Economy, Energy and Connectivity Committee

Welcome to you all this morning. Could I extend a welcome to everyone to the first meeting of the Economy, Energy and Connectivity Committee? It's great to welcome you all here. Could I also welcome the officials who are here to support and assist us? This is a public meeting, of course, and is being broadcast live on Senedd.tv, and a Record of Proceedings will be published as later online. This is a bilingual meeting with simultaneous interpretation from Welsh to English. Are there any apologies? I do understand that one Member will be joining us later on. Nothing else. Are there any declarations of interest?

Just to say I am a member of Unite the Union, which is one of the unions we will be referring to later on in the meeting.

Okay. Thank you very much.

Therefore, we'll move on to item 2, namely the committee remit. This is a paper that you've seen already. The suggestion is that we are to note this now, unless there are any strong feelings against that. If there aren't, is everyone content to note that? Therefore, we'll do that.

And item 3, there are a number of papers again, most of them are to be noted. Mainly, we'll take them all together, but the legacy of the committees in the last Senedd, the sixth Senedd, that's what they are mainly. And are you content to note those papers, other than perhaps item 3.4, which we'll deal with separately? In terms of item 3.4 in the pack, that relates to the steel industry in Port Talbot, and there are concerns that have been expressed previously about the possible delays because of issues related to the national grid, and there is a suggestion, because of that and the importance of that project, that we should be corresponding and reflecting that opinion, and drawing the National Grid and the Government's attention to that. But, I don't know. Shav, do you have any comments to make on that?

Yes, as the former general secretary of TUC Cymru and member of Unite the Union and GMB, I just want to declare an interest. Of course, the last committee did hear from steelworkers directly, and they did raise concerns then about the possibility that things could be delayed in terms of the connectivity issue. It's really important that we now push ahead and try and resolve this issue. We know that there were delays up to a year. It looks like it could it be six to eight months now. We need to get to the bottom of this. Ultimately, this is about getting that electric arc furnace up and running, and making sure that workers know what their future looks like.

Thank you very much. I'm sure that we all agree with that. Is everyone content with that? Sorry, Alun.

Just to note, I am supportive of that. I represent that area, Port Talbot.

Of course, of course.

It is important for the economy, not just for that area, but for the economy of Wales. We have to make certain that those connections to the grid are available. It seems as if it's perhaps something we'll come back to in this committee, what those consequences are in terms of the grid, but perhaps that's a discussion to have another time.

Okay. Thank you very much. So, if everyone is in agreement, we'll correspond as has been noted. So, thank you very much. And we'll note the other papers.

So, item 4, this is quite clear, namely a recommendation that the committee goes into private session. To do that, I have to propose officially that we want to do that under Standing Order 17.42(vii) and (ix), that the committee resolves to exclude the public from the remainder of the meeting. Are Members content? Is everyone content? Fine, we'll go into private session. Thank you.