MIKE HEDGES ASKS WELSH GOVERNMENT MINISTER ABOUT FOUNDATION ECONOMY IN WALES

 MIKE HEDGES ASKS WELSH GOVERNMENT MINISTER ABOUT FOUNDATION ECONOMY IN WALES 

 

Speaking from his Senedd office, local Swansea East Senedd Member, Mike Hedges said…  ‘ It is vital for the Welsh and indeed SW Wales economy that the Welsh government encourages universities, further education colleges, and industry to work together to develop a foundation economy from which we can all benefit. The Swansea tidal lagoon present an opportunity for these sectors to work together to drive forward a really significant project for Swansea.

 

If these sectors can work together there will be opportunities for young people to learn, businesses to develop in new high skilled industries, And there will be an opportunity to regenerate parts of Swansea docks and the surrounding area. If these ideas come together then they will form a business idea that can be replicated in other parts of Wales and indeed around The United Kingdom and Europe.

 

It is vital that southwest Wales develops opportunities such as the Swansea tidal lagoon.’

 

 

 

 

 

 15:05

Mike Hedges MS15:08:13

 

If we were discussing the foundation economy in London, they would identify banking and finance. In Silicon Valley, they would identify ICT. And in Cambridge, it's science, research, engineering and technology. In Wales, we identify mainly the support economy. I welcome the commitment to supporting the renewable energy sector, where Wales has the natural assets to drive opportunity in renewables, including tidal energy. Is there any update on the Swansea tidal lagoon? It is important that universities, further education colleges and industry work together to develop this sector so that we can all benefit. Minister, you said that the estimates indicate that the foundation economy in Wales represents around 40 per cent of Welsh employment. What percentage of GVA does it produce and how does the median pay in these industries compare to the median pay in Wales?152

Vaughan Gething MS15:08:59

 

I haven't got the figures to hand on the GVA contribution to the foundation economy, but I'm sure I can get them to Mike. There is a point, though, about the balance in the economy that we need. So, an everyday economy that we rely on for a range of our goods and services can have real value in it, but it's about all the things that also go into a sense of place as well. If you don't have some of that economy working, then, actually, it does affect how people feel about where they work, and I think that's quite an important factor when we consider why we're doing some of this, as well as the fact that there are lots of people in employment in the sector.153

 

And on the tidal lagoon, I've had a number of conversations with the leader of Swansea Council, Rob Stewart, and he is very much interested in keeping a revised vision for a Swansea tidal lagoon with real economic benefit around it, as well as the opportunity to generate renewable power. I'd be more than happy to have a conversation with him and other Swansea Members and, indeed, the council, about the current stage of development proposals and what that might mean for the future.

 

MIKE HEDGES WELCOMES WELSH GOVERNMENT STATEMENT ON HIGH RISK BUILDING OVERSIGHT.

 MIKE HEDGES WELCOMES  WELSH GOVERNMENT STATEMENT ON HIGH RISK BUILDING OVERSIGHT.  

 

Speaking from his Senedd Office, local Swansea East MS Mike Hedges said… ‘ I really welcome this Government announcement and I am sure it will bring a degree of reassurance to my constituents who live in High Rise buildings. It seems quite bad that Developers can use private building inspectors, often on lucrative contracts to provide those services.  

 

I hope that the Minister confirms that it will be Local Councils who provide these services in future’  

 

Mike Hedges MS17:35:27 

 

I very much welcome the statement. I welcome that the Welsh Government will restrict the oversight of new high-risk buildings to local authority building control, and that it will introduce a new class system for registered building inspectors. This will make sure that only individuals who have the relevant skills, knowledge and experience are advising decision makers. We might wonder why people who didn't have the knowledge and experience were actually being allowed to do it in the past. I think that's something that certainly causes concern to me and I'm sure a number of my constituents. 383 

 

I welcome the introduction of a new regulatory regime for building inspectors and building control bodies to support the changes needed. I have two questions. Why cannot we return to only council building inspectors providing building inspection services, rather than allowing private companies to provide these services? And the second one is: will we be having further reports, either written or verbal—and written would be quite acceptable—on those buildings that have problems with cladding, and the stage each one has reached?384 

 

As you know, Minister, my interests are Altamar, South Quay and Copper Quarter, and I know that Mabon's is Victoria Dock, for example. So, we've all got our own local interests, so, if that would be possible, it would be very much welcome. 385 

 

Julie James MS17:36:46 

 

Thank you, Mike. On that last one, I will look to see whether we can include that in the regular updates that we put out. We can put a section at the bottom that tells you where each building is, I suspect. If there are issues that make that more confidential I'll make sure that Members can get a briefing on that as we go ahead. 386 

 

In terms of the new building control systems, I'm glad you welcome it. I share your view, as you know, that building control should be in local authority control. We will be looking to restrict building inspection services to local authorities when we bring the full Act forward. That will give us the opportunity to do that. I do think there is a real issue around some of the controlled services that we have. So we have developers who basically have a contract with a single set of building control inspectors. I don't mean to impune the integrity of any individual inspector by saying that, but there's something not quite right about a retained set of people who only work for a single developer. I think that isn't a good regulatory system and so we'll make sure that we have a system that's better fit for purpose than that. 387 

 

Where local authorities are themselves the developers we'll make sure that a local authority inspector from a different local authority does the inspection on behalf of that local authority, so that you've got a better cross-pollination in the system. And to do that we've got to grow the service itself, so putting the training programme in place and making sure that we have a succession plan in place has been absolutely pivotal to being able to do that. We wanted to get the system in place before we change the system to restrict it.