WAQ78373 (w) Tabled on 12/06/2019

Further to the comments made in Plenary on 15 January 2019, will the Minister outline: the membership; the terms of reference; and the work carried out by the working group that was established by the Welsh Government in relation to Ford?

Answered by Minister for Economy and Transport | Answered on 20/06/2019

The Ford Working Group was established in October 2017, chaired by the Welsh Government and comprised of representatives from Ford Europe, Ford UK, the Wales Office, the UK Government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the Welsh Automotive Forum and Unite the Union.

The group’s Terms of Reference were to explore the potential opportunity for battery cell manufacture at the Bridgend Engine Plant to safeguard jobs and protect its future post 2020.

The group reported in December 2017, confirming the absence of any internal product opportunities or Faraday related projects. It recommended the development of a proposition to capture new opportunities for the vacant capacity on the Ford site. Further meetings addressed this proposition work which facilitated the Ineos project.

The group met 11 times on the following dates: 30 October2017,

13 November 2017, 27 November 2017, 11 December 2017, 18 December 2017, 29 January 2018, 8 February 2018, 24 April 2018, 12 June 2018,

9 July 2018 and 18 March 2019.