Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:21 pm on 19 October 2021.
Thank you for those questions. Actually, the productivity challenge is something for every modern economy, and it's part of the reason why investing in talent is so important. Because unless you can change systems of work, or unless you can increase individuals' ability to do their job better or faster, the productivity challenge is there for all of us in virtually every sector. So, that's why we do need to have some stability in investing in skills, research and development, and innovation. If we can't generate more in those areas, then, actually, we're going to have a real struggle to see productivity improved.
Over the course of devolution, we have seen productivity gains, but our challenge is whether they have been fast enough and whether they are keeping pace with the rest of the UK, especially with the overheating south-east region in England, let alone the ability to catch up and actually get us to a point where we don't see not just the productivity challenge we have, what that means for wages and prosperity for individual families, but also for communities as well. And I guess it goes into your point on what does stronger, greener, fairer mean.
Well, the danger is that we always—. The way that we campaign, and the way that we then have to implement in Government, you get much more of the nuance and the detail when it comes to taking action. I'd say that a stronger economy will be a more resilient one, where we don't just improve the rates at which wages are paid, but the fairness part also comes in wages, and where those wages are paid, who to, as well, to make sure we don't have some of the structural inequalities we have already.
We also, in the fairer part, need to take account of men and women in the workplace. And our different challenge is the intersectional challenges we face. Somebody who looks like me in this country is likely to earn a lot less than somebody who looks like the Member, and that isn't because someone who looks like me has less talent. So, we need to recognise that in the way that our economy works more broadly and generally.
And if you think about your short debate and your focus on deliverability and making sure that something happens, if we can't see a significant step forward through this term and beyond in the Heads of the Valleys area, we won't meet our ambitions for the future of the country: that stronger, greener and fairer economy that we do want to see.
So, the conversations I've already had with regional partners: the new corporate joint committees, the new regional structures that everyone's signed up to, what will they deliver? Will we see a sharing of where there are choices that those regional areas will make for themselves, without the Welsh Government, areas where there are real partnerships and a clear understanding of who is responsible for what and who will get on and deliver that? And the Member will no doubt come back and say, 'Well, what is happening within my community? What is happening within the Heads of the Valleys area? Am I really seeing my community becoming wealthier? Are the socioeconomic conditions of the people that I represent improving or not?' That's the test I know the Member will make, and I look forward to having that conversation with him.