5. Statement by the Minister for Economy: A greener economy

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:58 pm on 2 November 2021.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 4:58, 2 November 2021

Yes, I'll have to deal with your second question first, because that is the nature of the conversations we're having. We're looking at where other support is available, because parts of the UK Government in broader employability support is in a different place to where it was a few years ago. On the plainly devolved responsibilities around skills, yes, we are working with professional bodies as well as employers on needing to understand the sorts of skills we think we're going to need in the future of the economy. It's why I was really pleased to meet regional skills partnerships today to look at the work they're already doing, to understand that from a regional perspective as well as with sectors and the national lens that we have too. And, yes, of course we will continue to engage with trade unions on how we can deliver some of those skills, because of course, one of the things that I was most proud of in my time at the Wales TUC, when I had the opportunity to be the president and the vice president, was the work that we did through the Wales Union Learning Fund on actually encouraging people to get skills for life, but also skills for work. The trade union was often a really important gateway to get people to acknowledge they had skills deficits that they wanted to address, things they wanted to do, from basic literacy and numeracy to going on to deliver higher skills, and the access that provides to opportunities to have not just more enjoyment at work, but access to better paid and better quality work too.

On your point about the steel deal, I heard the announcement too with interest, and the details aren't entirely clear and they're emerging, but I think the initial starting point is that the removal of at least some, if not all, of the tariffs that were imposed by the former President of the United States is good news. I think that set off unhelpful retaliatory measures between Europe and the United States. We need to understand what that means for the UK. The UK is outside the deal at present. In broad decarbonisation terms, it's good news that major economies are saying, 'We want to prioritise and advantage steel that is produced in a cleaner and greener way and to prevent dirty steel being imported'—the phrase that President Biden used—'and prevent the dumping of steel'. Those are definitely things that the steel sector here in Wales is concerned about as far as the UK is concerned. I'd be very keen to see the trade discussions that should take place with the US and the European Union to mirror those terms being available to UK steel production as soon as possible. Because I think we have a comparable story to tell when it comes to US and EU steel production, and I certainly don't want the sector to be disadvantaged here. But if we can get that early access to the same terms, I think it's good news for the steel sector here in the UK, and for jobs in Wales, of course.