels. Much is happening, much could happen, and I very much back the South Wales Argus campaign to highlight these positives as we move forward. So, how can Welsh Government best work with Newport City Council, the private sector, universities and others to structure, take forward and realise this potential for Newport and Wales? 

Can I thank John Griffiths for that, and absolutely to endorse what he said about the positive future that is there for Newport, and the enormous efforts that are being made across the public and private sectors in the city to create the sort of future that will offer prosperity to its citizens? The Welsh Government is already investing in the National Cyber Security Academy, making sure that we develop the next generation of work-ready cyber-security experts. We're involved in the Office for National Statistics Data Science Campus, and that's a really big opportunity for Newport to make sure that it is at the forefront of the UK-wide public and private effort to gain from the investment that is being made in data science research.

And Newport has so much to offer in all of this. I'm just going to take two examples from the supplementary question that John Griffiths offered: the commitment of its local workforce. When I, with the Minister for the economy, met with the full board of Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles, the train manufacturing company, they said to me that they were hugely impressed by the quality and the commitment of the workforce that has been recruited to that new industry in Newport. They'd come directly from the factory, they'd spent the whole day there, and they said if they had one take-away from their visit to Wales, it was about the quality of the people who they had been able to recruit to work in that industry.

In terms of connectivity—final point, Llywydd—when I was in Japan in late September of last year and met a whole range of major Japanese companies, many of them are attracted to investment in Newport and the south-east of Wales because, from their point of view, being an hour and a half by train from London means you're practically on the doorstep, and distances that seem long to us—to them, that was something that was absolutely on Newport's side.