Has the Welsh Government undertaken an assessment of the possibility of a Welsh-specific, non-profit business membership organisation similar to Guaranteed Irish, where the Guaranteed Irish symbol is awarded to companies which create quality jobs, contribute to local communities and are committed to Irish provenance?
The Welsh Government has not undertaken an assessment of the possibility of an equivalent Welsh organisation that brings together the specific elements of Guaranteed Irish and is constituted as a non-profit business membership organisation.
We have a successful track record supporting food and drink businesses to gain protected status for a diverse range of products, first under the EU geographic indicator (GI) schemes, more latterly under successor UK GI schemes, and then in promoting those products and businesses through our trade programmes.
Whilst some consideration has been given to a sustainability mark for Welsh food and drink, the sector is highly integrated across UK markets and supply chains, and the GI schemes referred to are widely recognised in UK and export markets. For these reasons the right policy is to continue to support our businesses and products in this way.
Factors such as the quality of work and community contribution are integral elements of our Economic Contract, our commitment to provide public investment that prioritises the social and environmental needs of Wales whilst building a more resilient and prosperous wellbeing economy. It is a requirement of the Food Business Accelerator Scheme (FBAS) that applicants are required to sign up to the Economic Contract prior to offer of award.
I will consider with interest the benefits of the Irish model to better understand where we may be able to learn from best practice.