Written Statement: Our Valleys, Our Future Delivery Plan

Today we are publishing the annual update to Our Valleys, Our Future Delivery Plan. This outlines the actions that the Valleys taskforce is committed to deliver in its final phase of delivery in this Assembly term.

We want to ensure we continue to deliver on what the taskforce has been told is important to people living and working in the South Wales Valleys through our ongoing engagement activities: provide good quality jobs and the skills to do them; provide better public services and provide a focus on local communities.

Conscious of timescales, I am keen that the taskforce focusses its efforts in order to make real, sustainable changes to people living and working in the South Wales Valleys. Therefore this year the plan only includes those actions that will be delivered and / or overseen by the taskforce. That said, the majority of the actions that have been removed from the plan are continuing to be progressed through cross government delivery and will impact on the outcomes that the taskforce is seeking to achieve.

In July I announced that the taskforce’s efforts will be focussed on the following 7 priority areas:

• Entrepreneurship and business support
• Foundational Economy
• Housing
• Strategic hubs and maximising the economic impact of the A465
• Transport
• Valleys taskforce innovation fund
• Valleys Regional Park

Subgroups have been set up for each of these priorities which are responsible for driving progress. As the subgroups only convened for the first time during the last few months, the Delivery Plan will be refreshed at appropriate points, once the subgroups have had an opportunity to consider their deliverables.

Although the taskforce will only be in place until March 2021, much consideration is being made over how the work can continue well beyond this date. We want to make long-lasting, sustainable changes. I am keen to explore options for embedding the work in the long-term plans for Welsh Government as well as through partnership working.

I very much look forward to continuing to work with people living and working in the South Wales Valleys over the coming months and making tangible, positive changes.

The Delivery Plan can be found at the following link –

Our Valleys, Our Future: delivery plan