---

Welsh Affairs

I am fully aware of that. We must consider the age profile of existing trainers, excellent though they are. Although the existing training is excellent, it is not what we want for the future. That is the problem. Training must change in its approach and in the technologies that we use. The methodology, too, must change. The old skills training is no good and the reason is the age profile. Nearly all the trainers are ex-military personnel who have transferred to civilian work, so they are getting on a bit. We are talking about a five-year programme, so how old will they be in five years' time? However, a five-year recruitment period and having to train people was always factored in from day one. We hear about 5,000 or 6,000 on the jobs front, but that is a very modest estimate indeed from package 1, and we may still get the rest of the investment. We are currently talking about £11 billion coming to Wales in a private finance initiative. If we get everything, the figure could be as much as £16 billion or £17 billion, which is a huge amount. Some £60 million a year is going into the local economy in direct spend. But let me make what might be quite a startling announcement: that is not the real attraction of the investment and ensuring that we, the Welsh, get most of it is not the real challenge. Today's debate has been excellent. A number of colleagues in all parts of the House, including the hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent (Mr. Davies) and my right hon. Friend the Member for Neath (Mr. Hain), stressed the importance of upskilling the labour force, especially in technical skills, to allow us to compete with the rest of the world. The real attraction of the investment is that St. Athan in south Wales will be the largest centre of excellence for providing training in technical skills that are directly transferable to civilian work. As part of the military covenant, the qualifications that our servicemen and women will acquire, and which they justly deserve, will be exactly the same as those in engineering—let us remember that that means aeronautical, mechanical and electronic engineering—and ICT. Those are all the things that have been mentioned this afternoon and in which Wales will become the largest centre of excellence in Europe. It will become the second largest centre of excellence for such training in the world. It is an honour to listen to my old friend the hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent, because in a previous incarnation I had the privilege of trying to attract footloose investment into his beautiful constituency and into the whole of the beautiful county of Gwent. I therefore have an intimate knowledge of the barriers to attracting footloose investment into our country. We need high value-added footloose investment. Traditionally, we did well in mineral extraction and metal manufacture, but the high skills involved in those industries did not translate very well into the manufacture of white goods or the modern factory. Those jobs were reasonably well paid for Wales and solved our unemployment problem, but were not very good, in terms of under-employment and not upskilling people. That is the real challenge that our country faces. We have a unique opportunity to present ourselves as one of the largest centres of excellence in the world for some of the most sought-after technical skills in the world. That is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that we should grasp with both hands and ensure that we get as much as we can. We talk about jobs and investment, and there is not one company in the world that will not be interested in what is going on in south Wales, because it will achieve a critical mass of skills training. It does not matter that the training is in uniforms. The tutors will not be in uniforms for ever, just as the old RAF St. Athan and the excellent skills provided there in deep repair and aircraft maintenance attracted companies such as British Airways. It is no accident that British Airways is at Rhoose airport. It is there because of the centre of excellence that was just up the road—frankly, it used to poach people from just up the road. It is no accident that General Electric went to Nantgarw. It went there because of the skills training at RAF St. Athan. That is a microcosm of what we can expect if package 1 alone comes to Wales. I call on colleagues in all parts of the House to say, ““This is the challenge that we face in Wales. This could transform our country's reputation in the world as a clever little country in those vital areas.”” We have everything to play for, and we need to move forward on this. It is an exciting opportunity for our country, and I am sure that we will live up to the challenge. I think it was Richard Burton who said that the Welsh could face anything except success or failure. He was right about many things, but I believe that we have a great opportunity to prove him absolutely wrong on that one, because we are going to win. Finally, I would like to pay tribute to the role played by Mr. Mike Hayle, the chief executive of the Metrix consortium. He led his team from day one and delivered this gigantic investment for our country. Mike will be moving on in a few months' time, having delivered the investment. He is a project leader, and it is now for someone else to deal with the technical implementation. He is going on to other challenges, but I would like to place on record my thanks for the work that he has done, and to wish him all the best in the future, whatever he decides to do.