There's a lesson in consistency of personnel, of Ministers. There have been too many Ministers involved over too short a period of time, and I hope that the Minister that is in his place this afternoon will be in his place for many afternoons and will be able to drive forward a policy agenda that has consistency over time. The irony is, considering the debate that we've just had on climate, that the only consistency of policy that has been delivered in the Valleys has been the dualling of the A465. It's the only consistent policy that has been pursued over the last decade, and difficulties have been involved, but it's been pursued by Ministers and successive Ministers have ensured that the policy has been and is being delivered. But we have not had a consistency of policy, and we have not had a consistency of approach, and we have not had a consistency of personnel, and that has weakened our ability to deliver for the Valleys.

We have not also ensured that we've had the ambitions and timescales and targets agreed at all times, and we have not always—and this is the key point I would like to make in my comments this afternoon—had sufficient focus on delivery. I well remember the conversation I had with Carwyn Jones when he was appointing me to lead the Valleys taskforce. He said, 'I want you to lead the Valleys taskforce.' There was no smoke and mirrors there. He said, 'You've no budget and no department; I want you to bring people together in order to deliver for the Valleys of south Wales.' I didn't have a budget in order to rent a meeting space or to provide tea or coffee. What we had to do was to persuade Ministers—and the Minister himself will recognise how difficult this can be—to essentially lend me officials, to lend me budgets and to lend me a political commitment. And that was one of the most difficult things you can ask anybody to do in Government, because officials—. There's a lot of nonsense talked about the civil service. The civil service is a fantastic machine and has very many talented people, but it works in a hierarchical fashion; it works towards a Minister. And when you're asking an official to work to another Minister it doesn't work, and we found it very, very difficult.

But we set out our ambitions and I was very clear, and this followed the vote on Brexit—and I think the vote on Brexit in the Valleys of south Wales had far more to do with this place than it had to do with Brussels; it had far more to do with failures here and in London than it had to do with failures in Brussels, so I think we need to recognise that. And one of the things that I wanted to do was to ensure that we did have a level of accountability, and Members here will remember that I came to this Chamber and set out targets, set out objectives, set out timescales that we would meet over that four- or five-year period. I'm disappointed that the previous Government didn't report on those matters. They should have done so. We gave our word to the people in these communities that we would deliver these things over the period of five years. We haven't reported on what we have done, and we need to be able to do that.

We need to be able to ensure that the Tech Valleys programme—which I'm grateful for the Minister's time this week, that we've discussed—in my own constituency is delivered. We made a solemn promise to the people of Blaenau Gwent that we would deliver that programme, and I well remember the announcement that Ken Skates made alongside me in Ebbw Vale on that. We made a promise, and we need to deliver on that and we need to set out how that will happen. We also need—and this is the opportunity I'd like the Minister to take, perhaps not this afternoon, but over the coming weeks at the beginning of this Senedd—to set out what we will deliver over the next five years. 

One of the lessons I believe we need to learn is that it is more important to invest in places that can act as a catalyst for change than to say that everybody has something, which, at the end of the day, is inadequate. I was very, very clear, in setting out the ambitions for the Valleys taskforce, that we have—. I think it turned into seven hubs, and I remember the Member for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr was very anxious that we have eight or nine hubs, covering those Valleys in his constituency, and who can blame him? I would've done exactly the same. But we set out that series of hubs, and I'd like to understand what exactly has happened as a consequence of that policy. 

Also—and this is where I have a very great personal disappointment—we haven't delivered the regional park. It was, I felt, a motivating concept that brought people together, and I remember talking to people in different parts of the Valleys about what we were able to do through the regional park, and I would want to see that delivered, Minister. I believe that it's something that could galvanise change across south Wales, so that we're not just delivering economic growth in our communities, which we need to do, but we're also investing in the future of communities and people and places. I think, sometimes, we talk about economic development simply in terms of numbers, but we have to talk in terms of people and places as well. And the Valleys park was a means of doing that. And the work that the Member for Ogmore has undertaken in different places has really been a template for that.

But let me say this in concluding my remarks: the lesson I learned throughout this period and looking back is that, whatever the ambition and the sincerity of that ambition and the articulation of the vision, it will never be delivered unless you have the means of doing so. And this is the burden of my remarks this afternoon. We have never created the delivery vehicle that can deliver radical and lasting and consistent change; we have created a plethora of committees, a confusion of commissions, and we've created the opportunity for people to talk. What we have to do is to get to work in delivering, and I've outlined—. And the Minister will be aware of my views on the creation of a Valleys development agency, involving communities, local government, businesses and Welsh Government coming together, as they've done in the highlands and islands and had a real impact in different parts of Scotland.

I believe that we will continue to repeat our mistakes unless we create the means and the mechanism to deliver. And this is one of the things that I hope the Minister will consider. We've seen the Cardiff city region over the last few years, which hasn't delivered any meaningful investment in the Heads of the Valleys; we've had the investment in Zip World in Hirwaun, but we haven't had any other meaningful investment. We haven't seen a jobs plan to take advantage of the work on the A465 dualling; we haven't seen the economic strategy that can underpin that, and that's one of the things I tried to establish in office, and it hasn't been pursued since I left office. What we need to be able to do, Minister, is to create the means of delivery—the means of delivery and the capacity to deliver. We know that we have some fantastic people working in local government. We have some great officials working in Welsh Government. We have some fantastic local government leaders across different parts of the Valleys. But what we don't have is the capacity in those institutions to deliver lasting change at the scale at which we need to do so.

And that means change. It means changing our approach, challenging ourselves, asking ourselves tough questions and being honest in the way that I've tried to be honest this afternoon, and then taking decisions with which we sometimes feel uncomfortable. I know that the Welsh Government has, at different times, not supported an agency-based approach. I hope that Welsh Government will look hard at what the future holds and will look hard at what we've done and achieved in the past and look hard at what we can achieve together in the future. Thank you.