Job Losses at Airbus

Part of 7. Topical Questions – in the Senedd at 3:32 pm on 1 July 2020.

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Photo of Llyr Gruffydd Llyr Gruffydd Plaid Cymru 3:32, 1 July 2020

Thank you, Minister, for your responses so far. It certainly is gut-wrenching news, and I very much align myself to the comments you made around looking at the four-day week and extending the furlough, and, certainly, the importance of the apprenticeship provision at Airbus. It's renowned and highly coveted across north Wales, and we really need to do everything we can to try and retain as much of those opportunities as possible.

Could you tell us a little bit more about what work you're looking at in relation to developing alternative works at the site? Clearly, there's reference in your statement issued earlier about maintenance, repair and overhaul work potentially being located on the site. You touched on research and innovation; I'm particularly keen to see, maybe, innovation around more environmentally friendly aspects of potential within that kind of technology and industry. It's certainly somewhere where we need to be pushing the sector. So, I'd like to hear about what your proposals are in terms of maybe trying to start to pursue some of those areas.

Also, of course, we have to remember—and I know you are aware of this, and you've already acknowledged this—that there's a big, big supply chain and a plethora of local businesses that are very dependent on the site at Broughton. So, could you tell us a little bit more about how you intend to engage with and support the wider supply chain that will be affected by these proposed redundancies?

And you'll be aware, I'm sure, that Plaid Cymru published last week our proposals for an economic renewal plan, which includes proposals such as a reskill Wales package, an employment guarantee scheme for young people, which clearly is part of a wider approach to the post-COVID development we'd like to see. I'm wondering whether you'd be willing to certainly look at and consider some of those as potential interventions from Government.

Finally, we're talking about, mostly, economic impacts and the impact on businesses and employment, but there will clearly be an emotional, well-being impact, and an impact on people's mental health, people who have already been furloughed for many months now facing the prospect, of course, of not potentially having a job to go back to. So, can you assure us that not only will the support be there in relation to business advice and support around finding jobs and reskilling, but also the support that people might need in terms of their emotional and mental health and well-being?