1. Will the Minister make a statement in response to the announcement that Tuffnells parcel firm has gone into administration? TQ794

Thank you. It is sad news that Tuffnells parcels has entered into administration. This took place yesterday, and I know this will be devastating for management and staff. Our focus now will be on supporting those affected workers here in Wales.

Thank you for that answer, Minister. As you mentioned, one of those depots is situated in Rogerstone, in my constituency of Newport West, and it has been confirmed that all of the 75 workers there have been made redundant. This is devastating news to all those workers and their families, who are in this situation due to no fault of their own. In what is already an extremely difficult year for many, the suddenness of this announcement seems particularly cruel.

The workers are obviously the priority, and they have been let down, but there are also other businesses and subcontractors who will be affected by this, with one local business having several outstanding invoices. Minister, I know the Welsh Government and your officials always act swiftly in these situations, but can you assure me that support will be mobilised for the workforce so that they're given the best advice in terms of possible connections to other employers and opportunities for training? I've already been contacted by a number of local businesses offering their support and help. And do you have any advice to give the other local businesses affected about how they can contact the administrators for the services that they are owed?

Thank you for the question. There's a number of really important practical points there, and I recognise that one of the Tuffnells depots is indeed in her constituency in Rogerstone. The difficulty we have in the Welsh Government is that there was no contact from the company to us, at any point, to indicate it was in distress, so we found out when the announcement was actually made that administrators were appointed yesterday. It's part of a much larger group, with over 2,000 people directly employed by Tuffnells, so it'll be a shock to workers as well. Now, the challenge is about what they are able to do and how they get those forms of support. The administrators have provided their details on the Tuffnells website—they've got contact details. If you're an individual, people can contact the Welsh Government. If people contact through your office, we can take forward that advice. But we're looking to work with the administrators to make sure that there's clear advice and understanding of the support that the Welsh Government can provide, for example, through our ReAct Plus programme or our Communities for Work Plus programme and, potentially, links through Careers Wales, to help people find alternative work. We also have a constructive relationship with the Department for Work and Pensions as well and about the sort of support they may be able to provide.

For any businesses that are affected, they should definitely contact Business Wales, to understand what we can do to try to direct them in terms of their rights. But they also should have direct contact with the administrators and about where they are in the line of credit and what they can do, if they do have outstanding invoices that have not been paid.

Part of the challenge of dealing with the workforce is that we don't believe, we don't understand there to be a recognised union on either the site in the Member's constituency or across the wider business. That then means that workers are needing to be organised after the event. I think it makes it even more important that there's direct contact with both the administrators' office and, indeed, as I say, through co-ordinating local officials. So, I'd be very happy to meet the Member to have a practical conversation with her and/or her UK parliamentary colleague to understand the sort of calls for advice that you're getting from the 70-odd people who are permanently employed, or were permanently employed on the site, and to make sure that they do have easy access to support that's available from Welsh Government or, indeed, as I say, the DWP.

I'd like to thank Jayne for asking this question; I'd echo the comments that have been made about the loss of these jobs. It's another bitter blow for the region I represent, which comes on the back of hundreds of job losses at Tillery Valley Foods Ltd in Cwmtillery and Avara Foods in Abergavenny.

Minister, you've expressed real concern about the latest rise in unemployment for Wales because, at 4.8 per cent, it's a full percentage point higher than the UK average. I note and I welcome the points you've made about the package of support that's being made available to those made redundant by Tuffnells. Could you talk us through, please, whether you think the site could be repurposed for alternative employment? And could you please give the Senedd an idea of what the Welsh Government is doing to address these really concerning figures about the national increase in unemployment? Thank you.

Well, with respect, I won't answer the last part of that, because I there's a further topical question from one of your colleagues on the figures that came out yesterday.

When it comes to the potential to support and challenge that is available here, part of the good news is that, for workers with skills and in logistics and related areas, there is still a need for people in that sector. So, I'm cautiously optimistic that we'll be able to provide people with alternative opportunities for work. When it comes to the site, I don't physically have knowledge of the site itself, but on the more general point around employment sites, all of our local authorities and, indeed, the Welsh Government, are looking at sites for employment. It's probably the better side of the equation to have about demand for employment sites, so I'm very keen that this site continues to be an employment site. We have regular enquiries from businesses that are looking to expand that are already here in Wales, as well as potential investors into Wales, and ones who are having significant employment sites available is actually something that we are looking to do to expand and to maintain those sites.

The Member mentioned Tillery Valley Foods—I met again with the task force, attended by the constituency Member for Blaenau Gwent, Alun Davies, this morning, and again, we're clear that we want that significant site for employment to remain an employment site, and not just to help the current workforce who are looking to find alternative work. There's still a significant number of people who are looking for alternative work, following the demise of Tillery Valley Foods, as well as making sure that there are future employment opportunities on that site. And it's a real point of intent that we've worked very constructively with the local authority, with constituency Members and more than one party on. And in the same way, we're also looking at Avara Foods in Monmouthshire, and, at the same, as I say, there is a practical and constructive relationship with the Department for Work and Pensions to find alternative work for the directly affected workforce.  

I thank the Minister for the response to the first question. Luke Fletcher to ask the second question.