UK Nuclear Energy Programme

Roberta Blackman-Woods Excerpts

Monday 21st October 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davey]

I can reassure my right hon. Friend, who championed the case for Wylfa when she was Secretary of State for Wales, that we are on the case. I know that Hitachi, is keen to make progress on that, and it and others will be cheered by today’s announcement. They know that the Government are leading the way, taking the tough decisions and developing the most attractive market in the world for new nuclear.

[Roberta Blackman-Woods (City of Durham) (Lab)]

I heard the Secretary of State announce this development on BBC radio this morning, but his estimate of the number of jobs to be created seemed to vary with each question asked. What exactly does “up to 25,000 jobs” mean and how many will be likely to go to UK residents?

[Mr Davey]

That is a fair question. I mentioned three figures on jobs: over the lifetime of construction, we expect 25,000 jobs to be created; at peak, on site, there will be 5,600; and when the plant is finished and starts generating at full capacity, we expect there to be 900 full-time permanent jobs. They are different figures, but they are also very impressive figures.

I am afraid we have not done the analysis on how many of those jobs will be done by UK passport holders, but we expect a lot of them to be British. One reason EDF is investing in the local college is to bring on apprentices and young people in the area so that they can be the trained nuclear engineers of the future, working at Hinkley Point C and beyond.