149 contributions on record. Newest first, by sitting day. Page 1 of 4. Counted by Siambr
Rydw i wedi trafod Twf Swyddi Cymru+ gyda'r Dirprwy Weinidog, gan gynnwys y pwysau y mae darparwyr yn ei reoli wrth iddyn nhw ymateb i'r galw parhaus am gymorth.
I have discussed Jobs Growth Wales+ with the Deputy Minister, including the pressures that some providers are managing as they respond to continued demand for support.
I am grateful to the Member for her question, and, as I said just now, I have, obviously, had discussions already with Cabinet colleagues to see what more can be done within the resources that we have. I think it is certainly the case that we are seeing not just in Wales, but across the UK, a huge issue in terms of the labour market. It has, obviously, led to the Milburn review, and I agree, actually, with Alan Milburn that working on the supply side, working on employability support programmes, is not going to be enough to deal with the scale of the problem, because the problem is really on the demand side largely. That's where we also need to focus, and I think that, really, the scale of the problem means that we do need a scale of intervention on a similar level to the one that we saw back in 1997—the New Deal for the unemployed. So, we are looking forward to the final report of the Milburn review. We hope that the UK Government will inject the level of investment that is needed not just in Wales, but across the UK, to address the problem that young people and others are facing because of the nature of the labour market need at the moment.
The Deputy Minister has been very clear in his view that apprenticeships are absolutely central to enabling young people to achieve their potential and also for us to drive the kind of economic development that we want to see across every sector and across every community. We'll certainly very much welcome those ideas and take them up in discussion with the Deputy Minister in the context of the work that is already ongoing through the skills audit and following the skills summit a few weeks ago.
Where I agree with the Member is that the existing interventions in Wales were not working, and the actual outcomes were worse. As a result of that, we have commissioned, as a Government, work by Professor Melanie Jones, one of the leading figures in labour market economics, to understand, 'Well, let's look across the world at what does work in order to inform our own use of the policy levers that we do have.' But I should say that the consensus view, which is emerging through the work of the Milburn review and economists that are looking at this, is that the supply-side approach, which is basically saying, 'There's an unemployed person here and if we can make them employable, then they can get into the labour market', the increasing consensus view is that that's incorrect, largely. The problem is on the demand side. The jobs are not being generated to a sufficient degree to actually create those job opportunities, and there are particular structural problems in terms of entry-level jobs. That's why I think sector-led approaches, the likes of which we've begun to see, haven't we, in recent weeks and months—the retail sector, the construction sector, coming forward and making commitments to create those entry-level jobs—those kind of approaches are likely to have a better effect. The opportunity for us in Wales is to work with sectors—and we've just heard some specific examples in an earlier question as well—to provide those entry-level jobs, and, yes, make sure that our training skills system is working with employers for real job opportunities that are going to be created.
Mae'r Dirprwy Weinidog a minnau'n trafod yn rheolaidd sut y gall sgiliau, cymorth cyflogadwyedd a phrentisiaethau arfogi pobl ifanc ledled Cymru i lwyddo mewn economi sy'n newid yn gyflym. Roedd y materion hyn yn nodwedd o'n huwchgynhadledd sgiliau'r dyfodol hynod lwyddiannus yn gynharach y mis hwn ac maen nhw’n ganolog i'm cenhadaeth cynhyrchiant.
The Deputy Minister and I regularly discuss how skills, employability support and apprenticeships can equip young people across Wales to succeed in a rapidly changing economy. These issues were a feature of our highly successful future skills summit earlier this month and are central to my productivity mission.
I am grateful to the Member for her question. I think that, certainly, we acknowledge the importance of programmes like Jobs Growth Wales. We've committed to continuing that next year, even, as I said, as we begin the work of understanding what more we can do and what we can do differently, because, even though these programmes have made a contribution, they have not solved the problem; the problem has got worse. And so, we need to find out what is missing, what additional can we do. As I was saying, I think the growing view among those who work in and analyse this field is that we need to work more on the demand side to generate the jobs, and also we need to have a place-based approach. So, I think you're absolutely right to focus on the specific needs, which will be different in Blaenau Gwent to other places. The opportunities will be different. The employers that we can work with to create particular sectoral opportunities will be different. So, it's that combination not just of the existing approaches, but blending them with new interventions that are demand led and placed based. That's the way, in a holistic fashion, I think that we can provide a durable and comprehensive solution that will deliver hope to young people and to communities across Wales.
I'm really grateful to the Member for an absolutely vitally important question, which I think is at the forefront of all of our minds at the moment, isn't it? I think it's certainly true that AI is one of the factors that is driving this unique level of disruption that is going on in the labour market. I think that it is a complex picture, and it's fair to say that the evidence is still emerging. We were discussing this at the jobs summit, and we need to have a better understanding and better data. So, there is a live data set that actually looks at what is happening in the American labour market. Month by month, we can see what's happening, and we can see that, particularly, it's young people that are being disrupted most in terms of higher levels of unemployment. We can even be more specific: it's 22 to 25-year-olds who are facing a 20 per cent higher level of unemployment than was previously the case. Now, we need to get that kind of data here and we need to understand how this is playing out across different sectors and across different geographies. That work is ongoing, and I hope to be able to update Senedd Members more in this regard because I think it's one of the central challenges that we're facing at the moment.
Clearly, this was very disappointing news to hear and, obviously, very worrying for the workers and their families involved. I've met with Admiral, and, indeed, with Legal & General as well, to see what we could do—first of all to understand what we could do in the context of those that are at risk of losing their jobs, and we obviously stand ready to do what we can in that regard, but also to understand more about the reasons for these decisions and what we could do, working with these companies and with their sectors, to create additional jobs as well.
Now, Admiral have, in that conversation, confirmed to us that they are going to retain their Cardiff and Swansea offices. In my conversation with Legal & General—and, indeed, with Admiral as well—we did talk about what are the growth opportunities, where we as a Government can work with the companies and with the sectors in order to identify growth possibilities, because we retain important strengths in these sectors, and it's important not to lose sight of that, despite this obviously disappointing news.
Look, the real opportunity for us—. If you want to talk about energy off our shores, the real opportunity for us in Wales, it's in our floating offshore wind sector, it's in our tidal stream and tidal lagoon industries. That's where the real opportunity, in terms of jobs, is. So, let's focus there, because there are important messages where it would be useful if we could speak with one voice to urge the UK Government, for example, to realise the strategic value of marine energy, of floating offshore wind, of tidal. We have some unique geographic assets. No, they don't involve fossil fuels, but they are definitely sectors of the future that not only will be important in energy terms, but, if we get this right, will create massive supply chain opportunities to build out manufacturing at our ports in Port Talbot and in ports across the whole of Wales. So, let's focus there, where the real opportunity is for Wales, rather than be distracted by issues and questions that are not our responsibility and won't directly benefit us.
How this is relevant to these particular questions—. But, look, this is an attempt, once again, to use this platform to sow division. Speak to the shop workers' union—there's a very real issue in terms of the abuse that they face. Meet with the unions and understand the proposals that they are bringing forward to actually make a difference to those workers' lives, not constantly use this place as a platform just to play politics and sow division and hate.
What I think that we've said is that we are bringing forward a general policy framework around data centres. I will leave it to the planning Minister to address the planning dimension of that. Technology changes all the time, and I think that, because of the number of dimensions involved in relation to data centres—their potential contribution to the economy, but also the need to make sure that legitimate questions around land use, around the use of water and the use of energy are addressed properly—it is sensible for us to have a framework, as most other countries are doing at the moment, to ensure that we maximise the benefits and the opportunities, but also mitigate against any potential downside were a framework of that nature not put in place.
I totally accept the premise of the question, that this is vitally important for social and economic reasons. Of course, it's fundamentally a UK Government responsibility, and so one of the things that we absolutely need to do is to get them to deliver faster on the promises that they've made through Project Gigabit and others.
In every infrastructure investment that the UK Government makes, it's always us in Wales that are at the wrong end of a very long line. And it shouldn't be the case, actually, because digital infrastructure, by its very nature, has the capacity to actually limit the costs of distance. But, unfortunately, the way that decisions have been made in the UK, it has had the opposite effect. We will do what we can within our resources to make up for the deficiencies of the decisions made by the UK Government. We will obviously put every pressure that we can to make sure that they live up to their responsibilities.
Well, as I said, we will first of all hold the UK Government and the relevant stakeholders to the commitments that they have made. Where it's possible, within the resources that we have, and within the levers that we have, we will do everything that we can to mitigate any of the deficiencies from the lack of investment that flows from the UK Government. I've met with some of the key companies in the sector to see in which ways we can work smarter, develop innovative solutions, in order to make sure that no community or no individual, as far as is possible, is digitally left behind. But we do need the UK Government to put that investment in that was promised.
Mae swyddogion Llywodraeth Cymru yn cynnal cyfarfodydd rheolaidd gyda National Grid Electricity Transmission. Mae gwaith gosod ffwrnais arc drydan Tata Steel UK yn fater masnachol. Fodd bynnag, rydyn ni’n codi'r mater fel y bo'n briodol.
Welsh Government officials hold regular meetings with National Grid Electricity Transmission. Tata Steel UK’s electric arc furnace installation is a commercial matter. However, we do raise the matter as appropriate.
