Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:36 pm on 6 July 2021.
I think those are entirely fair challenges, and I was just looking at the Deputy Minister for Social Care when talking about the energy demands from these companies—because, of course, as Cardiff Members will know, a huge amount of the demand that goes into electricity here in Cardiff comes from Celsa—and what that practically means for the ability of the grid to keep on doing that. So, there are very real practical challenges for the industry, but, actually, for all other activity as well. And that's why earlier I was referring to the need to have a plan with Ofgem and others to understand what the grid will need to look like in 2050. And you're right, these are significant sums of investment that need to be made, but there's real opportunity in doing that as well—not just the opportunity to make sure that the steel industry is more sustainable, but what that means in terms of enabling other economic development to take place as well, and the real opportunities that we have in Wales in the way that we produce electricity with all of our natural resources as well. That's been part of the conversation that I've already had with the UK Government, and my officials have had. It's part of the conversation I want to have with the Secretary of State for the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy when I do have a meeting with him directly, and the regular conversations that we already have had with BEIS Ministers.
Now, the challenge then is whether we see, in the run-up to and beyond COP26, choices being made to allow that investment to take place to allow a more decarbonised steel sector to emerge. It's also very real for the challenges around the comprehensive spending review at the end of this year, because if we're not prepared to see UK-wide investment in this through that period of the next spending review, the time frame to be able to do that successfully will be ever more tight, and then more risk for the jobs that Tom Giffard was talking about. And, actually, we could see some of those jobs disappear if we don't see investment choices being made, because there's going to be a need for certainty for the industry to invest itself, to understand what the Governments are doing as well. And that has very much been part of the conversations I've had with Welsh steel-producing companies already. In those direct conversations, Welsh steel companies make it clear that they enjoy, and want to continue enjoying, constructive relationships with their trade unions on site, because the members and their unions understand the need for the sector to change, but to change in a way that doesn't sacrifice their jobs in the transition, to see more investment in the future—the point made about apprenticeships, the possible creation of future jobs and the way that the steel sector can look to the future with some confidence and a genuinely sustainable future, and its wider economic significance.
So, I'm positive that the steel companies themselves have a strategy for the future that will buy-in their own workforce, and it's then about the Government being able to get alongside that to make the significant investments needed. And, at this point, I think we can have some cautious optimism about that.