, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Minister for Enterprise, Connectivity and Energy
The Member raises a really important point. AI must be adopted, in our view, in a way that is fair, transparent and doesn't deepen inequalities. Our approach is rooted in social partnership. Guidance, which has been developed with trade unions and public…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Minister for Enterprise, Connectivity and Energy
We are working across Government and with public services, businesses and partners to support the safe, transparent and accountable adoption of AI. This includes strengthening skills, responsible procurement, Welsh language technology and the wider digital…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Minister for Enterprise, Connectivity and Energy
I'm grateful to the Member, not least for giving an example of the very phenomenon that I was referring to in response to a colleague earlier, that these high-tech companies can find very, very successful bases in all parts of Wales, including in the northern…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Minister for Enterprise, Connectivity and Energy
We are committed to ensuring that support for the defence sector is considered in a timely and proportionate way. Whilst the defence ethical investment framework is being developed, interim arrangements are in place to enable urgent decisions to be taken…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Minister for Enterprise, Connectivity and Energy
Yes, absolutely. The formal responsibility is with the finance Minister, but with this, it is very critically, as the Member says, a massive economic driver. It's one of the key tools of industrial policy, actually, public procurement. So, beyond the target…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Minister for Enterprise, Connectivity and Energy
We are determined that more Welsh businesses benefit from public procurement. Business Wales provides tailored advice, while the Procurement Act 2023 requires authorities, in covered procurements, to consider barriers facing businesses and whether contracts…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Minister for Enterprise, Connectivity and Energy
I think that's a really important question, and Governments, of course, at one level, have to create the broad conditions of economic success, but we also have to work in a very, very focused way, in the near term, which is about job creation in businesses…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Minister for Enterprise, Connectivity and Energy
I thank the Member for that supplementary question. This question is at the heart of our economic strategy. This morning, I met, for the first time, with the panel assisting us to design the new development agency, and one of the themes that I emphasised was…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Minister for Enterprise, Connectivity and Energy
The programme for government sets out the range of measures that we will take to improve economic opportunities and outcomes for every part of Wales. This includes the national productivity mission, supporting small businesses and high streets to thrive and…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Minister for Enterprise, Connectivity and Energy
I think I will have to leave it to the company to share any information it would like to put in the public domain in relation to the current state of play. This is obviously market sensitive information. You can appreciate that it's most appropriate that that…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Minister for Enterprise, Connectivity and Energy
Yes, I'm very grateful to the Member for his supplementary question. I met with Tata Steel UK's chief executive officer, Rajesh Nair, and the steel unions at Tata's Port Talbot site on 24 September to receive a further update on developments. We focused on a…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Minister for Enterprise, Connectivity and Energy
Welsh Government officials hold regular meetings with National Grid Electricity Transmission. Tata Steel UK’s electric arc furnace installation is a commercial matter. However, we do raise the matter as appropriate.
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Minister for Enterprise, Connectivity and Energy
Well, as I said, we will first of all hold the UK Government and the relevant stakeholders to the commitments that they have made. Where it's possible, within the resources that we have, and within the levers that we have, we will do everything that we can to…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Minister for Enterprise, Connectivity and Energy
I totally accept the premise of the question, that this is vitally important for social and economic reasons. Of course, it's fundamentally a UK Government responsibility, and so one of the things that we absolutely need to do is to get them to deliver faster…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Minister for Enterprise, Connectivity and Energy
What I think that we've said is that we are bringing forward a general policy framework around data centres. I will leave it to the planning Minister to address the planning dimension of that. Technology changes all the time, and I think that, because of the…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Minister for Enterprise, Connectivity and Energy
How this is relevant to these particular questions—. But, look, this is an attempt, once again, to use this platform to sow division. Speak to the shop workers' union—there's a very real issue in terms of the abuse that they face. Meet with the unions and…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Minister for Enterprise, Connectivity and Energy
Look, the real opportunity for us—. If you want to talk about energy off our shores, the real opportunity for us in Wales, it's in our floating offshore wind sector, it's in our tidal stream and tidal lagoon industries. That's where the real opportunity, in…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Minister for Enterprise, Connectivity and Energy
Clearly, this was very disappointing news to hear and, obviously, very worrying for the workers and their families involved. I've met with Admiral, and, indeed, with Legal & General as well, to see what we could do—first of all to understand what we could do…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Minister for Enterprise, Connectivity and Energy
I'm really grateful to the Member for an absolutely vitally important question, which I think is at the forefront of all of our minds at the moment, isn't it? I think it's certainly true that AI is one of the factors that is driving this unique level of…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Minister for Enterprise, Connectivity and Energy
I am grateful to the Member for her question. I think that, certainly, we acknowledge the importance of programmes like Jobs Growth Wales. We've committed to continuing that next year, even, as I said, as we begin the work of understanding what more we can do…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Minister for Enterprise, Connectivity and Energy
The Deputy Minister and I regularly discuss how skills, employability support and apprenticeships can equip young people across Wales to succeed in a rapidly changing economy. These issues were a feature of our highly successful future skills summit earlier…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Minister for Enterprise, Connectivity and Energy
Where I agree with the Member is that the existing interventions in Wales were not working, and the actual outcomes were worse. As a result of that, we have commissioned, as a Government, work by Professor Melanie Jones, one of the leading figures in labour…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Minister for Enterprise, Connectivity and Energy
The Deputy Minister has been very clear in his view that apprenticeships are absolutely central to enabling young people to achieve their potential and also for us to drive the kind of economic development that we want to see across every sector and across…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Minister for Enterprise, Connectivity and Energy
I am grateful to the Member for her question, and, as I said just now, I have, obviously, had discussions already with Cabinet colleagues to see what more can be done within the resources that we have. I think it is certainly the case that we are seeing not…
, Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Minister for Enterprise, Connectivity and Energy
I have discussed Jobs Growth Wales+ with the Deputy Minister, including the pressures that some providers are managing as they respond to continued demand for support.