Yes, I'm very grateful to the Member for his supplementary question. I met with Tata Steel UK's chief executive officer, Rajesh Nair, and the steel unions at Tata's Port Talbot site on 24 September to receive a further update on developments. We focused on a whole range of matters, including the issues around connectivity to the grid, which is at the heart of his question, but there were other matters as well around UK Government trade quotas and the effect that that was having on the domestic steel market. Following that meeting, I did meet with the UK Government's Minister for Reindustrialisation, Blair McDougall, together with the Secretary of State for Wales to discuss some of the matters that were raised.
So, we are constantly engaging with the company, with the unions and also with the UK Government to ensure that Wales does—. I absolutely agree with him about the tragedy, really, of the loss of the blast furnaces, but we now need to make sure that we maximise the opportunity represented by the electric arc furnace. It will be the first or second-largest electric arc furnace anywhere in the world. There is the prospect for us to be producing more than 50 per cent of UK domestic steel capacity at a time when the UK Government has said that it wants to increase the level of domestic procurement. So, there is an opportunity there that is massive. We need to stay focused, I absolutely agree, in order to seize that opportunity.
I think I will have to leave it to the company to share any information it would like to put in the public domain in relation to the current state of play. This is obviously market sensitive information. You can appreciate that it's most appropriate that that comes from the company, and I'm sure that they would want to allow the workforce to hear that information first.
But I think that one of the positive things that I'm sure that Tata Steel would not in any way have a problem with me sharing was the very positive experience that they had with Neath Port Talbot Council. We often hear, don't we, in the context of economic development, concerns around planning delay. Well, the message that I very clearly heard from the company was that they were incredibly impressed by the way in which the planning officers of Neath Port Talbot Council had really worked at an incredible pace and shown some innovation in how to manage that process. And there may be wider lessons that can be shared with other major projects across Wales. And we talked a little bit about how we could share that best practice.
As a result of this experience as well, we are very conscious of the importance of focusing in a very granular fashion on major developments and what that means for the grid. And we are, as I said, in discussion with National Grid Electricity Transmission and other relevant stakeholders to make sure that we learn from this experience and make sure that we identify areas where we can make progress in terms of the grid connection and its important role in our economy.
Mae'r rhaglen lywodraethu yn nodi'r ystod o fesurau y byddwn ni'n eu cymryd i wella cyfleoedd a chanlyniadau economaidd ar gyfer pob rhan o Gymru. Mae hyn yn cynnwys y genhadaeth genedlaethol ar gynhyrchiant, gan gefnogi busnesau bach a'r stryd fawr i ffynnu a sicrhau bod gan Gymru y sgiliau sydd eu hangen arni ar gyfer y dyfodol.
The programme for government sets out the range of measures that we will take to improve economic opportunities and outcomes for every part of Wales. This includes the national productivity mission, supporting small businesses and high streets to thrive and ensuring Wales has the skills it needs for the future.
Diolch yn fawr iawn i'r Aelod am y cwestiwn atodol. Mae'r cwestiwn yma yn greiddiol i'n strategaeth economaidd ni. Mi oeddwn i, y bore yma, wedi cwrdd, am y tro cyntaf, gyda'r panel sydd yn ein cynorthwyo ni i ddylunio'r asiantaeth ddatblygu, ac un o'r themâu roeddwn i wedi'u pwysleisio oedd yr angen i sicrhau ein bod ni'n cynhyrchu swyddi da ym mhobman. Dŷn ni ddim eisiau gweld sefyllfa lle mae Cymru yn efelychu yr hyn rŷn ni wedi gweld o ran datblygiad anwastad y Deyrnas Unedig, lle mae ffyniant ond yn cronni mewn un cornel o'n gwlad. Rŷn ni eisiau i dde-ddwyrain Cymru ffynnu, rŷn ni eisiau i ogledd-ddwyrain Cymru ffynnu, ac rŷn ni'n falch iawn o'r llwyddiant sydd yn digwydd yno, ond rŷn ni eisiau i hynny gael ei ledu drwy'r Cymoedd, drwy Flaenau'r Cymoedd, i'r gorllewin, mewn i Gymru wledig, i'r gogledd-orllewin. Mae'n rhaid codi Cymru oll i fyny, a dyna'r ffordd rŷn fel Llywodraeth am weithredu, a dyna'r nod a'r genhadaeth rŷn ni wedi'u rhoi yn barod i'r asiantaeth ddatblygu newydd.
I thank the Member for that supplementary question. This question is at the heart of our economic strategy. This morning, I met, for the first time, with the panel assisting us to design the new development agency, and one of the themes that I emphasised was the need to ensure that we do generate good jobs everywhere. We don't want to see a situation where Wales emulates what we've seen in terms of the uneven development across the United Kingdom, where prosperity only accrues in one corner of our nation. We want the south-east of Wales to prosper, we want the north-east of Wales to prosper, and we are very proud of the success that there has been there, but we also want that to permeate through the Valleys, the Heads of the Valleys, into the west, into rural Wales, and into the north-west of Wales. We must raise up the whole of Wales, and that is how we as a Government intend to operate, and that is the aim and the mission that we have already given to the new development agency.
I think that's a really important question, and Governments, of course, at one level, have to create the broad conditions of economic success, but we also have to work in a very, very focused way, in the near term, which is about job creation in businesses. Ultimately, Governments can help create those conditions, but it's not Governments that regenerate communities; it's communities and businesses within them that regenerate communities and create those jobs. So, certainly, in looking at the role of inward investment, for example, I think it's critical that we think about the way in which we can make sure that there are opportunities for foreign direct investment in every part of Wales. And, interestingly, in a conversation I had with one of the leading firms in the compound semiconductor cluster, they brought many of their suppliers into Wales, they wanted to be close to the cluster, but those companies said, 'We don't want to be in Newport. We don't need to be in Newport. We want to be in the northern Valleys. We think that's a better fit for us. The skills are there. There are advantages for us.' And there are, of course, fantastic transport links. So, there are unique assets, both people based and also physical assets, that can be leveraged in every community. And we need to be thinking in that granular way to identify opportunities that fit, community by community, across Wales.
Rydyn ni'n benderfynol bod mwy o fusnesau yng Nghymru yn elwa ar gaffael cyhoeddus. Mae Busnes Cymru yn darparu cyngor wedi'i deilwra, tra bod Deddf Caffael 2023 yn ei gwneud hi'n ofynnol i awdurdodau, mewn caffaeliadau a gwmpesir, ystyried rhwystrau sy'n wynebu busnesau ac a ellir rhannu contractau yn lotiau priodol. Rydyn ni hefyd yn datblygu opsiynau polisi i gryfhau'r cymorth ymhellach.
We are determined that more Welsh businesses benefit from public procurement. Business Wales provides tailored advice, while the Procurement Act 2023 requires authorities, in covered procurements, to consider barriers facing businesses and whether contracts can appropriately be divided into lots. We are also developing policy options to strengthen support further.
Yes, absolutely. The formal responsibility is with the finance Minister, but with this, it is very critically, as the Member says, a massive economic driver. It's one of the key tools of industrial policy, actually, public procurement. So, beyond the target, how are we going to achieve it then, getting up to that 70 per cent? We will be setting this out in more detail very shortly. But part of it is working through, as I said, the way in which procurement contracts are structured. So, traditionally, large-scale construction contracts, for example, tend to go to companies the other side of the border because of the scale and the risk involved. Well, just breaking those contracts up into smaller lots, it sounds very simple, but it has a huge impact, and it allows then companies, financially and practically, to get—. The same companies that often end up delivering the project anyway, but now you're taking out a tier and keeping all of that value in Wales.
I think that part of it is also about training companies up, companies that possibly have not been involved in larger scale procurement exercises and might have some fear or inhibition about doing so, so working with them in a different context. I'm going to a procurement exercise in north Wales in relation to the Wylfa project. It's the same kind of approach: how to get Welsh SMEs, many of which have never thought of putting themselves forward, just to understand, 'Look, there's nothing to be worried about; it's a process. You've got the skills, you've got the capacity, you can deliver the product, in many cases at lower cost; you've just got to have the confidence to put your name forward.'
Rydym ni wedi ymrwymo i sicrhau bod cymorth i'r sector amddiffyn yn cael ei ystyried mewn ffordd amserol a chymesur. Tra bod y fframwaith buddsoddi moesegol mewn amddiffyn yn cael ei ddatblygu, mae trefniadau interim ar waith i alluogi penderfyniadau brys i gael eu gwneud pan fo angen.
We are committed to ensuring that support for the defence sector is considered in a timely and proportionate way. Whilst the defence ethical investment framework is being developed, interim arrangements are in place to enable urgent decisions to be taken where required.
I'm grateful to the Member, not least for giving an example of the very phenomenon that I was referring to in response to a colleague earlier, that these high-tech companies can find very, very successful bases in all parts of Wales, including in the northern Valleys. We are committed to doing whatever we can in every sector, but in this sector as well, to support the creation of high-tech jobs. Where decisions are time critical, as I've said on a number of occasions, we've created a route for those decisions to be made exceptionally, before the framework is published and shared with the Senedd.
