7. What progress has been made in identifying the details of the shared prosperity fund? OQ55831

8. What discussions has the Counsel General had with the UK Government regarding the shared prosperity fund and its implications for Wales? OQ55836

I understand, Llywydd, that you have agreed to group this with question 8. 

The UK Government has not shared any details yet of its shared prosperity fund with any of the devolved Governments, despite our attempts to engage. We expect some details to be announced during the spending review, which is, as he will know, one month before our EU funding begins to tail off.

Thank you for that answer, Counsel General, and, as you're aware, the Welsh Affairs Select Committee produced a report at the beginning of last month expressing their concern over the lack of details coming out for the shared prosperity fund. And since then, the internal market Bill has been laid and there have been clear indications that that might be a vehicle by which money from the shared prosperity fund will be used to fund infrastructure projects, completely avoiding access to the Welsh Government.

Now, there are many organisations across Wales that benefit from European funding and have employees who are dependent upon that funding. The lack of clarity at this point and stage is putting great uncertainty as to the continuation of those projects and those jobs. Would you now please urge the UK Government to actually get its act together, to actually come to the table with the detail, so that our communities and people working in those communities can have greater certainty on the future opportunities for those projects?

I thank David Rees for that question, and I think he is right to say that the internal market Bill is clearly an attempt to give the UK Government powers to deliver parts of the shared prosperity fund, which otherwise it wouldn't be able to do. Though its financial assistance powers are described as being there to work with us, but plainly are there to work around us, and so I share his concern in relation to that.

Whatever one's view, as it where, of the politics of the situation, it is clearly not acceptable that, so near to the end of the point at which we have certainty of our funding, we still don't know what the picture looks like for the period ahead. There will be programmes that will fall by the wayside, loss of talent in our various programmes and interventions that will arise as a consequence of that, which needn't have happened, and wouldn't have happened had there been greater clarity earlier and had the UK Government been clearer sooner about its commitment to the promises it's made in the past.

As he will know, there's been consistent and significant work that we have led in Wales with stakeholders right across Wales to design a framework for successor programmes. I very much hope that the work of stakeholders in all sectors in all parts of Wales will be given the credit and weight that it should by the UK Government in its reflections on this, because they do genuinely offer a very constructive way of taking those programmes forward here in Wales into the future, and I'll be formally updating Members next week, via a written statement, on the progress we've been making in relation to regional investment with our stakeholders right across Wales.

Diolch, Llywydd. Minister, I hear your answer to David Rees there, and further to that, can I ask—? Obviously, our further education colleges are clearly concerned with regard to the loss of EU funds. That's been an important source of funding in order to support skills delivery, which is important for all our futures. Now, without the same replacement funding, it will be increasingly difficult for colleges to support local economies. So, can I push you further in terms of asking about any progress in discussion with UK Ministers relating to the future funding of skills and apprenticeships, especially in the further education sector?

Well, I'm afraid I'm going to have to disappoint Dai Lloyd on that. We are waiting for clarity on these fundamental commitments in relation to successor EU funds, and I can hear the frustration in his voice, and I assure him that I share it entirely. He is right to say that a significant success that we've had in relation to using European Union funds has exactly been in the space of apprenticeships and further education, and indeed in making available to learners in a further education setting access to Erasmus+ and so on. I've met on many occasions learners in the workplace who've taken full advantage of that. We've been pressing the case with the UK Government. We hope to hear more before the spending review, and I'll be happy to update the Chamber when we do.

And finally, question 9—Neil Hamilton.