7. Statement by the Deputy Minister for Economy and Transport: The Foundational Economy

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:33 pm on 23 February 2021.

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Photo of Helen Mary Jones Helen Mary Jones Plaid Cymru 5:33, 23 February 2021

I'd like to thank the Deputy Minister for his statement. It's encouraging to hear the progress that is being made, and while the Deputy Minister is absolutely right to say we can learn things from other countries and other institutions, as the Welsh Government is clearly seeking to do, personally I don't think there's anything wrong with a little bit of 'making things up as you go along' when you're starting to try to do something that's really innovative and requires massive change. And just a couple of specific questions and points to raise. Is the Deputy Minister able to tell us any more about what are some of the barriers that the trials are identifying? I think it's obviously helpful that there's such a wide variation of trials and that they're in a range of different communities, but I think it would be helpful to understand what some of those barriers are. And I think it would also be helpful to understand how the community of practice, which is really helpful that he's mentioned—how that plan and how he sees that addressing those challenges that he rightly identifies in terms of spreading good practice. I think, Deputy Presiding Officer, we'd all acknowledge that that's one thing in Wales we haven't always been good at. We've had a lot of good innovation, but we haven't always been very good at mainstreaming it. So, I'd be interested in hearing a little bit more about that.

The Deputy Minister mentioned in his statement that over half the public services boards in Wales are currently working on this agenda. I think we'd all aspire to see them all doing that, and I wonder if the Deputy Minister can tell us what plans he has to roll that out. I mean, obviously, this will be a matter for the next Welsh Government, but whoever forms that Welsh Government, I very much hope that they will be wanting to build on this work that's been done.

And a final point, a bit about cross-departmental working: I was very pleased to hear the Deputy Minister mention, for example, that he is working with Castell Howell, one of our leading food firms. Because there are some businesses in the food industry who've been telling me recently that because of this issue that they fall partly within the economy as businesses, but also partly under the environment portfolio, that they're not always sure that they're taken as seriously as they ought to be as contributors to the economy. Now, obviously, they've got an absolutely vital role to play in this agenda, in the foundational economy. So, can I ask the Deputy Minister today to give us a strong commitment that he will work with others across departments so that he is identifying players, particularly in the food in sector, that might not have existing relationships with the economy department but that may, of course, have existing relationships with the department for the environment and agriculture?