Rydyn ni’n gweithio ar draws y Llywodraeth a chyda gwasanaethau cyhoeddus, busnesau a phartneriaid i gefnogi'r broses o fabwysiadu AI yn ddiogel, yn dryloyw ac yn atebol. Mae hyn yn cynnwys cryfhau sgiliau, caffael cyfrifol, technoleg Gymraeg a'r sylfeini digidol ehangach sydd eu hangen i sicrhau bod AI yn darparu gwerth cyhoeddus ac o fudd i gymunedau ledled Cymru.
We are working across Government and with public services, businesses and partners to support the safe, transparent and accountable adoption of AI. This includes strengthening skills, responsible procurement, Welsh language technology and the wider digital foundations needed to ensure AI delivers public value and benefits communities across Wales.
The Member raises a really important point. AI must be adopted, in our view, in a way that is fair, transparent and doesn't deepen inequalities. Our approach is rooted in social partnership. Guidance, which has been developed with trade unions and public sector employees, puts worker voice, fair work and human oversight at the heart of workplace AI. We're drawing up a national AI governance framework to provide clear guardrails around accountability, transparency, fairness and risk, and we're still working out, as I said earlier, what the full impacts are on overall employment.
We recognise, though, that AI is changing the skills employers need, and the concerns that I referenced earlier in terms of entry-level roles and traditional routes into work. That's why we're working with employers, with trade unions, with education providers, first of all to understand how AI is changing recruitment, training and workplace learning, while investing, crucially, in digital and AI skills through personal learning accounts and our AI skills pilot.
Diolch yn fawr, Ddirprwy Lywydd. Hoffwn i roi'r wybodaeth ddiweddaraf i'r Aelodau ynghylch y gwaith o ddatblygu strategaeth ynni genedlaethol i Gymru. Mae ynni yn hanfodol i fywyd modern. Mae'r newid i system ynni carbon isel yn ganolog i'n huchelgais i gyrraedd sero net erbyn 2040, gan wynebu'r argyfyngau hinsawdd a natur gyda'n gilydd wrth gryfhau ein diogelwch ynni, gwella cynhyrchiant a chreu manteision parhaol i Gymru.
Mae ein huchelgais yn mynd y tu hwnt i gynhyrchu mwy o ynni. Mae angen i ni ddeall anghenion ynni'r presennol a'r dyfodol yng Nghymru a lle mae angen seilwaith, gan sicrhau'r defnydd gorau o'r hyn sydd gennym ni a sut y gellir cadw gwerth a grëwyd gan ein tir, gwynt, dŵr a moroedd mewn ffordd fwy teg i bobl a chymunedau Cymru. Asedau cenedlaethol yw adnoddau naturiol Cymru. Dylid cadw'r gwerth maen nhw'n ei greu fwyfwy yng Nghymru a'i ddefnyddio i gefnogi cymunedau a busnesau Cymreig a chenedlaethau’r dyfodol.
Bydd y strategaeth yn darparu llwybr clir i gyflawni ein polisïau, a fydd, unwaith y cânt eu gosod, yn darparu mwy o sicrwydd i ddatblygwyr a chymunedau, gan nodi sut rŷn ni’n bwriadu cyflwyno system ynni sy’n lân, yn cael ei berchnogi yng Nghymru ac yn fwy fforddiadwy. Felly, bydd y strategaeth yn cael ei harwain gan weledigaeth i gyflwyno system ynni sy’n cydbwyso ac yn cyflawni ein hamcanion ar gyfer hinsawdd a natur, yn cadw gwerth yng Nghymru, ac yn fwy fforddiadwy a gwydn.
Bydd ynni adnewyddadwy yn hollbwysig wrth i Gymru newid y mathau o ynni mae’n eu defnyddio, gan gynnwys technolegau arloesol fel ynni ffrwd llanw a morlynnoedd llanw. Ni all system ynni ddibynnu ar ynni anwadal yn unig. Mae arnom ni angen cynhyrchu ynni gwynt, ynni solar ac ynni morol sy’n cael eu hatgyfnerthu gan storio ynni, rhwydweithiau cryfach a chapasiti cadarn, carbon isel sydd ar gael yn ôl yr angen. Rhaid inni leihau dibynnu ar danwydd ffosil heb fesurau dal a storio carbon ynghlwm, wrth gynnal diogelwch cyflenwadau, gan gynnwys drwy dargedu rolau penodol ar gyfer storio a dal carbon, hydrogen carbon isel a bioynni lle maen nhw’n gwneud cyfraniad pendant a pharhaus.
Yn ei hanfod, mae'r strategaeth hon yn ymwneud ag adeiladu system ynni sy'n fwy glân, mwy fforddiadwy ac yn cael ei pherchnogi fwyfwy gan Gymru—system ynni all yrru adnewyddiad economaidd, cefnogi adfer natur a chadw mwy o'r gwerth a grëir gan adnoddau Cymreig gan bobl Cymru.
Bydd y seilwaith sydd ei angen ar gyfer y trawsnewid hwn yn arwain at newid, gan gynnwys effaith na ellir ei hosgoi bob amser. Ein cyfrifoldeb ni yw gwneud penderfyniadau ar sail tystiolaeth gadarn, yn unol â Deddf Llesiant Cenedlaethau’r Dyfodol (Cymru) 2015.
Bydd ein strategaeth ynni genedlaethol newydd yn sefydlu cyfeiriad strategol ar ynni ar gyfer y Llywodraeth hon, gan nodi’n glir beth all Cymru ei gyflawni’n uniongyrchol, gyda fframwaith cyflawni ynni cenedlaethol yn darparu’r cyfeiriad hwnnw mewn rhaglen waith fanylach. Bydd yn nodi’r camau sydd eu hangen i gefnogi ein hamcanion ar gynhyrchiant a chyflawni ein cyllidebau carbon.
Byddwn hefyd yn gwneud ein gofynion yn glir i Lywodraeth y Deyrnas Unedig, Ofgem, Gweithredwr y System Ynni Genedlaethol—NESO—ac eraill os yw’r penderfyniadau y tu hwnt i’n rheolaeth uniongyrchol ni. Mae yna raglen sylweddol o waith eisoes ar y gweill. Pwrpas y strategaeth yw gosod cyfeiriad clir ar gyfer y gwaith hwnnw, a sicrhau ei fod yn cyflawni blaenoriaethau'r Llywodraeth hon. Byddwn yn ymgysylltu ac yn ymgynghori wrth i bolisi gael ei ddatblygu.
Rŷm ni'n cynnig ffordd ymlaen sydd wedi ei seilio ar dystiolaeth a gweledigaeth realistig i gynyddu’r defnydd cyfrifol o dechnolegau ynni carbon isel cynaliadwy. Bydd y dull ar sail cynllun yn ein helpu ni i osgoi effeithiau ar gynefinoedd unigryw nad oes modd eu creu eto a thir amaethyddol o ansawdd uchel, lleihau effeithiau ar safleoedd gwarchodedig a nodi cyfleoedd i brojectau ynni gefnogi adfer natur.
I gefnogi hyn, bwriadwn ni newid y targed presennol, gan gyflwyno targed ynni sy’n seiliedig ar allyriadau. Bydd y targed diwygiedig hwn yn golygu na fydd ynni’n cael ei drin fel polisi trydan adnewyddadwy yn unig, neu fel polisi hinsawdd yn unig, a’i fod wedi’i osod o fewn gweledigaeth system gyfan. Bydd hyn yn darparu mesur mwy cyflawn o gynnydd tuag at ein cyllidebau carbon ac yn adlewyrchu’n well rôl ynni wrth ddatgarboneiddio adeiladau, gwres, trafnidiaeth a diwydiant. Yn ogystal â hyn, byddwn yn diwygio ein targed perchnogaeth leol fel ei fod yn cefnogi ein huchelgais i gadw mwy o’r gwerth wrth newid y mathau o ynni rŷn ni’n eu defnyddio yng Nghymru.
Ni ddylid trin ynni fel mater hinsawdd yn unig. Mae’n seilwaith economaidd hanfodol ac yn ganolog i’n hamcanion i wella cynhyrchiant a hyrwyddo ailddiwydiannu yng Nghymru. Nid yw ein nod yn syml i ddatgarboneiddio’r economi, ond i ddefnyddio'r trawsnewid ynni i gryfhau sefyllfa gystadleuol Cymru, denu buddsoddiad, cefnogi diwydiannau strategol a chreu swyddi o ansawdd uchel. Dylid defnyddio ynni fel mantais gystadleuol i sicrhau bod busnesau Cymru'n ffynnu. Byddwn yn gosod camau gweithredu a fydd yn sicrhau ein bod yn cadw'r gwerth yng Nghymru.
Gall system ynni garbon isel ddibynadwy roi hyder i fusnesau i fuddsoddi a thyfu, cefnogi ein sylfaen ddiwydiannol, denu buddsoddiad newydd a chreu cyflogaeth fedrus a hirdymor. Mae hynny'n golygu nodi prosiectau ynni strategol bwysig, cydgysylltu cyflenwadau â phrif ganolfannau galw a chlystyrau diwydiannol, a datblygu'r sgiliau a'r cadwyni cyflenwi sydd eu hangen i droi buddsoddi yn swyddi gwerth uchel a chymunedau cryfach.
