Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖ

• Rt Hon Eluned Morgan MS (Chair)
• Huw Irranca-Davies MS
• Jayne Bryant MS
• Mark Drakeford MS
• Rebecca Evans MS
• Jane Hutt MS (from item 3)
• Julie James MS
• Jeremy Miles MS
• Lynne Neagle MS
• Ken Skates MS
   
• Dawn Bowden MS
• Sarah Murphy MS
• Vikki Howells MS
• Jack Sargeant MS

Officials

• Andrew Goodall, Permanent Secretary
• Rachel Garside-Jones, Transition Director Office of the First Minister
• Rebecca Dunn, Head of Cabinet Division
• Victoria Jones, Principal Private Secretary, First Minister
• Toby Mason, Head of Strategic Communications
• Sinead Gallagher, Deputy Director Cabinet Office
• Wayne David, Special Adviser
• Sarah Dickins, Special Adviser
• Madeleine Brindley, Special Adviser
• Haf Davies, Special Adviser
• Victoria Evans, Special Adviser
• David Hooson, Special Adviser
• Kirsty Keenan, Special Adviser
• Jackie Jones, Special Adviser
• Stephen Jones, Special Adviser
• Philippa Marsden, Special Adviser
• Martha O’Neil, Special Adviser
• Maddie Rees, Special Adviser
• Victoria Solomon, Special Adviser
• Mary Wimbury, Special Adviser
• Christopher W Morgan, Head of Cabinet Secretariat (minutes)
• Damian Roche, Cabinet Secretariat
• Helena Bird, Permanent Secretary’s office
• Kath Hallett, First Minister’s office
• Tracey Burke, Director General Climate Change & Rural Affairs
• Sioned Evans, Director General, Education, Culture and Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖ Language
• Tim Moss, Chief Operating Officer
• Judith Paget, Director General Health and Social Services
• Andrew Slade, Director General, Economy, Energy and Transport
• Nia James, Director Legal Services
• Rhodri Asby, Deputy Director Circular Economy and Resource Efficiency (item 3)
• Rhydian Ayers, Head of Resource Efficiency (item 3)

1.1 Cymeradwyodd y Cabinet gofnodion y 6 Ionawr 2025 / Cabinet approved the minutes of 6 January 2025.

Wales and Japan 2025

2.1 The First Minister referred to Wales and Japan 2025, which had been launched the previous week. The aim was to stimulate new economic and cultural partnerships between the two nations and bring long-lasting benefits to both countries.

Brynteg School’s welcome video to Ukrainian refugees

2.2 The First Minister referred to recent media reports where people were attempting to misuse Brynteg School’s welcome video to Ukrainian refugees, created in 2023. The video had originally been published on the Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖ Refugee Council’s website and shortly afterwards had to be withdrawn following extensive online abuse aimed at the school.

3.1 The Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs introduced the paper, which asked Cabinet to note the evidence for the transition to a Circular Economy and to agree the list of specific actions to support the priority on jobs and green growth.

3.2 The need to decarbonise was already changing the global economy, with the growth in zero emission vehicles, the expansion of renewable energy and the changes in everyday materials, like packaging. To be competitive in a decarbonising global economy, all Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖ industries would need to transition to renewable energy and also to a circular economy, where materials were kept in use and waste avoided.

3.3 Not only was the transition to a circular economy absolutely crucial to achieving net zero, it was also a major area of opportunity for economic growth. The World Economic Forum estimated that transitioning could create a net increase of 6 million jobs worldwide by 2030. In the UK 90,000 net new jobs were estimated, and as many as possible of these jobs should be brought to Wales.

3.4 With recycling rates, Wales already had competitive advantage in this area and this has been a key contributing factor in the recent investment in Jayplas’ state-of-the-art plastic recycling facility in Swansea, creating 100 new jobs. There was also the investment of over £1 billion by Eren in the redevelopment of Shotton Mill with over 300 jobs, and further potential investments. The paper outlined the next steps to build on this success.

3.5 Other governments and bodies were taking action in this area. For example, the UK Government has recently established a Circular Economy Taskforce for England, the outputs from which are likely to have implications for the rest of the UK. This would also be true of the changes already happening within the EU.

3.6 This was not just about the strategic opportunity it was also about improving resilience to risk, as many of the important materials relied upon for the proper functioning of the economy were sourced from less stable parts of the world, with climate change expected to increase those risks.

3.7 The Circular Economy was a crucial part of the solution to this problem, by taking advantage of the materials already being recycled and expanding to collect others, there was an opportunity to increase supply chain resilience and as a result, support job security within the related sectors.

3.8 A key example was the new groundbreaking facility at the Royal Mint, where they had begun extracting precious materials and reusable components from electronic waste, improving resilience while safeguarding jobs.

3.9 There was also a need to draw the links to the UK Industrial and the Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖ Timber Strategies. The OECD’s review into the UK’s approach highlighted the need to strengthen the integration of circular economy, carbon and industrial policies.

3.10 Cabinet welcomed the paper and agreed that more needed to be done to highlight how successful Wales was with recycling and the move towards a Circular Economy. It was noted that the Circular Economy would be the subject of an Oral Statement scheduled for 18 February.

3.11 Cabinet approved the paper.

4.1 Cabinet noted that voting time was scheduled for 5:30pm on Tuesday and around 6.25pm on Wednesday.

Cabinet Secretariat
January 2025