, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Annual Scrutiny - The Development Bank of Wales
Okay. And is that a similar ratio for the previous—?
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Annual Scrutiny - The Development Bank of Wales
And what is that current split?
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Annual Scrutiny - The Development Bank of Wales
—in terms of those jobs. And in terms of the split between jobs created and jobs safeguarded, the ratio of that split is also rather important, isn't it?
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Annual Scrutiny - The Development Bank of Wales
Again, I understand that, but if you're set a target, you've got to try and do your best to achieve it, don't you? So, when you exclude the COVID-related business, if you like, you've still fallen short, haven't you—
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Annual Scrutiny - The Development Bank of Wales
Is that right?
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Annual Scrutiny - The Development Bank of Wales
Can I just turn to one of the other targets? That was for 20,000 jobs created or safeguarded. That, again, is another one that you appear to have fallen short by. How many jobs have actually been created or safeguarded?
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Annual Scrutiny - The Development Bank of Wales
—and they're comfortable with shifting the dial, as it were, in order to respond to the current market conditions, yes?
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Annual Scrutiny - The Development Bank of Wales
So, you've had that dialogue with the Welsh Government—
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Annual Scrutiny - The Development Bank of Wales
But this is an overall global target that you've got. It's not part of what you do, so you've got to get to the 1:1.15, haven't you? You've got to strain every muscle to aim for the target that you've been set by the Government.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Annual Scrutiny - The Development Bank of Wales
So, what are you doing to get there?
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Annual Scrutiny - The Development Bank of Wales
But obviously that is still your target, right, the 1:1.15 ratio?
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Annual Scrutiny - The Development Bank of Wales
But, obviously, that explosion in the growth in the market and property prices has been relatively recent, hasn't it? So, has your investment strategy changed over the five years since your establishment?
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Annual Scrutiny - The Development Bank of Wales
So, it's the emphasis on property investment, you think—
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Annual Scrutiny - The Development Bank of Wales
Thank you very much for those opening remarks. We do recognise, I think, many of the successes that the development bank has enjoyed over the past five years. But, of course, they've also got to be measured against the Welsh Government's own targets that were…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Annual Scrutiny - The Development Bank of Wales
No, no. The microphone's working.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Annual Scrutiny - The Development Bank of Wales
Welcome back to the Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee. We're now moving on to item 4, our annual scrutiny session with the Development Bank of Wales. And I'm very pleased to be able to welcome to our meeting today: Gareth Bullock, the chair of the…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Food (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 7
You've given us some food for thought, and hopefully, we've given you some as well. And, obviously, you will receive, as I said earlier, a copy of the transcript, so that you can correct anything in there. The committee will now take a short break until…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Food (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 7
You're certainly helping me work up an appetite. [Laughter.] We all take a great interest in food—me probably more than others around the table. But, Minister, I think we'll close the evidence session, unless there are any further questions from Members, on…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Food (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 7
But you certainly accept that the Welsh Government's got to do a better job of communicating what it's doing around food, and how it's impacting on all parts of the Welsh Government, all departments, and in terms of everybody working in the same direction…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Food (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 7
Yes, but is this one of the reasons why people have a different perception, perhaps?
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Food (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 7
Because I was amazed when I saw all of the detail, bringing it together in one place. That's never been done before, as far as I understand, even within some of the work that's been taking place with the strategic vision.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Food (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 7
And, obviously, we are grateful for the letter you sent yesterday, which does detail a lot of the work that's going on across Government. I think this is the first time I've seen a document that brings all of that work together. So, isn't that another example…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Food (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 7
One of the things that you told the Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee was that one thing that you could consider, potentially—and we appreciate that you don't see the merits of a food commission—is an internal Welsh Government board to oversee…
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Food (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 7
I'm not Peter Fox so it's not for me to say, but Peter wants this overarching national strategy, which would have a framework on which action could be taken to address these sorts of issues.
, Economy, Trade, and Rural Affairs Committee
Food (Wales) Bill: Evidence session 7
But these are two other obvious ones, aren't they?
