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Work Programme (Wales)

I am grateful for that intervention. I certainly talk about Flintshire business week because it is an example of a county council, with cross-party support, getting together with private investors and private industry to push what they have in their area. As the hon. Gentleman knows, one of the things I am passionate about is showing what we have in Wales and what we can do. We in Wales are doing plenty of things to showcase our private sector. Tonight, for example, I am going down to Cardiff—I do not know whether any other Members will be joining me—for the ““Made in Wales”” dinner, which is exceedingly important. It is the inaugural ““Made in Wales”” event. Only a few weeks ago, I was at the ““Fast Growth 50””, which showcases some of our most brilliant companies; they are gazelles and growing fast. I visited a particularly good medium-sized company here called Cats & Pipes. There are plenty of opportunities. We need to make sure that we talk up what we have in Wales and show that to other people, because in that way we will attract more inward investment. We as a Government have always acknowledged, as was mentioned earlier, that the present international situation means that the recovery remains choppy, but I am pleased that against that background and in the context of the discussion of the private sector thriving, we have restored confidence and stability by taking the difficult decisions to get to grips with the debts. What is so important, of course, is the triple A rating that we have sustained when others have lost it. Despite the recent disappointing figures, which show that we have much more to do, the private sector has created more than 500,000 extra jobs across the UK, many located here in Wales.