Mae'n rhaid datblygu ynni glân gyda phobl a chymunedau Cymru. Gall perchnogaeth leol gadw mwy o werth economaidd, cryfhau gwydnwch y gymuned a rhoi cyfran ystyrlon i bobl wrth drawsnewid. Nid cynnal seilwaith newydd yn unig y dylai cymunedau. Dylen nhw gael cyfleoedd gwirioneddol i siapio prosiectau a manteisio drwy berchnogaeth, buddsoddiadau, cyflogaeth a gwerth hirdymor i'r gymuned. Rydyn ni wedi dechrau casglu tystiolaeth ar berchenogaeth gymunedol drwy ein hymgynghoriad ar gynigion ar gyfer cwmni trydan cyhoeddus cenedlaethol sy’n eiddo i bobl Cymru, ac rŷn ni'n annog pobl Cymru, busnesau, sefydliadau cymunedol a phartïon eraill sydd â diddordeb i gymryd rhan yn hwn. Rydyn ni eisoes yn ystyried cyfleoedd eraill i ddatblygu’r polisi hwn o ran rhoi prosesau gorfodol ar waith, a byddwn yn ceisio tystiolaeth bellach ac yn ymgynghori ar faterion cysylltiedig unwaith y bydd gennyn ni eglurder ar dargedau.
Byddwn yn cyhoeddi strategaeth ynni genedlaethol lefel uchel yn ystod mis Tachwedd. Bydd yn cael ei datblygu ochr yn ochr â chynllunio strategol gan Weithredwr y System Ynni Cenedlaethol—NESO—a bydd y dystiolaeth a blaenoriaethau Cymru yn ganolog iddi. Bydd cyflawni hyn yn gofyn am gydweithredu ar draws y Llywodraeth. Mae penderfyniadau am dai, trafnidiaeth, cynllunio, yr economi, amaethyddiaeth a diwydiant i gyd yn effeithio ar y galw am ynni yn y dyfodol, a bydd y strategaeth yn cysylltu’r penderfyniadau hynny yn hytrach na’u trin ar wahân.
Mae’r trawsnewid yr ydym yn ei wynebu yn sylweddol, ond mae’r cyfle yr un mor sylweddol. Bydd strategaeth ynni genedlaethol yn darparu'r cyfeiriad a'r ddisgyblaeth sydd eu hangen i greu system ynni glanach a mwy diogel sy’n cefnogi cynhyrchiant, diwydiant cynaliadwy a swyddi da. Mae ein nod yn glir: ynni glân, fforddiadwy o dan berchnogaeth Cymru, sy’n cael ei ddarparu’n gyfrifol ac yn cael ei ddatblygu gyda phobl a chymunedau Cymru. Edrychaf ymlaen at weithio gyda’r Aelodau, cymunedau, diwydiant a phartneriaid ledled Cymru wrth inni symud y gwaith hwn yn ei flaen.
Thank you very much, Dirprwy Lywydd. I'd like to give an update to Members on the Government’s work on developing a national energy strategy for Wales. Energy is fundamental to modern life. The transition to a low-carbon energy system is central to our ambition to reach net zero by 2040, facing the climate and natural emergencies together while strengthening our energy security, improving productivity and creating lasting benefits for Wales.
Our ambition goes beyond generating more energy. We need to understand Wales's current and future energy needs, as well as where infrastructure is required, ensuring the best use of what we have and how the value created by our land, wind, water and seas can be retained more fairly by the people and communities of Wales. Wales's natural resources are national assets. The value they create should increasingly be retained in Wales and used to support Welsh communities, Welsh businesses and future generations.
The strategy will provide a clear path to delivering on our policies, which, once in place, will provide more certainty to developers and communities, identifying how we plan to deliver an energy system that is clean, owned in Wales and is more affordable. Therefore, the strategy will be guided by an overarching vision to deliver an energy system that delivers on our climate and nature goals, retains value within Wales, and is more affordable and resilient.
Renewable energy will be crucial as the sources of energy that Wales uses change, including innovative technologies such as tidal stream and tidal lagoons. An energy system cannot depend on variable generation alone. We need wind, solar and marine generation supported by storage of energy, stronger networks and firm, flexible, low-carbon capacity that is responsive to demand. We must reduce reliance on unabated fossil fuels without related carbon capture and storage, while maintaining security of supply, including through targeted roles for carbon capture and storage, low-carbon hydrogen and bioenergy, where they make a clear and sustained contribution.
At its heart, this strategy is about building an energy system that is cleaner, more affordable and is increasingly owned in Wales and by Wales—an energy system that can drive economic renewal, support nature recovery and retention of more of the value created by Welsh resources for the people of Wales.
The infrastructure required for the transition will lead to change, including impacts that cannot always be avoided. Our responsibility is to take decisions based on robust evidence, consistent with the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015.
Our new national energy strategy will set the strategic direction for this Government's approach to energy, making clear what Wales can deliver and achieve directly, with a national energy delivery framework turning that direction into a more detailed programme of work. It will set out the actions needed to support our productivity mission and to meet our carbon budgets.
We'll also make clear our asks of the UK Government, of Ofgem, of the National Energy System Operator and of others if decisions are outside our direct control. There is already a substantial programme of work under way. The purpose of the strategy is to provide a clear direction for that work and to ensure it delivers on this Government's priorities. We will be engaging and consulting as policy is developed.
We propose an evidence-based and pragmatic view to increase the responsible deployment of sustainable low-carbon energy technologies. A plan-led approach will help us to avoid impacts on irreplaceable unique habitats and high-quality agricultural land, mitigate effects on protected sites and identify opportunities for energy projects to support nature recovery.
To support this, we intend to replace and change the present target with an emissions-based energy target. This revised target will mean that energy ceases to be treated as renewable electricity policy solely, or as climate policy alone, and will instead be set within a whole-system vision. This will provide a more complete measure of progress towards our carbon budgets and will better reflect the role of energy in decarbonising buildings, heat networks, transport and industry. Alongside this, we will revise our local ownership target so that it supports our ambition to retain more value from the energy transition within Wales.
Energy should not be treated solely as a climate issue. It is essential economic infrastructure and is central to our ambition to improve productivity and drive reindustrialisation in Wales. Our objective is not simply to decarbonise the economy, but to use the energy transition to strengthen Wales's competitive position, to attract investment, to support strategic industries and to create high-quality jobs. Energy should be used as a competitive advantage to ensure that Welsh businesses prosper. We'll be setting out actions that will ensure that we retain that value in Wales.
A reliable and increasingly low-carbon energy system can give businesses confidence to invest and grow, can support our industrial base, as well as attracting new investment and creating skilled long-term employment. That means identifying strategically important energy projects, aligning provision with major demand centres and industrial clusters, and developing the skills and supply chains needed to turn investment into high-value jobs and stronger communities.
Clean energy must be developed with and for the people and communities of Wales. Local and shared ownership can retain more economic value, strengthen community resilience and give people a meaningful stake in that transition. Communities should not simply host new infrastructure. They should have genuine opportunities to shape projects and benefit through ownership, through investment, through employment and through long-term community value. We've started the process of gathering evidence on community ownership through our consultation on proposals for a single national public energy company owned by the people of Wales, and we encourage the people of Wales, businesses, community organisations and other interested parties to take part in that consultation. We are already considering other opportunities on how to develop this policy in terms of mandating processes, and we will be seeking further evidence and consulting on such matters once we have clarity on the targets.
We will publish a high-level national energy strategy during November. It will be developed alongside strategic planning by the National Energy System Operator, and will be grounded in Wales's priorities and evidence. Delivery will require collaboration across the Government. Decisions related to housing, transport, planning, the economy, agriculture and industry all affect future energy demand, and the strategy will connect those decisions rather than treating them separately.
The transition facing us is substantial, but so too is the opportunity. The national energy strategy will provide the direction and the discipline needed to create a cleaner, more secure energy system that supports productivity, sustainable industry and good quality jobs. Our objective is clear: clean energy, owned by Wales and more affordable, delivered responsibly and developed with the people and communities of Wales. I look forward to working with Members, communities, the industry and partners across Wales as we take this work forward.
I'm grateful to the Member for his questions. I think that he focused much of them on the proposal to create a single Welsh public energy company. That wasn't the main focus of my statement today, but I have to disagree with him, based on the evidence that actually demonstrates that public ownership of energy companies across Europe is a major factor in lowering energy costs. And that's also true not just in terms of national public ownership, but we have evidence even in Wales, where community ownership leads to direct benefit, including lower energy costs. So, I think that we just disagree on that, but I would urge him to look at the evidence. I think that we have to build a mixed economy in energy, and part of that is certainly ensuring that we have higher ownership in Wales. We've learned from our history in the past, haven't we, where we had an energy system, where we had the natural resource, but we didn't derive the benefit from it. Let's actually not make that mistake again and build up greater Welsh ownership in all its forms, including public ownership.
In relation to working across Government, I specifically mentioned housing and the need for a cross-Government approach. Absolutely, there is a need to have that holistic approach because energy touches so many different parts of Government function and responsibilities, and I can assure you that that will be at the heart of the Government's approach as a whole and indeed the national energy strategy.
In terms of technologies, I think we shouldn't just build a mixed economy with an important element of public ownership, but we need to have a mixed technology approach as well. And certainly, he's right to point to the importance of offshore wind. I think this week, Project Erebus, the first wave of this great potential that we have in floating offshore wind, is holding its community and business stakeholder event. There's a real opportunity there for Welsh businesses to benefit from that first of many projects, a 100 MW project, which is really significant, happening this week. But also, there is another stakeholder event for businesses at Wylfa, being held on Thursday, which I will be attending. There's a very important opportunity there as well in terms of the supply chain for Welsh businesses.
