Enterprise Minister Adam Price said the panel will produce an interim report early net year
Adam Price.(Image: Senedd Cymru)
Members of an advisory panel that will support the Welsh Government to establish a new development agency for Wales has been revealed.
Following the appointment of Jonathan Lewis, the current chair of the UK’s biggest ports operator ABP and a former chief executive of Capita, as panel chair, Cabinet Minister for Enterprise, Connectivity and Energy, Adam Price, has confirmed the other members.
The panel of ten, who will not be remunerated, include economist and managing partner of Cadwyn Capital Gerry Holtham, former managing director of Nantgarw-based GE Aviation, La-Chun Lindsay, and as its vice chair, founding member of Starling Bank and chair of Fintech Wales Sarah Williams-Gardener.
Creating a new agency at arm’s length of the Welsh Government was a key Senedd Election manifesto pledge of Plaid Cymru. Rather then focusing on taking over responsibility for current Welsh Government business support functions, such as Business Wales, a small agile agency – sourcing necessary external private expertise – could potentially emerge.
This would be a body operating as more as a facilitator to support Welsh firms seeking to expand at scale or bring investment projects into Wales – supported by the Welsh Government, local authorities, and regional bodies in creating a lighter touch approach to planning and, where devolved, business regulation.
The agency will form’s part of the Welsh Government efforts to halve Wales’s productivity gap with the UK average by half within the next decade.
The former at arm’s length of government Welsh Development Agency was abolished by the then Labour Welsh Government of Rhodri Morgan in 2006. Its functions, and many of its staff, were brought into the Welsh Government’s civil service.
However, at the time of its demise it had become bloated, with more than 1,000 staff. Its ability to attract inward investment projects into Wales at scale was also on the wane with increasing competition from the successor states of eastern Europe.
In written statement Mr Price said: “Over the past two months, we have spent time targeting and securing the support of a talented team of business experts, all bringing their individual diverse experiences, but all with a shared passion and willingness to support Wales to do business, to advise us on the design of the new development agency.
“Each will bring their own expertise to assist us in developing the detailed remit and functions of the agency, helping us design and establish an organisation that swiftly supports the growth of our nation’s economy and becomes a key driver for our national productivity mission; to halve Wales’s productivity gap with the UK within 10 years. Improving productivity will have a direct consequence of creating better jobs for people, thereby putting more money in their pockets and raising living standards.
“We have set out the headline vision. The panel will help us deliver that vision, providing advice, recommendations and challenge about the form and functions of the agency.”
Mr Price said the panel “not operate in isolation” but will engage widely and be outward looking and collaborative in taking forward their work. He added: “In conjunction with the panel, we are developing a programme of stakeholder engagement to ensure the input of a wide range of voices across the Welsh economic development landscape.”
The panel is expected to publish and interim report early next year.
The other panel members are: former chief executive of Subsea7, John Evans; Beren Kayali, co-founder and chief technology officer of Deploy Tech; Alison Lea-Wilson, co-founder of Halen Môn; Nigel Morris, founder of Capital One and managing Partner of QED Investors , Gareth Noyes , who held a range of senior roles at Wind River Systems; Oriel Petry, senior vice president and head of public affairs at Airbus UK and general secretary of TUC Wales, Laura Doel .
Responding to anointment chair of FSB Wales, John Hurst, said: “We welcome the appointment of the panel that will advise the Welsh Government on establishing a new development agency, and particularly the inclusion of SME owners who can bring first-hand experience of starting and growing a business to this important work.
“This is a significant opportunity to implement a simpler, more joined-up and more effective approach to economic development in Wales.
“The new agency must deliver measurable impact by making it easier for firms to access the practical help they need to survive and grow, with the agency’s success judged by clear outcomes: more small businesses starting, surviving and scaling.
“Small businesses are embedded in every community and are fundamental to Wales’s economic success. As the panel begins its work, it must ensure that the voices of small businesses shape its recommendations from the outset, so that the new agency is designed around the real needs and ambitions of firms across Wales.”
Latest figures from the ONS show that output per head in Wales is around 85% of the UK level. The productivity target is seen by the administration as achievable, given that some of the key levers needed to improve output, such as skills and education, are devolved However, it will still be a challenge as other nations and regions of the UK will also be seeking to improve their respective productivity rates, with AI a key driver
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