5. What is the Welsh Government doing to support economic development in Blaenau Gwent? OQ59738

We're taking a range of measures, including, of course, the Tech Valleys programme, a £100 million programme for government commitment over 10 years to create 1,500 sustainable jobs and to increase the average weekly wage and GVA, focused on Blaenau Gwent. The impact of that investment is, of course, being seen in other Valleys communities too.

It is, and we're very grateful to you and the Government, Minister, for that, and grateful also for the work that the Government continues to do to alleviate the impact of the loss of businesses like Tillery Valley Foods. But we're aware also in Blaenau Gwent that we bear the brunt of the economic mismanagement that we've seen from the UK Tory Government; we're also bearing the brunt of hard Brexit, both of which are combining to make the economy less viable in places like Blaenau Gwent.

The role of the Welsh Government in this context is more important than ever. Minister, what we need in Blaenau Gwent is a focus on the industrial and business infrastructure to enable businesses to flourish in the borough and across the Heads of the Valleys region. The Welsh Government has an opportunity to invest in an industrial strategy, if you like, for the Heads of the Valleys—to invest in, for example, our energy infrastructure as well as training infrastructure and the transport infrastructure, which has already seen that investment. But we also need investment in business units and in industrial units, which enable businesses, then, to locate in Blaenau Gwent, create work and create jobs for the future.

I can completely agree with the Member. The Member referenced some of the transport infrastructure—making sure, having invested in the A465, we actually deliver investment to make sure that jobs take place within the northern Valleys and not simply take people out of the northern Valleys to other centres of population, we're continuing to invest in Rhyd y Blew, for example, and I look forward to giving a further update on a significant investment there—£8.5 million invested—and I'm confident we'll see significant opportunities there.

The Member has discussed before some of the other opportunities that might exist within Blaenau Gwent. It's also worth pointing out, of course, that we continue to invest in current businesses as well as those that aren't there. I'll happily write to the Member with more detail, but there are 12 businesses in the last two years that have received over £230,000 in Blaenau Gwent to help improve their productivity—real examples of supporting businesses to grow, which then have a footprint in the Valleys—as well as making sure that the infrastructure and the ambition are there to do even more to have really well-paid work available within the Valleys communities themselves.FootnoteLink

Information further to Plenary

You mentioned, Minister, and I'd like to press you further on it, one of the major projects that the Welsh Government have invested in, and that's the Tech Valleys project that you mentioned in the Member's area. The aim of this is to turn the Valleys area of Blaenau Gwent into a high-tech hotbed for developing new technologies and advanced manufacturing, a noble aim that I agree with and hope to see come to fruition. As you've said today, the aim is to create 1,500 jobs in 10 years, with £100 million investment ring-fenced for the project over a decade. However, a written question that I submitted has revealed that the programme, which has already received an investment of £40 million, has only created just 29 jobs. Minister, nearly half of the money has been spent, and yet we have yet to hit 50 jobs in the area two years in. So, my question to you is: when will my region start to feel the effects of this investment and when will we actually start to see those 1,500 jobs? Thank you.

Well, we have, of course, seen the opportunity to create a nearly 300,000 ft new, fit-for-purpose office and manufacturing space from the Tech Valleys programme. You're right, about £40 million has been spent on an economic future for Blaenau Gwent. You've also seen a number of headline manufacturers, like Apex Additive Technologies, PNR Pharma consulting and, of course, Thales, locating there, because there is an active Government here to work alongside those businesses. Actually, the Thales investment is a good example of an industry and a leading partner for the future. So, Blaenau Gwent definitely has a place in the future of the cyber sector, not just here in Wales, but across the UK. When I met Thales in Paris recently, they were extraordinarily positive about the future for the investment. They see it as a real jewel in their investments for the future and the opportunity to grow skills and jobs because they have a reliable partner within this Government. I look forward to seeing more job growth in that area, and I look forward to the Member welcoming and recognising it.