And certainly, at the heart of our work on the national energy strategy is working out what the likely possible contribution of different technologies is. Obviously, we will be basing that analysis on the decision that has already been made in relation to the contract for the three small modular reactors at Wylfa. That will be part of working out what possible contribution will be made in terms of energy generation and how that fits then with the likely energy demand that we are going to be seeing in the course of the period between now and 2040.
I'm very grateful to the Member for her questions. In relation to the shift in the target, the previous target by the previous administration was based around 100 per cent of the—a notional figure for Welsh consumption coming from renewable sources. The problem with it is that it ignored those emissions that were produced beyond that by fossil fuel sources. And so, you could hit the target and still have completely unabated fossil fuel generation, which there is in Wales. So, from a decarbonisation perspective, it didn't make any sense, because it didn't actually decarbonise the actual energy system in Wales. So, by aligning the climate and energy policy, it makes more sense to deliver the benefits of decarbonisation because you're actually looking at the emissions produced by the energy system in Wales.
I would say as well, if you look, most objective observers would say that the policy of the previous administration was not successful. For almost a decade before the last Senedd election, there was very, very little development. You might think, 'Well, relatively speaking, that's—.' I'm quoting what industry observers have told me, all right? So, it wasn't successful in its own terms, is the point that I would make, certainly relative to developments elsewhere in Europe.
In relation to undergrounding, I think that that wasn't the main focus of this statement. We'll have more to say about that, but we've consistently set out our position, and we will have more detail to share on that in due course.
Where we do absolutely agree is on the need for a just transition. Certainly, social partnership is right at the centre of the emphasis, which was the common thread through everything I said, which is about local ownership, about things being done with communities, not to communities—you know, a just transition, absolutely. The key thing as well is that you don't want to do just transition, okay? Because an energy transition also needs to be a means by which we can get to grips with social inequality, where we can get to grips with poverty, and also use it as a driver for closing the prosperity gap for Wales. It can be a vehicle for all these other important policy goals. As well as its important role in delivering decarbonisation, what we are saying through the energy policy is it needs also to deliver on those wider social and economic objectives, and we are in agreement on that.
I'm grateful to the Member for her comments. I would say that we're absolutely in agreement about the central importance of affordability, and I've mentioned that at several points during my opening remarks. I think that we have to start from a position of clarity that many of the levers and tools that are relevant when it comes to energy costs do lie with the Westminster Government, and so that is a limitation about our ability to affect energy prices in the broadest sense. But I think it's important that we do recognise, as I've done throughout my remarks, that addressing this issue of affordability, addressing the issue of energy costs, needs to be central to any energy strategy. It's relevant, obviously, to households the length and breadth of Wales.
You're absolutely right that it's a strange situation, isn't it, where we are energy exporters, we have a latent renewable energy potential of very, very significant scale, and yet at the moment, actually, the UK faces higher energy costs than most European countries, but within the UK as well we face some of the highest energy costs overall. We have to address that. We have to find ways of addressing that within the limitations that I describe. And so we have to, I think, look creatively at different solutions: turnkey solutions that can help us, for instance, with businesses and industrial users, as we have discussed at previous sessions, looking at private wire solutions, behind-the-meter solutions, combinations of storage and on-site generation, possibly in conjunction with the public energy company that we've described, as well as with other investors where that is relevant. So, let's look at that while recognising that some of those levers and tools are not in our hands. Many things that I've described are a means by which we can address that very question of affordability that you stressed as central to your contribution.
In terms of carbon capture and storage, I did mention that as an important element, not least in the context of our industrial base in Wales. We have engaged with the UK Government and other UK stakeholders to emphasise the importance of carbon capture and storage in enabling us to decarbonise our industrial base, but also to address some of the issues in terms of economic and financial sustainability, as well as environmental sustainability as well. I specifically mentioned the importance of protecting productive agricultural land in the balanced approach that is at the heart of our planning approach in this context.
I very much concur with the points made by the Member. Building on my earlier remarks, I think what we need to do in order to leverage that potential competitive advantage that we have in Wales, because of the renewable energy sources, both existing and nascent technologies that we have—. I think that it's a combination of approaches, some of which I've already described, in terms of planning industrial infrastructure with energy infrastructure, private wire arrangements, power purchase agreements, which can be done at a more attractive rate than the wholesale energy market, smart energy systems, using storage and flexibility, and as part of that, as you suggest, using public and community ownership. Putting all of that together in a package, in the way that you describe, is the way that we actually address the energy costs problem that we have at the moment and flip it. We could get to a place where we build energy as a source of competitive advantage for Wales, rather than what it is at the moment, which is a source of competitive disadvantage for too many businesses and industrial users.
As I said in my earlier remarks, I think we have to recognise the fact that many of the levers and tools are not in our hands. That's not what we want, and we want to have more of those energy powers in our hands so that we can make a bigger difference to the people of Wales. But does the fact that we are constrained mean that we should do nothing? No, absolutely not. We've got to get creative here. The Member asks what can we do. The PPAs that I mentioned are one way in which, for instance, a publicly owned energy company can actually set its own price with a target community, with industrial users and business users. Offtake agreements are standard practice in energy. Sometimes sleeved agreements. So, even though you're sending the electrons into the national grid, you as a generator can have an agreement with a customer or set of customers. We've got to get creative here. Within the constraints that we have, we believe that we can find ways in which we can ensure that our energy generation, owned by the people of Wales in myriad different forms—local community ownership, Welsh private sector ownership and indeed Welsh public ownership—can mean that we are not left as victims, if you like, of decisions that are made by companies or indeed Government bodies elsewhere.
As I said earlier, the motivation for the shift to a holistic target hopefully is one that the Member would be in sympathy with. Because it was a perverse situation where we weren't actually recognising the fact that we could hit the target because it was based on this notional consumption, whereas our energy generation system was creating masses of fossil fuel-based-emissions through fossil fuel generation. That makes no sense in environmental terms. And so, what we're saying is we want to decarbonise the energy system.
The other point to make is that we're adopting a holistic view, not just in the terms that I've just described, but also recognising the importance of looking at the entire energy system. Energy is also in the form of heating, isn't it? It's also in the form of how we power our transport system. So, it's not just decarbonising the electricity generation system, but also electrifying the entire energy system and doing it on a low-carbon basis, which allows us to hit our more ambitious net zero target of 2040.
I'm grateful to the Member for her question. The Welsh Government, as I've said many times, is committed to delivering its manifesto pledge on electricity distribution infrastructure at 132 kV and below. I've put that on the record many times. I will have more to say on this matter in the very near future. We welcome continued engagement with Members, communities, local authorities and other interested partners as part of that process. We remain committed to our very clear manifesto commitment and I'll have more to say in due course.
We've tried to, in everything that we've done—. This is an update on a strategy that will be published shortly, and, when it's published, I look forward to further engagement. I'm trying, in quite a complex but really important area, to be open and continuously engaged with Members. I look forward to continuing with that engagement on this matter, as on every other aspect of the policy.
Mwy ohonof i, mae arnaf i ofn.
Mae'n bleser gen i godi i symud y cynnig yn fy enw i, neu yn enw'r Llywodraeth. Mae'r cynnig yn argymell bod y Senedd yn cydsynio i'r darpariaethau perthnasol ym Mil Seiberddiogelwch a Seiberwydnwch (Systemau Rhwydwaith a Gwybodaeth) 2026, sydd wedi'u nodi yn y cynnig cydsyniad deddfwriaethol. Bydd y Bil yn gwneud seilwaith cenedlaethol allweddol yn fwy gwydn drwy ddiwygio Rheoliadau Systemau Rhwydwaith a Gwybodaeth 2018. Mae'n ehangu'r gofynion o ran adrodd ar ddigwyddiadau, yn cryfhau pwerau rheoleiddwyr o ran casglu gwybodaeth a gorfodi, ac yn sicrhau bod cyflenwyr hanfodol wedi'u cynnwys. Bydd y mesurau hyn yn helpu i ddiogelu gwasanaethau hanfodol, gan gynnwys trafnidiaeth, ynni, dŵr yfed, iechyd a seilwaith digidol rhag bygythiadau seiber sy'n dod yn fwy cyffredin a mwy cymhleth.
Gweinidogion Cymru yw'r awdurdod cymwys sy'n gyfrifol am wasanaethau iechyd ac am gyflenwi a dosbarthu dŵr yfed yng Nghymru. Yn y sector dŵr, mae'r Arolygiaeth Dŵr Yfed yn gweithredu ar ein rhan. Felly, mae nifer o ddarpariaethau yn rhoi, dileu neu addasu swyddogaethau mewn meysydd datganoledig, a gallen nhw effeithio ar gwmnïau dŵr sy'n gweithredu yn gyfan gwbl neu'n bennaf yng Nghymru.
