10. What discussions has the Minister had with partners to ensure that Wales does not lose out economically due to the levelling-up fund? OQ57823

As the Member will know, the UK Government has bypassed the Welsh Government and the Senedd on the way that this fund has operated in its pilot phase. It fails to address persistent regional inequalities across the UK as it is currently formed. I continue to have discussions with partners—not just Ministers within the Government, but outside of the Welsh Government—on how best to mitigate the disruption and substantial loss of overall funding, which includes, of course, the lost £1 billion that we will face over the next few years.

Diolch yn fawr, Weinidog. A few weeks ago, I visited the new Spark centre in Cardiff University, and I encourage all Members to visit that new research centre. They stressed to me, prior to Brexit, the amount of funding they were receiving from the European Union. Universities Wales received almost £570 million since the turn of the century. In the context of Cardiff University, that had a huge impact and it's been crucial with regard to their research and their main ventures, which have subsequently provided a huge impetus towards the local economy in Cardiff and beyond. But they were very concerned with the levelling-up proposals affecting universities in Wales. Therefore, in this context—I appreciate what you said, that you as a Government have been completely bypassed—what discussions has the Minister had with the education Minister and also with the UK Government and universities to ensure that Welsh universities do not miss out because of the UK Government's levelling-up fund? Diolch yn fawr.

The reality is that we may not be able to ensure that universities, and, indeed, the further education sector, who also were significant beneficiaries of European funds, don't lose out. That's because of the choice that has been made. It's a clear-sighted choice not to include the Welsh Government and not to meet the clear manifesto pledge to replace every single penny of former European funds.

You are right to point out the several hundred millions of pounds that have gone into the further and higher education sectors, and that's a challenge—at this point in time, we don't have the budgets to make up for all of that loss. That can't be right for Wales. Actually, if you think about any party before the last Senedd election we had about a year ago, no-one went into that election pledging to remove funding from research, development and innovation. In fact, we were all talking about what more we wanted to do, and the same, indeed, for skills. But it's a direct consequence of what's happening that we don't have the budget to carry on even at the same level in that overall picture as a result of European funding.

I've made choices to prioritise skills investment, and that means I'll be able to do less in other areas. And when you think about some of the positive headlines that have come from the way that the levelling-up department has announced recent initiatives, they talk about a rise in the percentage of allocation of money into research, development and innovation. The problem with that is that that rise that's been announced amounts to £9 million of extra funding; you have to net that off, though, against the £60 million that we have lost from EU funding. So, it's still a net loss to Wales of £51 million every year. It's all of those things that are adding up, and that is the very real challenge that we will face.

I hope that people will take up the call that was almost made by the Conservative spokesman on this issue, where he said, just a few short weeks ago in this Chamber, that Wales should not lose out and the manifesto pledge should be kept. I hope we can have clarity on the matter right across the Chamber to make the case for Wales, to make sure there is no missing billion in the next three years.

I thank the Minister.