MIKE HEDGES AM ASKS EMERGANCY QUESTION AT SENEDD RE VIRGIN MEDIA ANNOUNCMENT TO CLOSE THE VIRGIN CALL CENTRE IN SWANSEA.

Speaking after the Assembly session, Mike Hedges AM said… ‘Clearly, this announcement will affect a lot of my constituents and I am anxious that all avenues for supporting people affected are explored. However, in the longer term, attracting good quality jobs to the City Region area and Swansea in particular is going to require infrastructure investment to ensure that investors can travel to and from Swansea with ease, in comparable time to other locations where they might invest. As mentioned in the answer, there is a ‘golden’ 2 hour window for travel from London. Lack of investment in electrification of the Railway line is going to be a significant handicap to attracting investment to the area and MUST be addressed as soon as possible by the Westminster Government and it is important that the Welsh Government keep up the pressure!’

Mike Hedges AM - As someone who was made redundant by British Steel in the 1980s, I have huge sympathy and huge empathy with those who have been affected, many of whom are my constituents, and some of whom I actually know and will meet over the next week or so. I thank the Cabinet Secretary for the action that he has taken. I don't think that we could ask for any more. I'm very pleased about the taskforce, and I hope that all those people who are currently there and who wish to continue in employment will be able to do so. But we will lose 800 job opportunities in the Swansea area. We're not that well off for jobs that losing 800 job opportunities will not have an effect on the local economy. So, what is the Welsh Government able to do in order to try and bring more employment into the area?180

One of the reasons that has been given—I don't know whether officially or unofficially—is that Manchester has such good connections to London, including the expected high speed 2 line, and we can't even get electrification to Swansea. Will the Cabinet Secretary continue to press the Government in Westminster on the importance of electrification to Swansea? It's the signal that it sends out and, as I have said on more than one occasion, it's the importance of saying, 'This is somewhere worth going to, worth creating employment in, because we put electrification there.' Of course, the converse is also true.181

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Ken Skates - Well, the Member is absolutely right that good connectivity, principally with London, given the size of the economy of London, particularly with regard to financial and professional services, creative industries and the services sector as a whole—. It's essential that we are better connected to that particular city. Many investors identify a two-hour time limit in terms of where they wish to invest. It is particularly the case, for example, within the creative industries. So, upgrading the south Wales main line between Cardiff and Swansea, following the cancellation of the electrification of that particular piece of infrastructure, is absolutely vital, and we expect that work to be carried out at pace, as I said yesterday.182

I can assure the Member, as I said to Suzy Davies, that all options for alternative employment are being explored at the moment. I can't go into any details regarding the companies that have already expressed an interest in taking on people who will be affected by this announcement, but we are aware of at least five to date—major companies that are looking at taking on significant numbers. I've already identified Virgin Atlantic, and I wouldn't wish to go into any detail about the other companies. But in addition to this, we are also looking at bringing forward a number of investment opportunities. There is a very strong pipeline of investments in the regulated contact centre sector, and many of these opportunities are due to be landed in the Swansea area.