Er bod llawer o'r Bil yn ymwneud â materion sy'n gyfrifoldeb i San Steffan, mae hefyd yn berthnasol i gyfrifoldebau datganoledig. Fyddai'r Senedd ddim yn gallu deddfu ar gyfer y Bil cyfan, ac mae Bil i'r Deyrnas Unedig gyfan yn cynnig y ffordd fwyaf rhesymegol o ddiogelu rhwydweithiau a gwasanaethau rhyngysylltiedig, a hefyd gydnabod cyfrifoldebau Gweinidogion a rheoleiddwyr Cymru. Mae swyddogion Llywodraeth Cymru wedi cydweithio'n agos â Llywodraeth y Deyrnas Unedig wrth i'r Bil ddatblygu. Rwy'n fodlon ei fod yn darparu mesurau diogelu priodol. Mae'r angen am ymateb effeithiol a chydlynol i fygythiadau seiber ledled y Deyrnas Unedig yn cyfiawnhau'r pwerau sydd wedi'u datganoli yn y Bil. Yn yr amgylchiadau eithriadol hyn, maen nhw'n gymesur ac yn gyson â'n hegwyddorion ar ddeddfwriaeth y Deyrnas Unedig mewn meysydd datganoledig.
Rwy'n ddiolchgar i'r Pwyllgor Deddfwriaeth a Phwyllgor yr Economi, Ynni a Chysylltedd am eu gwaith craffu. Mae'r Pwyllgor Deddfwriaeth wedi cytuno â'n hasesiad o'r darpariaethau sy'n gofyn am gydsyniad, ond doedd Pwyllgor yr Economi, Ynni a Chysylltedd ddim wedi gallu dod i benderfyniad ar y cynnig. Rŷn ni wedi ymateb i'r ddau bwyllgor ac wedi nodi pam mae Llywodraeth Cymru bellach yn argymell cydsynio.
Doedd y memorandwm cydsyniad deddfwriaethol ddim yn cynnwys argymhelliad ar gydsyniad oherwydd iddo gael ei osod yn fuan ar ôl ffurfio Llywodraeth newydd Cymru. Roedd angen amser i asesu polisi'r Llywodraeth, goblygiadau trawsbynciol y Bil, a'r ffordd o gymhwyso ein hegwyddorion wrth drafod deddfwriaeth y Deyrnas Unedig. Rwyf hefyd yn cydnabod nad oedd y memorandwm wedi'i osod o fewn pythefnos. Rŷn ni'n cydnabod yr anawsterau mae hyn yn eu hachosi o ran craffu, ac rŷn ni'n dal i fod wedi ymrwymo i gyflawni proses y memorandwm cydsyniad deddfwriaethol yn effeithlon.
Mae Aelodau wedi mynegi pryderon am bwerau dirprwyedig, gan gynnwys y rhai sy'n ymwneud â chodau ymarfer ac adrodd. Rwy'n cytuno bod ymgynghori priodol a chraffu seneddol yn hanfodol. Mae Llywodraeth y Deyrnas Unedig wedi cyflwyno consesiynau mewn ymateb i bryderon a godwyd yn Nhŷ'r Arglwyddi. Byddwn ni'n asesu'r gwelliannau terfynol ac yn gosod memorandwm cydsyniad deddfwriaethol os oes angen. Bydd llawer o'r manylion ymarferol yn dilyn wrth weithredu'r Bil a thrwy is-ddeddfwriaeth, felly dyw hi ddim yn bosibl asesu'r holl gostau posib eto, gan gynnwys y rhai ar gyfer cwmnïau dŵr a'r Arolygiaeth Dŵr Yfed.
Byddwn ni'n parhau i weithio gyda Llywodraeth y Deyrnas Unedig, rheoleiddwyr a sectorau perthnasol ac yn rhoi'r wybodaeth ddiweddaraf i'r Senedd. Byddwn ni'n parhau i oruchwylio maes iechyd drwy rôl statudol Gweinidogion Cymru fel awdurdod cymwys ac yn cefnogi gweithredwyr drwy uned seiberwydnwch NHS Cymru. Yn y sector dŵr, byddwn ni'n gweithio gyda'r Arolygiaeth Dŵr Yfed a chwmnïau dŵr wrth i'r gofynion ychwanegol gael eu datblygu.
Lywydd, dyw ymosodiadau seiber ddim yn parchu ffiniau sefydliadol na daearyddol—na hyd yn oed y terfyn amser ar gyfer fy araith i [Chwerthin.] Ond, beth bynnag, am y rhesymau hynny, rwy'n argymell bod y Senedd yn cefnogi'r cynnig ac yn rhoi ei chydsyniad i'r darpariaethau perthnasol yn y Bil.
More from me, I'm afraid.
It's a pleasure for me to rise to my feet to move the motion in my name, I believe, or in the name of the Government. The motion recommends that the Senedd consents to the relevant provisions in the Cyber Security and Resilience (Network and Information Systems) Bill 2026 as set out in the legislative consent motion. The Bill will make critical national infrastructure more resilient by amending the Network and Information Systems Regulations 2018. It broadens incident reporting requirements, strengthens regulators' information gathering and enforcement powers, and ensures that critical suppliers are brought within scope. These measures will help to protect essential services, including transport, energy, drinking water, health and digital infrastructure from a growing and increasingly complex cyber threat.
The Welsh Ministers are the designated competent authority for health services and for drinking water supply and distribution in Wales. In the water sector, the Drinking Water Inspectorate acts on our behalf. Therefore, a number of provisions confer, remove or modify functions exercised in devolved areas and may affect water companies operating wholly or mainly in Wales.
Although much of the Bill concerns matters that are reserved to Westminster, it also interacts with devolved responsibilities. The Senedd could not legislate for the Bill as a whole, and a UK-wide Bill offers the most coherent way to protect interconnected networks and services while recognising the responsibilities of Welsh Ministers and Welsh regulators. Welsh Government officials have engaged closely with the UK Government as the Bill has developed. I am satisfied that it provides appropriate safeguards. The need for an effective and coherent response to cyber threats across the United Kingdom justifies the powers that are delegated by the Bill. In these exceptional circumstances, these powers are proportionate and consistent with our principles on UK legislation in devolved areas.
I'm grateful to the Legislation Committee and the Economy, Energy and Connectivity Committee for their scrutiny. The Legislation Committee has agreed with our assessment of the provisions requiring consent, but the Economy, Energy and Connectivity Committee was unable to reach a position on the motion. We have responded to both committees and have set out why the Welsh Government now recommends consent.
The legislative consent memorandum did not include a recommendation on consent because it was laid shortly after the formation of the new Welsh Government. Time was needed to assess the Government's policies, the Bill's cross-cutting implications, and the application of our principles on UK legislation. I also acknowledge that the memorandum was not laid within the two-week deadline. We recognise the difficulties that this causes in terms of scrutiny, and we remain committed to the efficient discharge of the LCM process.
Members have raised concerns about delegated powers, including those relating to codes of practice and reporting. I agree that proper consultation and parliamentary scrutiny are essential. The UK Government has brought forward concessions in response to concerns raised in the House of Lords. We will assess the final amendments and will lay a supplementary legislative consent memorandum if required. Much of the operational and practical detail will follow through implementation and through secondary legislation, so it is not yet possible to assess all potential costs, including those for water companies and the Drinking Water Inspectorate.
We will continue to work with UK Government, regulators and affected sectors and will keep the Senedd informed. We will also continue to provide oversight with regard to health matters through the Welsh Ministers' statutory role as the competent authority and will support operators through the NHS Wales cyber resilience unit. In the water sector, we will work with the Drinking Water Inspectorate and water companies as the enhanced requirements are developed.
Llywydd, cyber attacks do not respect institutional or geographical boundaries—or even the deadline for me to complete my contribution [Laughter.] But, for those reasons, I recommend that the Senedd supports the motion and gives its consent to the relevant provisions in the Bill.
I'm very grateful for the committee's scrutiny, as I said. I have very limited time, and so I think that what I will undertake to do is to give a full response, setting out the rationale as to a number of issues that were raised and why we do think, in this instance, our recommendation is consistent with the principles in relation to delegated powers. There were very particular circumstances, which I referred to in my opening remarks, in relation to the timing of this LCM that meant that we weren't able to bring forward our position on consent earlier. I am grateful for the recognition that, at least in response to the committee, we were timely in that response, but I will undertake to give a fuller response to the committee and Senedd Members in relation to all the matters that were raised.
Come on, this is a serious statement. All the people are watching this. Please, come on.
It's disappointing to hear that Admiral and Legal & General are making redundancies that could impact the Welsh workforce, and today's announcement in relation to Greggs and its plans to shut factories and the proposals that may also impact manufacturing operations at its Treforest site in Wales are concerning, as is the news in relation to the reported closure of Subzero as well. Our priority in all of these cases is supporting workers who may be affected by these proposed redundancies. We're engaging directly with the companies and workforce representatives to ensure employees have access to the information, advice and employment support that they need.
Thank you to the Member. I'm meeting with Admiral UK Insurance's chief executive officer tomorrow and I'll be meeting with senior representatives of Legal & General, and we've also reached out to arrange meetings with the unions and workforce representatives. We don't know currently how these redundancies will be apportioned across the individual sites, and I'll be seeking clarity in both of those meetings on that subject with both companies. And we'll be, obviously, working with the companies to understand how they intend to support the affected workers, what we can do more generally to work with the companies and with the workforce to ensure that we continue to support their contribution to the Welsh economy and to the communities in which they're based. And we'll work constructively, obviously, with companies and unions and delivery partners once we know exactly what the position is in relation to the job losses and how we can most usefully help the workers concerned.
