Job Losses at ITV Digital, Pembroke Dock

The numbers may speak for themselves – some 1000 employees in Pembroke Dock have lost their jobs – but I am sure that our first thoughts are with the human dimension - with the families affected.  I empathise deeply with their disappointment and their frustration.  They have done their jobs exceptionally well and they have lost them through no fault of their own.  They have lived through all the uncertainties of the past weeks and have never been less than fully committed.  In turn I am personally fully committed to ensuring that their loss of employment is kept as short as possible.  The Welsh Assembly Government has attracted major employment to Pembroke Dock.  We have done it once and we will do it again.  

The Welsh Assembly Government and its Team Wales partners provided financial and other support to assist Manpower and 7C.  The employment prospects were regarded as very sound given that the service being provided was for ITV Digital.  The commercial difficulties which ITV Digital then got into have been set out extensively in the media and I will not go into them now.  However, it is worth emphasising that the facility and staff in Pembroke Dock are regarded as excellent.  There are very good prospects of re-building employment at the facility to at least the levels which prevailed before the difficulties of ITV Digital.

It saddens me to confirm that Manpower and 7C, the companies which supplied the customer contact services for ITV Digital, have issued redundancy notices to all their staff in Pembroke Dock.  The notices are for 1 week or 1 month depending on the employment contracts but the companies do not expect staff to attend today.  The companies have commended the excellent support, which they have enjoyed from both their staff and the wider community, even through the recent uncertain times.  Nevertheless, the companies considered that they had no choice but to make staff redundant in view of the administrators’ announcement that no buyer had been found for ITV Digital.  

So far as future digital services are concerned there will be a six week period for new interests in the licence to bid.  But we are not waiting to see whether a successful tenderer might want customer support services from Pembroke Dock.  We had already begun contingency work to promote the centre to other clients.  The ending of the exclusivity contract between Manpower/7C and ITV Digital enables all concerned to set to the task without constraint.

On Monday I held a meeting with Manpower, 7C, my Assembly colleague Christine Gwyther, the Members of Parliament  concerned, the Team Wales agencies, the Trade Unions and representatives from the local authorities affected.  We agreed to set up an action group to provide not only for the short term needs of employees in terms of employment benefits and training but also to co-ordinate the attraction of replacement business.  

This is a team approach  but I have to commend Christine Gwyther for her tireless efforts on behalf of her constituents.  Manpower and 7C are actively trying to attract other customer relationship business on the basis of the excellence of the facility and workforce.  I am meeting Iain Herbertson the Managing Director of Manpower at the facility on Saturday.  I am also in contact with the Secretary of State for Wales to use his good offices to see whether there is any customer relation work for the UK Government which could make use of Pembroke Dock.  The Welsh Development Agency is also pursuing a number of leads.  

I have made it clear that any prospective user of the centre would have the full support of the Welsh Assembly Government and Team Wales.  This is practical assistance ranging from our willingness to consider regional selective assistance for eligible projects to facilitating visits by prospective investors.  We have also co-operated with Manpower and 7C on putting together an effective promotion for their prospective clients.  

The Welsh Assembly Government and its partners are doing everything possible to tackle this major job loss in Pembrokeshire.  We have the services and support, the contacts and the marketing; and the vital element is to co-ordinate them.

I have asked the WDA to provide a project director to work with the action group and to report directly to me.  I shall be taking a personal role in ensuring a co-ordinated and effective response. I am heartened by the fact that we are dealing with a growth sector in the UK and in Wales.  I am clear at this stage that our priorities are:

• To replace the jobs lost
• To bring the Cleddau centre up to capacity
• To support the people who have been made redundant

We have every chance of winning business to replace that lost with the demise of ITV Digital and I assure you that every effort will be made to convert chances into outcomes.