Cabinet meeting: 2 March 2026

• Rt Hon Eluned Morgan MS (Chair)
• Huw Irranca-Davies MS (items 1-3)
• Jayne Bryant MS
• Mark Drakeford MS
• Rebecca Evans MS
• Jane Hutt MS
• Julie James MS (items 1–3)
• Jeremy Miles MS
• Lynne Neagle MS
• Ken Skates MS
   
• Dawn Bowden MS
• Vikki Howells MS
• Sarah Murphy MS
• Jack Sargeant MS

Officials

• Andrew Goodall, Permanent Secretary
• Rachel Garside-Jones, Director Office of the First Minister and Delivery
• 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
• Luke Young, Special Adviser
• Madeleine Brindley, Special Adviser
• Sarah Dickins, Special Adviser
• Haf Davies, Special Adviser
• Victoria Evans, Special Adviser
• David Hooson, Special Adviser
• Nadila Hussein, Special Adviser
• Kirsty Keenan, Special Adviser
• Jackie Jones, Special Adviser
• Stephen Jones, Special Adviser
• Philippa Marsden, Special Adviser
• Tal Michael, Special Adviser
• Mary Wimbury, Special Adviser
• Christopher W Morgan, Head of Cabinet Secretariat (minutes)
• Damian Roche, Cabinet Secretariat
• Katie Mason, Cabinet Secretariat
• James Oxenham, Cabinet Secretariat
• Helena Bird, Permanent Secretary’s office
• Kath Hallett, First Minister’s Office
• Tracey Burke, Director General Climate Change & Rural Affairs
• Sioned Evans, Chief Operating Officer
• Judith Paget, Director General Strategy
• Andrew Slade, Director General Economy, Energy and Transport
• Emma Williams, Director General Education, Culture & Welsh Language
• Nicola Williams, Director Legal Services
• Alex Slade, Director Mental Health, Primary Care & Early Years
• Emily Hole, Head of Trade Policy – EU Reset and Implementation
• Huw Williams, Head of EU Trade and Co-operation
• Kelly Morgan, Head of Programme Delivery – Wales Investment Summit
• Darryn Lewis, Head of Inward Investment
• Dean Medcraft, Director Finance
• Sharon Bounds, Deputy Director Financial Control
• Sian Gill, Head of Budgetary Control & Financial Policy

Cymeradwyodd y Cabinet gofnodion 23 Chwefror 2026 / Cabinet approved the minutes of 23 February 2026.

Minister for Mental Health and Wellbeing

2.1 The First Minister, on behalf of Cabinet, expressed her thanks and best wishes to the Minister for Mental Health and Wellbeing, who was due to commence maternity leave later that week.

Conflict in the Middle East

2.2 The First Minister informed Cabinet that she, along with the First Minister of Scotland and the Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, had recently received a briefing about the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

2.3 The government was fully engaged with partners to ensure community cohesion and there was regular monitoring of any potential tensions within communities in Wales.

2.4 Welsh citizens in the Middle East were being encouraged to register with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The First Minister’s office was being kept informed of ongoing developments.

3.1 Cabinet considered the Plenary Grid and noted that voting time on Tuesday was expected to take place around 4:40pm. This would be followed by Stage 3 of the Building Safety (Wales) Bill, with voting throughout. Voting time was scheduled for 4:30pm on Wednesday and this would be followed by Stage 3 of the Member led British Sign Language (Wales) Bill, again, with voting throughout.

4.1 The Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Planning introduced the paper, which asked Cabinet to note the follow-up activity intended to maximise the impact of the Wales Investment Summit.

4.2 This had been an opportunity to bring hundreds of senior investors to Wales in one place, on one day, rather than relying on individual conversations spread over months or years. Over half the companies attending had no existing presence in Wales, which demonstrated how successful the government had been in attracting new markets and decision makers to Wales.

4.3 Ministers held almost 50 bilateral meetings with companies either already investing or actively exploring opportunities. That level of access in a single day would have been very difficult to achieve through business-as-usual activity.

4.4 The summit had also provided a strong signal about confidence and partnership. There was clear leadership, alongside UK government ministers, demonstrating the government was aligned in its approach to supporting investment into Wales. The involvement of The Prince of Wales further raised the international profile of the event and Wales.

4.5 The summit had been focused on the government’s priority growth sectors, such as clean energy, life sciences, digital and technology, advanced manufacturing, compound semiconductors and the creative industries. Clean energy was strongly represented, reflecting Wales’s growing reputation.

4.6 New investment announcements amounted to £16 billion. These included major commitments across energy, advanced manufacturing, digital infrastructure and the creative industries. A standout example was Vantage Data Centres’ plan to invest £10 billion across South Wales, creating over 5,000 jobs and transforming former industrial sites for the AI era.

4.7 The summit had also been designed around relationships. The programme combined main stage sessions, sector breakouts and a Wales Showcase, all aimed at answering a simple question for investors: ‘why Wales’, and by the end of the summit the question had turned to ‘why not Wales’, which was a positive indicator that Wales was open for business.

4.8 Officials were now delivering a cross-government structured programme of engagement, prioritising companies new to Wales and those with live project potential, with more detailed qualitative engagement to understand how the offer was being received.

4.9 The full economic impact would take time to materialise, given that investment decisions were long term by nature, but even at this early stage, the summit had delivered a step change in Wales’s international visibility and had significantly expanded the pipeline of investor relationships.

4.10 The summit had enabled the government to present a confident, credible story about Wales, at scale, to the right audience.

4.11 Cabinet welcomed the paper and put on record its thanks to all those involved in preparing and delivering the summit.

Cabinet Secretariat
March 2026