Yes, certainly. We hold right at the forefront of our minds the very difficult position that many employees and families will be in at the moment, and we will be doing everything that we can to support them in every way possible. And once we have a clearer picture in terms of the potential impact, then, obviously, we can both structure our response, but also share information appropriately with the Senedd.
As I said, both these companies continue to be very important employers and we will also want to talk with them, both as individual companies, but also as representatives of important sectors, about how we can work positively with them to continue to sustain, maintain and, hopefully, grow their workforce in other areas of their activity. And once we have more information in relation to this, then, obviously, we'll share it with the Senedd.
Thank you to the Member for his question. Yes, Admiral have said, in their reported comments in this case, that these changes, these workforce reductions, are not AI related. They relate to other factors. I'm not aware that Legal and General either have made the connection with AI, but have referred to wider restructuring across the whole of the group.
Nevertheless, obviously we as a Government are very conscious of the way in which artificial intelligence is both bringing opportunities—economic opportunities, for example—and driving the growth of our compound semiconductor cluster in Newport, and indeed across the wider region of south-east Wales, and are aware that there are risks as well, in terms of its impact upon particular sectors and particular categories of employment. We are monitoring, as a Government, the emerging evidence not just in Wales, but across the world, as to the interrelationship between artificial intelligence and the labour market, and particular sectors of it. I have had discussions only yesterday with other Ministers across Government about how we can best respond, both to maximise the opportunities that undoubtedly there are, but also the risks and challenges that come with the technology, and how we can prevent the downside while maintaining the opportunities that are available to us.
Yes, I think the Member makes a very, very important point, that these companies are such significant employers, of course, that they employ constituents right across the wider south Wales region. Certainly, once we are able to understand more of what the impact will be in relation to the workforce, then I will be keen to share that information, particularly with Members that have large numbers of constituents that were employed in both cases.
It's important to reiterate that these companies, but also these sectors, are important elements in the economy. While we are keen to understand in more depth the reasons for these particular proposals, we want to work with the companies, and with the sectors involved, in order to grow valuable employment in these areas, and that will also form an important part of our engagement with the companies involved.
The escalation of the middle east conflict in early 2026 continues to impact on households and businesses in Wales. While the issue of fuel pricing is non-devolved, we are working closely with the UK Government and our various delivery bodies to provide advice and support to customers, and to respond to any inappropriate price rises.
I'm grateful to the Member for raising this very important issue, which, as I said earlier, has been an issue, sadly, since the beginning of the year, has at various times worsened, and we are going through a period of great concern, particularly in relation to the issue of diesel prices, as she suggests.
Fuel pricing is reserved to Westminster, and there's an important role for the UK Government here, and also the Competition and Markets Authority. I have raised the issue of fuel resilience, pricing and UK Government support with the UK energy Minister at a recent inter-ministerial meeting. I've called for appropriate UK Government support in situations where prices are escalating, and that remains our fundamental position.
We recognise the impact that road fuel price increases are having on household budgets, particularly, of course, when it's combined with the high cost of heating oil and the significant increases expected in the domestic energy price cap in January.
The Welsh Government recognises also that the sustained high fuel costs have consequences right across the Welsh economy. She mentioned the haulage sector and my colleague the Deputy Minister for Transport meets regularly with the haulage sector, has already discussed this issue earlier this year, and will continue to monitor the impact on that particular sector. It isn't, of course, limited to that sector. I'm conscious as well of the impact on bus operators, and I know that the Deputy Minister for Transport is meeting bus operators imminently, again to understand the particular problems that are arising now from the spike that the Member refers to.
Across the wider economy, of course, these increases, they raise operating costs, they raise distribution costs for all fuel-dependent sectors directly and indirectly. In all of our engagement, therefore, with the UK Government and other UK stakeholders, we will continue to raise these important matters, ensure that contingencies, where necessary, are put in place, and that the UK Government uses the full range of intervention tools and levers that they have—I'm particularly thinking now in the context of the budget—so that both businesses and hard-pressed households receive the support that is necessary at this difficult time.
I'm grateful to the Member for his question. We are certainly very aware of the pressures in relation to the haulage sector and, as I said, we are engaging with the sector to make sure that we can support in the way that we can, but also that we can, in our representations to the UK Government, set out a very clear picture of the need for further intervention where necessary. We're maintaining regular engagement with the UK's fuel sector representatives and our UK Government counterparts to monitor prices, and we've made consistently clear to the UK Government the impact of higher fuel costs, particularly the pressures faced by fuel-dependent sectors like haulage.
Road fuel pricing, as I said, fuel duty and market regulation are all reserved matters, but we've made clear to the UK Government the impact of sustained high prices on Welsh households and businesses, and we will continue to press for effective action by the UK Government through the levers available to it. We also support monitoring, as I mentioned, by the Competition and Markets Authority and the Fuel Finder scheme to strengthen transparency and competition, and we expect reductions in wholesale costs to be passed on promptly and fully where they are available.
I met with Valero recently in Pembroke to have a wide-ranging discussion with them. They are an important employer in that region, and, indeed, through the supply chain, to Wales as a whole. They are one of only four remaining refineries across the UK, and they represent a critically important bit of critical national infrastructure. If we were not previously aware of that, we've certainly been made aware of that by the geopolitical insecurity of the last nine months. I certainly will speak with them. I'm sure they have been in regular touch with the UK Government in terms of the contingency planning that I've referred to, and we engage with the UK Government on that front as well. But I certainly will want to know what the latest position is. Of course, it's a complicated situation there, where they are also an important exporter to the US, and, actually, there would be a knock-on effect to US oil supplies. There are complicated reasons as to why that historically is true. So, it certainly is an important area, where we will be engaging with the UK Government and with Valero.
In relation to the broader points that Janet Finch-Saunders made, I think it certainly is an important factor that there is geographic variation across the UK in terms of fuel prices. There is some limited recognition through the UK Government of that in certain areas, but not to rural areas of Wales. I think that now is an important time to revisit that question in terms of equity and to see not just what the UK Government could do in terms of fuel prices in general, where it does need to act at this particular time, but also to recognise the particular impact in rural communities, which face even higher fuel prices than the average. We will certainly take those points forward in our discussions with the UK Government as well.
Yn ffurfiol, Lywydd.
Formally, Llywydd.
Lywydd, diolch yn fawr. Rwy'n croesawu'r cyfle i ymateb i'r cynnig hwn, oherwydd mae'n rhoi cyfle i mi eto, yn dilyn y datganiad llafar y gwnes i'r wythnos diwethaf, i roi ar y record yr hyn sy'n greiddiol i safbwynt y Llywodraeth, sef bod Cymru bob amser wedi ceisio bod yn genedl sy'n cyfuno uchelgais economaidd—ar hyn mae yna gonsensws, rwy'n credu, yn ein plith ni—gyda chyfrifoldeb cymdeithasol. Ar y sail hynny, wrth gwrs, rŷn ni'n datblygu'r fframwaith buddsoddi amddiffyn moesegol, oherwydd nad ŷm ni'n gweld y ddau beth yma—llwyddiant economaidd a gwerthoedd moesegol—mewn tensiwn, mewn croesddywediad; a dweud y gwir, rŷn ni'n eu gweld nhw'n plethu gyda'i gilydd ac yn cefnogi'i gilydd.
Dwi'n deall bod yna anibynniaeth barn ynglyn â rhai elfennau rŷn ni wedi eu trafod heno, ond mae yna gydnabyddiaeth eang, rwy'n credu, o ran pwysigrwydd y sector. Rŷn ni i gyd wedi bod yn dechrau dyfynnu'r un ffigurau, onid ŷm ni? Mae'n bwysig i nodi nid yn unig maint y sector ond y sector cysylltiedig, achos mae'n fwy na jest y sector amddiffyn craidd. Dwi'n cytuno gyda'r pwynt ehangach mae Shavanah Taj newydd ei wneud. Mae angen meddwl am ddiogelwch yn yr ystyr eang, gan gynnwys gwydnwch ein seilwaith, ac yn y blaen; mae hynny'n rhan o ddiogelwch, ac mae yna gyfleoedd economaidd pwysig i ni i'r cyfeiriad hynny hefyd.
Ond mae'r sector amddiffyn a'r sector cysylltiedig—awyrofod ac yn y blaen—nid yn unig eisoes yn sylweddol, maen nhw ar gynnydd yn sylweddol. Mae'n gwelliant ni, sydd yn dangos y ffigurau mwyaf diweddar, yn cyferbynnu gyda'r ffigwr a oedd yn cael ei ddyfynnu yn y cynnig gwreiddiol, yn dangos hynny—dim ond mewn ychydig amser, blwyddyn, mae yna gynnydd sylweddol wedi bod o ran cyflogaeth.
