MIKE HEDGES AM RAISES PLIGHT OF VIRGIN STAFF WITH GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MANAGER

MIKE HEDGES AM RAISES PLIGHT OF VIRGIN STAFF WITH GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MANAGER

Speaking after the Plenary session at the Assembly, Mike Hedges AM said.. ‘I think that it is important that Assembly members continue to support the workers of Virgin Media who continue to face redundancy. We need to ensure that the Welsh Government and other agencies can do all they can to support these people in to new jobs. I will continue to raise these issues with the relevant ministers to ensure that it is at the forefront of their minds as we approach time when people will be made redundant.’

Mike Hedges AM - Secondly, can I return to the job losses at Virgin Media call center in Swansea? In January, you told me that the first tranche of those staff did leave in November and there are a further two phases planned for this year. Virgin Media's outplacement support team has taken on responsibility for providing staff with on-site access to key partners of our Welsh Government taskforce, including Careers Wales, the Department of Work and Pensions and local employers. The jobs fair in October took place on the Virgin Media site and there are further job fairs planned to coincide with the initial tranches of staff who will be leaving. So, those further jobs fairs will be timed in relation to those further tranches of people who will be leaving the company. Can we now have a Government statement, or can you make a response and provide a further update to what is happening there, which affects your constituency, Julie James's, mine and many others?

Rebecca Evans AM - On the matter of Virgin Media and the job losses, I don't have much further to add to that information that you have given us this afternoon, other than to confirm that the further two phases of redundancies will be planned for later this year and we will have those jobs fairs to coincide with those leaving dates. I know that Mike Hedges and Julie James and others are very closely involved in this issue and talking to the workforce, and so, it would be useful to know of any other additional issues that are outstanding that Welsh Government might be able to help with.