The First Minister informed the Senedd last week that, in their discussion, the new Secretary of State for Wales indicated that the new Government will work with us in a consensual way and will seek practical ways forward on key policy issues. That will work best if each Government is mindful of the distinction between what is reserved and what is devolved.

Regional economic development and decision making on related EU funds in Wales have been devolved to Wales for 20 years. We are seeking urgent discussions with them to ensure existing policy making and funding decisions remain in Wales. This is not just the view of the Welsh Government; our positions for replacement funding set out in 2017 in 'Securing Wales' Future' and in our 'Regional Investment in Wales after Brexit' paper have been backed by this Senedd, an all-party parliamentary group, the Welsh Local Government Association, the Federation of Small Businesses, the Confederation of British Industry, Universities Wales, the Welsh Council for Voluntary Action and think tanks including the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Institute for Public Policy Research.

Since the predecessor Government proposed a shared prosperity fund over two and a half years ago, their actions have fallen way short of promises to engage and consult on it. We are now keen to find a way to work with the new UK Government on a solution that involves real participation and genuine agreement across all four Governments, not a one-size-fits-all solution that is imposed by the UK Government. Our policies and regional model in Wales are distinctive. This is why we have been working at pace and closely with our partners to prepare a flexible regional model that will be ready for delivery in 2021.

The regional investment for Wales steering group chaired by Huw Irranca-Davies and comprising business, local government, academic institutions and the third sector, has advised Ministers on issues covering policy scope, outcomes, delivery models and wider engagement plans. Technical sub-groups, well represented by a range of people with expertise, have also met regularly to help inform thinking. The steering group met five times last year and will meet again next month to consider a consultation document before it's presented to Cabinet for agreement and is launched in March.

We are also drawing on international best practice in our work. A two-year partnership with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is under way to test our thinking and provide rigorous challenge and advice where there are improvements to make, to share what works in other regions and to provide us with the tools to assess capacity and capability at all levels of Government. During their visits in June and November last year, the OECD met a range of stakeholders across Wales to gather feedback. This included a seminar in November that brought together stakeholders and international peers in multilevel governance and public investment, and I look forward to the OECD's report recommendations by the end of this year.

I'm grateful to the OECD, to the steering group and to all stakeholders for their commitment and their work so far. The extensive engagement and the broad consensus on how we want to see things work in future have led to a number of key commitments agreed by Ministers. They include: regional investment to support growth and inclusiveness throughout Wales, with four broad investment priority areas, covering healthier and more sustainable communities, the zero-carbon economy, business productivity and reducing income inequalities for people; the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 to be at the heart of our plans; greater delegation to regions and local areas, including the principle of some funding being allocated regionally; an approach more focused on outcomes; better opportunities to integrate funding and projects with wider investment and policy areas; a strong, cross-cutting approach to equality and sustainability; a single fund delivered on a multi-annual funding basis; and a more simplified process.

These commitments, together with our emerging regional working proposals being developed through our Local Government and Elections (Wales) Bill and the economic action plan, have provided a solid basis for our detailed work with stakeholders to prepare our consultation proposals. A lot of work remains for us to develop new arrangements for delivery in 2021, and I am keen that Members shall have the opportunity to feed back on our proposals so that we can build on the detailed and thoughtful contributions we've already received from the External Affairs and Additional Legislation Committee, and from the Finance Committee as well.

We do not underestimate the huge challenge of cultural and governance changes and new ways of working that Brexit will bring. I take confidence in the wide-ranging support and expertise we have from partners, which will help us to consider what and how we will deliver as Welsh Government over the coming years, including a new regional investment model that can work for all parts of Wales.