6. Will the Minister make a statement on the governance of Anglesey free port? OQ59750

Yes. A joint Welsh and UK programme board is overseeing the implementation of prospective free ports in Wales. The prospective free ports will need to demonstrate appropriate governance structures are in place for the set-up phase before any capacity funding is released.

Thank you very much for that response. The Minister and I have agreed to great extent on the issue. Both of us have insisted, in the context of the original prospectus offered us, that we wanted more certainty on workers' rights, on environmental regulations, and also on having a level playing field in terms of funding as compared to England. That certainly wasn't the case when the Conservative Government proposed this initially. But it's only part of the work. There are all sorts of free port models and the work now is to make the most of the opportunities and ensure that the more negative elements that can be related to free ports are managed. Governance is the solution to ensure that the Anglesey free port does boost local skills, increases local employment and that there is strong financial management in place there, so how will the Minister help, by working with Anglesey council, to ensure that governance brings real benefits to the people of Anglesey?

I'm more than happy to continue not just to update the Member individually, but also Members generally on progress with free ports. One of my key concerns in conversations with the UK, and, when they turned into conversations rather than the headline shouting that was taking place, we got parity on funding, but then to be really clear that growth not displacement of activity would be the yardstick on which they'd be measured and to make that we're then looking to deliver metrics that will allow us to understand whether we're doing that, as well as the points that we have made, and we're glad the Member's recognised again, on fair work and on environmental standards as well.

So, getting through this next phase, before any capital is released, we then need to have measured in how we're going to measure and assess growth not displacement and to make sure that we can come back and report back to this Parliament on whether we think that is taking place, and the council on Ynys Môn, but more broadly afield as well, are key partners in making sure that a free-port vision that looks positive on paper is actually delivered in practice. So, I'm cautiously optimistic, and I know that I'll face scrutiny questions both here and in committee about whether that is actually being delivered in reality, whether public money going into these ventures is going to deliver the return that all of us want to see, whether it's Holyhead or, indeed, the Celtic free port.