Steel Industry

Steve Witherden (Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr) (Lab) and Jessica Morden (Newport East) (Lab) asked the Secretary of State for Wales, Jo Stevens, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help support the steel industry in Wales. In response, the Secretary of State explained that under her chairmanship, the transition board has moved from discussion to delivery. She announced £13.5 million for supply chain, skills and employability funds, as well as a business and community pledge scheme, bringing together over 50 organisations in support of affected workers. Steve Witherden thanked the Secretary of State for beginning to deliver funds to support business confidence and provide a safety net for workers, and asked her to explain how this will support workers dealing with great uncertainty. Jo Stevens stated that the funds will help people to retrain and reskill into new employment, and will help businesses to diversify and go into new markets if they are a primary customer of Tata Steel. Jessica Morden acknowledged the Secretary of State's new role and asked her to outline what she has been doing, alongside the Department for Business and Trade, to secure future investment in the Llanwern steelworks in Newport as part of ongoing discussions with Tata. Jo Stevens responded that the Government understands the importance of Llanwern and has worked with Tata Steel UK to ensure that Llanwern is clearly considered in plans for the future of steel in south Wales. John Lamont (Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk) (Con) questioned whether the Secretary of State regrets the Labour party's previous criticism of the deal agreed by the last Conservative Government, as the new deal appears to be largely unchanged. Jo Stevens stated that she does not recognize that characterization and that the Business Secretary will make a statement to the House, which she does not want to pre-empt. Sarah Green (Chesham and Amersham) (LD) welcomed the Front Benchers and asked the Secretary of State to confirm whether future rounds of the UK shared prosperity fund allocated to Wales will no longer be subject to competitive bidding. Jo Stevens stated that the Government's manifesto stressed a partnership approach with local authorities and an intention to stabilize the funding system, moving away from wasteful competition, and that these principles will be applied as they think about the future of local growth funding. Ruth Jones (Newport West and Islwyn) (Lab), the Chair of the Welsh Affairs Committee, asked the Secretary of State to provide an assessment of how the transition board has changed under her leadership. Jo Stevens responded that £13.5 million has been released as the first tranche of funding from the transition board, changing the situation from discussion to delivery.