Economic Strategy for the Heads of the Valleys

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Economy – in the Senedd at 2:00 pm on 15 June 2022.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 2:00, 15 June 2022

Yes, the budget still remains in place. There are challenges, as the Member knows, with our broader financial envelop, but we still expect to be able to spend that money on developing and delivering Tech Valleys, which I see as a catalyst for wider development in the Heads of the Valleys area. I know there were some concerns about whether that money would be dissipated. Actually, we see that as a block to build on in wider development and before the recent local government elections in the autumn, we were able to do some work across the broader Heads of the Valleys areas. Now that we've gone through the election process and we have a more settled picture across local government—with some changes in leadership, as the Member is aware, within his constituency and local authority—I look forward to that stability converting into practical action. Actually, local authorities have a real challenge at present because of the very short timescale that the UK Government has set to have investment programmes agreed for shared prosperity, and that will take up a lot of time, energy and effort, and local authorities need to work together. What I hope will come from that though is to reignite and to make sure that there is a deeper and better understanding of the need to work together across the region, including the Heads of the Valleys, in delivering those plans, and not a return to a more parochial approach that I don't believe will serve the Member's constituents well or indeed those constituents—[Inaudible.]