Mae'n bwysig i nodi hefyd mai un ffigwr sydd werth ei ddyfynnu yw'r canran o gaffael y weinyddiaeth amddiffyn y mae Cymru, ar hyn o bryd, yn ei gael—3.6 y cant. Wel, 5 y cant o'r boblogaeth sydd gyda ni, felly mae'n llai na'n cyfran ni o'r boblogaeth. O ran ein sector gweithgynhyrchu ni, oherwydd ei fod e'n fwy o gymharu gyda gweddill ein heconomi ni, mae gyda ni yng Nghymru rhywbeth fel 6.5 y cant o holl sector gweithgynhyrchu Prydain. Hynny yw, 3.6 y cant o'r caffael amddiffyn, a 6.5 y cant o weithgynhyrchu. Mae dros 6 y cant o aelodau'r lluoedd arfog yma, ac rŷn ni fel Llywodraeth yn hollol ymrwymedig i'r cyfamod o ran aelodau'r lluoedd arfog sydd yn gwasanaethu nawr ac sydd wedi gwneud yn y gorffennol.
Rŷn ni'n cyfrannu mwy na'n siâr poblogaeth o ran aelodau'r lluoedd arfog, ac eto, dim ond 3.6 y cant o'r gyllideb gaffael. Mae yna annhegwch sylfaenol yn fanna, sydd yn cael ei adlewyrchu mewn rhannau eraill o gaffael ar draws y Deyrnas Gyfunol o ran defnydd o arian y sector cyhoeddus. Mae yn rhywbeth, rwy'n credu, sydd yn ein huno ni, sef y dylai fod Cymru yn cael chwarae teg ac y dylai fod cwmnïau o Gymru yn cael chwarae teg o ran y cyfleon yma. Pam? Oherwydd mae'r sectorau hyn yn creu swyddi uchel eu gwerth: cyflog uchel, maen nhw'n cynnal cadwyni helaeth, yn creu cyfleoedd i bobl ledled Cymru i ddatblygu eu sgiliau uwch ac i gael gyrfa gwerth chweil. Mae gennym ni'r sylfaen gweithgynhyrchu yma, wrth gwrs: awyrofod, electroneg, seiberddiogelwch ac yn y blaen. Felly, rŷn ni mewn sefyllfa lle mae yna gyfleon. Mae yna botensial yna, a rŷn ni yn sicr eisiau sicrhau ein bod ni'n gwireddu'r potensial hynny.
Wrth gwrs, mae'n bwysig nodi, gallwn ni ddim fel cenedl anwybyddu'r newidiadau i'r dirwedd geowleidyddol ar draws Ewrop a thu hwnt. Mae llywodraethau yn ystyried sut mae bod yn fwy gwydn a diogel a sut i gryfhau eu diwydiannau. A bydd angen i Gymru allu elwa ar y cyfleon economaidd a ddaw o fuddsoddi mwy yn y cyd-destun yma, ond gan gadw'r un pryd yn driw i'n gwerthoedd ni a'n cyfrifoldebau. A dyna lle mae yna rywfaint o anghytundeb rhyngom ni.
Roedd yna gyfeiriad at y cytundeb twf amddiffyn. Mae hwn yn gyfraniad tuag at greu mwy o gyfleon i gwmnïau yng Nghymru. Bydd yn rhoi Cymru mewn sefyllfa i allu gwneud y gorau o'r cyfleoedd a ddaw ym meysydd gweithgynhyrchu, uwch-dechnolegau digidol, gallu seiber, systemau ymreolaethol ac arloesi dau ddiben. Ac wrth gwrs, bydd sgiliau yn hanfodol, fel rŷn ni wedi clywed, i'n llwyddiant yn y dyfodol. Dŷn ni, fel Llywodraeth, wrth gwrs, yn ymrwymedig i ddeall yr anghenion sgiliau yn gyffredinol. Dyna pam ŷn ni'n mynd trwy'r broses o'r archwiliad sgiliau cenedlaethol, ond mae e'n berthnasol yng nghyd-destun amddiffyn hefyd.
Thank you very much, Llywydd. I welcome the opportunity to respond to this motion, because it gives me an opportunity once again, following the oral statement I made last week, to place on the record what's at the heart of this Government's view, namely that Wales has always sought to be a nation that combines economic ambition—and I think there is consensus on that there—with social responsibility. On that basis, of course, we are developing the ethical defence investment framework, because we don't see these two things—economic ambition and ethical values—as being contrary to each other; we see them dovetailing together and supporting each other.
I understand that there is a difference of opinion on some of the elements we've discussed this evening, but there is broad recognition on the importance of the sector. We've all been quoting the same figures, haven't we? What's important is not just the size of the sector but also the related sectors, because it's more than just the core defence sector. I agree with the broader point that Shavanah Taj has just made. We need to think about security in that broader sense, including the resilience of our infrastructure and so on; that is part of security, and there are important economic opportunities for us in that direction too.
But the defence sector and related sectors—aerospace and so on—are not only important employers, but they are also growing significantly. Our amendment, which sets out the most recent figures, which contradict the figures in the original motion, shows that—in just a short period of time, just 12 months, there has been a significant increase in terms of employment in the sector.
It's important to note also that one figure that is worth quoting is the percentage of MOD procurement that Wales gets at the moment—3.6 per cent. We have 5 per cent of the population, so it's less than the percentage share of the population. In terms of our manufacturing sector, because it is larger as compared to the rest of the economy, we in Wales have something like 6.5 per cent of the whole manufacturing sector of the UK. So, 3.6 per cent of defence procurement and 6.5 per cent of manufacturing. Over 6 per cent of members of the armed forces are here, and we as a Government are entirely committed to the armed forces covenant for those who are serving now, and for our veterans
We have contributed more than our population share to the armed forces, and yet only 3.6 per cent of the procurement budget is coming to Wales. So, there is a fundamental unfairness there, which is reflected in other parts of public procurement across the UK in terms of the use of public money. I think it is something that unites us, namely that Wales should get fair play and that companies from Wales should have their fair share of those opportunities. Why? Well, because these sectors do create high-value employment: high salaries, they maintain wide supply chains and give people across Wales the opportunity to develop higher level skills and to have worthwhile careers. We do have the manufacturing base here, of course: aerospace, electronics, cyber security, and so on. So, we are in a position where there are opportunities. There is potential there, and we certainly want to ensure that we deliver that potential.
Of course, it's important to note that we as a nation can't ignore changes to the geopolitical map across Europe and beyond. Governments are considering how they can be more resilient and safe and how to strengthen their industries. And Wales will need to be able to take advantage of those economic opportunities that will come from greater investment in that context, whilst also remaining true to our own values and responsibilities. And I think that is where there is perhaps some disagreement between us.
There was reference to the defence growth plan. That is a contribution towards creating more opportunities for companies in Wales. That will place Wales in a position to make the most of the opportunities that will come in manufacturing, advanced digital technologies, cyber capability, autonomous systems and dual-use innovation. And of course, skills will be crucial, as we have heard, to our future success. We as a Government, of course, are committed to understanding the skills needs more generally. That's why we're going through the national skills audit, but it is pertinent in the context of defence too.
Diolch. Wel, fe wnes i ateb y cwestiynau yna i gyd yn y datganiad llafar wythnos diwethaf. Fe wnaethom ni ddweud ein bod ni'n mynd i gyhoeddi'r fframwaith yn yr hydref—[Torri ar draws.] Do. Mae'n cael ei ddatblygu, fel y dywedais i'r wythnos diwethaf, gan Lywodraeth Cymru mewn ymgysylltiad â'r sector amddiffyn—un o'ch cwestiynau chi—a gyda rhanddeiliaid eraill. Dyw e ddim yn golygu peidio â chefnogi'r sector; mae'n ymwneud â rhoi eglurder a sicrwydd a fframwaith clir, tryloyw.
Fel y dywedais i'r wythnos diwethaf, mae'n unol â'r hyn sy'n digwydd ar draws y byd gyda llywodraethau. Roedd arweinydd y grŵp Llafur wedi cyfeirio at yr Alban. Mae gan yr Alban fframwaith moesegol ar gyfer y sector amddiffyn. Mae gan Lywodraeth Gogledd Iwerddon fframwaith moesegol ar gyfer y sector. Mae gan Lywodraeth y Deyrnas Gyfunol, fel y clywom ni gan Aelod o Reform, fframwaith. Ni oedd yr unig Lywodraeth yn y Deyrnas Gyfunol a oedd heb fframwaith. Rŷn ni'n gwneud yn iawn am hynny fel bod gennym ni fframwaith clir, fel ein bod ni, ie, yn gallu sicrhau bod cwmnïau o Gymru yn elwa ar y cyfleon sydd yna, ond ar sail gadarn sydd yn gyson â'r gwerthoedd sydd mor bwysig o ran ein democratiaeth ni yma yng Nghymru.
Thanks. Well, I answered all of those questions in the oral statement I made last week. We said that we would publish the framework in the autumn—[Interruption.] I did. It's being developed, as I said just last week, by the Welsh Government in engagement with the defence sector—which was one of your questions—and with other stakeholders too. It doesn't mean that we won't be supporting the sector; it relates to providing clarity and assurance and a clear, transparent framework.
As I said last week, it aligns with what is happening globally with governments. The leader of the Labour group made reference to Scotland. Scotland has an ethical framework for the defence sector. The Northern Ireland Government has an ethical framework for the sector. The UK Government, as we heard from a Reform Member, has a framework. We were the only Government in the UK that didn't have a framework. We are putting that right so that we have a clear framework, so that, yes, we can ensure that Welsh companies benefit from the opportunities that exist, but on a firm foundation that is consistent with the values that are so important to our democracy here in Wales.
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