1. Will the Minister make a statement on the recent news that Garth Bakery has gone into administration? TQ678

Yes, thank you for the question. It is deeply regrettable that Garth Bakery has gone into administration. The Working Wales and the ReAct+ team, along with Jobcentre Plus, are engaged with the employees, and I understand that assistance has also been offered from the local authority, Rhondda Cynon Taf. ReAct+ will provide tailored information, advice and guidance to the affected staff over the coming days.

Thank you, Minister. Garth Bakery has been a prominent employer in Cynon Valley and also an important part of the local economy for over 36 years, so the news that it has gone into administration is a grave blow indeed. This is particularly so for the around 100 people who have lost their jobs just six weeks before Christmas. I appreciate the intense distress and worry that this will cause them, and not only them but also their families, especially when we are facing the cost-of-living crisis, which has seen household budgets squeezed as the price of energy and food rockets and inflation reaches its highest level for over 40 years.

I have a couple of questions for you today. Firstly, what support or engagement has Welsh Government had with Garth Bakery? Secondly, please can you outline the practical measures that the Welsh Government can take as a matter of urgency to help the company's workforce who have lost their jobs? That's in terms of support to find work, but also programmes, as you've mentioned, to retrain or reskill, so that new career opportunities can be investigated and pursued, but also in terms of support to access, for example, mental health and well-being advice and targeted interventions around the cost of living. Finally, Minister, with colleagues I am looking to arrange an advice and support open day for employees of Garth Bakery shortly. I've formally written to you about this, but will you be able to make staff from appropriate Welsh Government agencies available, so that they can directly support anyone from the company who requires that support?

Yes, thank you for the questions. I recognise completely your point about the timing of the company going into administration and what it means for workers at this point in the year. And we know that the great majority of fuel bill costs are in this chunk of the year, through autumn, winter and into early spring, and the run-up to the turn of the year and Christmas. But we will and are already providing a range of support, and in the past we've provided opportunities to try to help the business to grow and expand. We've looked to help them with trading opportunities within the UK and, of course, they had agreements with Asda, Co-op and others for the supply of their products. We've also helped them with engagement with the NHS, and the company has made choices about how to run and what to try to do. I don't want to speculate about the reasons they've gone into administration, but our key concern is what will happen to the business and the employees, and the support for them. That's what Working Wales and ReAct+ can and will do.

It's not a workplace that has had a recognised trade union, but I know there is some trade union membership there. So, we'll work with all of the relevant stakeholders to try to provide the support that we can do to help people to get back into the workforce. At the moment, the broadly positive news is that there are still opportunities to work. We're still at a point where the labour market is fairly tight and other employers are looking for workers. So, I think there should be a deal of optimism about people finding alternative work. But I'll certainly make sure, following this question, that at the event that you're organising in the constituency that my officials are as supportive as possible, including in the conversations that they are already having with the Department for Work and Pensions to make sure that there is a coherent offer for that broader range of support available to the affected employees.

May I thank Vikki Howells for submitting this question? Obviously, we share the same region, and I've also had a number of constituents raise the concerns here. I would like to associate myself with all of her comments and questions, and it's certainly a really concerning time as it's such a valuable business, as you've outlined, Vikki.

On a slightly different point, the loss of this factory will also lead to significant food-supply challenges for the schools and supermarkets that sold their bread and products. Garth Bakery were responsible for 300,000 rolls every week, and that will be something that is concerning, and I've had contact from people worried about this now. Will the Welsh Government support small local businesses to help address the food shortages likely to arise from this closure?

I'm not entirely sure there will be food shortages as a result of Garth Bakery no longer existing; it's the challenge in the broader sector, and whether actually there are alternative suppliers. Think about the supermarkets: if you go into broadly any supermarket, you'll find a range of products on the shelves at slightly different price points as well. I'm not aware that there's going to be a challenge in terms of that broader food offer, but on the terms of food supply into schools, for example, I think that is a fair point about one supplier disappearing when actually, of course, schools don't have a chance to reset in that way, which is why the work alongside the council is particularly important to make sure we don't have gaps in that supply. But it's a point that I'll recheck with not just my officials, but also with the education Minister and his contacts within local authorities as well.

I thank the Minister. The next question is to be answered by the Minister for Social Justice and is to be asked by Peredur Owen Griffiths.