4. Statement by the Minister for Economy: Development Bank of Wales — Investing with ambition

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:49 pm on 25 October 2022.

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Photo of Jenny Rathbone Jenny Rathbone Labour 3:49, 25 October 2022

Last week, Mervyn King, the former governor of the Bank of England, gave various interviews, including on the fact that we still haven't cracked the ongoing moral hazard of organisations that are too big to fail, which is why the Bank of England had to intervene in the markets following Liz Truss's disastrous mini-budget, to rescue pension funds that had dabbled in risky investments to increase the dividends they dish up. So, I very much welcome the role of the Development Bank of Wales, and we need many more organisations like that to provide a bit more stability in the financial markets. I very much welcome all the information you've provided about the equity investment that the development bank is providing for companies who want to decarbonise; that seems absolutely a win-win for those companies, as well as for our net-zero targets across the whole of Wales.

Last week, I attended a conference organised by the Landworkers' Alliance and heard about the successful development of small-scale horticulture businesses that are profitable and require no subsidy. Both of them are based reasonably locally in south-east Wales, in both the Gower and the Vale of Glamorgan. You talk about wanting an economy where people have the skills and the protections that offer security through tough times. Did the recent economic summit discuss food security in the context of the fact that—