The Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh Language and I will maintain a close dialogue with trade union colleagues on this matter. The Cabinet Secretary is arranging a visit to Llanwern to discuss in further detail how we can best support the priorities of the workforce as talks continue. As well as urging an approach that avoids compulsory redundancies, it is important that workers who remain with the company are rewarded with the pay that recognises their skills, talent and dedication. The Welsh Government continues to engage with the transition board. We will press the case for rapid action from partners over the coming months.

To focus our support measures, we require detailed information on those affected by transition plans in order to ensure that support can be provided quickly to employees and suppliers. The supply chain within Wales is significant and reaches beyond steel communities directly. The company has now agreed to share this information, and I look forward to the Welsh Government working with them and our wider partners on these crucial details that will impact the lives of thousands of workers and businesses.

In the course of our talks, I also highlighted the difficulties of dealing effectively with the current UK Government and stressed once more that we still do not know the conditions of the £500 million grant from the UK Government. This is an unacceptable situation for any Welsh Government to find itself in. I still find it remarkable that the UK Government's business Secretary refused to meet with me at any point in my time as the economy Minister, and has more recently failed to engage in the transition process.

I recognise the widespread impact that this planned transition will have if Tata implement their publicly stated plan. It will affect communities and people right across Wales. That is why we have urged the business to think again. If they are determined to act ahead of a general election, then they must ensure that current production levels are maintained across the entire downstream operation. It is welcome that, during our talks, the company set out that they have and will have sufficient reserves of hot-rolled coil and slab to guarantee the current production levels of all of their downstream operations. That will be hugely important to the workforce at Trostre, Shotton, Llanwern and Caerphilly.

I've also asked for clarity on Tata's plans for the electric arc furnace build, including, of course, the importance of using Welsh companies as much as possible, supporting local jobs, to build and develop the process. We will work with businesses to explore how the Welsh Government can encourage the urgent work required to maximise the potential investment and employment this could bring to steel communities and Wales as a whole.

It is a fact that there is still community concern that the EAF may not be built. I made it clear to Tata that clarity on the planning process is, therefore, important. I raised concerns over the quality of EAF-produced steel and discussed the need to ensure that customers can rely on steel produced through this process. I understand that research, development and innovation projects will be in place to ensure that all current operations can be supported, and we will, of course, be monitoring progress on this matter very carefully.

We discussed important areas of shared interest, including investment opportunities in and around Port Talbot and collaboration with Welsh universities, particularly Swansea, on all areas of green steel production. This includes scrap processing and construction, amongst other priorities. I was able to highlight the significant investment and jobs opportunity represented by the Global Centre of Rail Excellence in Onllwyn, and I am pleased to confirm that the company agreed to consider a memorandum of understanding with GCRE. Welsh Government officials and Tata senior executives are meeting in Onllwyn today to discuss this MOU. I hope that this work can lead to quality employment opportunities for workers who will be affected directly by the transition. 

The final issue I raised was my concern over funding for the Steel and Metals Institute in Swansea, which is so critical to finding innovative ways of supporting green steel production. I'm pleased to confirm that the company has agreed to consider funding a significant number of positions. My officials will be taking forward this work over the coming weeks, of course, together with the economy and energy Secretary, who is the lead Minister in the Government for our work with Tata. 

Llywydd, it remains the view of this Government that the outcome we are facing and the loss it represents was preventable, and is still preventable. For many years, the Welsh Government has made the case for a fully fledged UK industrial strategy that prizes our sovereign assets and links business investment to long-term growth beyond London and the south-east. This is the fundamental shift that is required to unlock the ambition of our steel industry, and what we should all expect from any UK Government—a level of ambition and practical support that our steelworkers deserve and I believe our country needs. 

Steel is the thread that will run through the economy of today and tomorrow. The UK Government was asked whether it has the ambition to make Wales and the UK the centre of that greener future. So far, it is impossible to describe the answer as anything other than 'no'. Talented Welsh workers make high-quality Welsh steel, and their work is good for growth and good for security. They deserve the backing of an ambitious Government with the tools to back them. Thank you, Llywydd.